It is an understatement to say that Cambodia has had a rough time.
Following the decline of the once-great ancient Khmer civilisation with Angkor Wat at it’s heart, fierce struggles with neighbouring Vietnam, colonisation by the French, and no doubt many other things I have yet to learn of, Cambodia has endured a harsh modern history not normally bourne by one country alone.
While desperately trying to defeat the Viet Cong, America’s bombing campaigns stretched into Cambodia. From 1965 to 1973, without the knowledge or approval of the US Congress, America’s “secret war” saw 230,516 sorties drop 2.7 million tons of explosives on 113,716 targets in Cambodia. It is estimated that up to 150,000 Cambodian civilian casualties resulted from US bombing, which only ceased when it’s existence leaked into the public domain. (Not to be confused with the US bombing of Laos, the most heavily bombed country in history*)
While it was just one of many factors, it is hard to deny that American bombing played a significant part in destabilising the country and facilitating the abrupt rise of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, specifically the more extreme anti-Vietnamese faction known as the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot.
A familiar pattern… is it not?
The Khmer Rouge seized control of the capital Phenom Penh on April 17, 1975. I won’t try to explain what followed, but the period of Khmer Rouge control that many Cambodians simply refer to as “three years, eight months and 20 days” saw an estimated 3 million executed – a significant proportion of the population and very particularly anyone with any form of education. The effect of wiping out this knowledge, skill, experience and the role models that carried it all can be seen today (and thankfully, those rising up to overcome it may also be seen).
Everyone above a modest age in Cambodia has been touched by these events, and those younger growing up in the shadows that they still cast.
We visited the killing fields of Choeung Ek – the most infamous but just one of a staggering 20,000 mass grave sites in Cambodia. We also visited the infamous S-21 prison in Phenom Penh – a school repurposed by the Khmer Rouge as a prison and brutal interrogation facility, now the site for the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
These are not places where you snap away holiday photos, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take my camera at all. Now that I have spent time at both these places and learned some of what happened here with the help of the excellent audio-guides, I find the few photographs that I did take rather powerful.
I would urge anyone visiting Cambodia to make sure they visit both of these sites and allow plenty of time, ideally not squeeIng both into one day. I’d also recommend seeing the traditional Khmer dance show at the national museum in the evening to lift your spirits a bit, we found that it helped.
So… A handful of photos of places that really shouldn’t exist:
*US Bombing of Laos – Around the same time 1964-73, America dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos while desperately trying to cut off the critical supply route known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. “equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years – making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history.” (source: http://legaciesofwar.org/about-laos/secret-war-laos/)
Jaw dropping, vivid and essential knowledge for all to receive, learn and strive to fight against.
Well written, you’ve summed up many of my thoughts about what we saw and felt in both these places.