Asia by Hammock

The chief attractions (if you can call them that) of Phonm Penh (for us) were the Tuol Seng Genocide Museum and the Choeng Ek Killing Fields. Between 1975 and 1979, the Toul Seng prison held over 40,000 men, women and children. All but a dozen were executed at the killing
fields.

At the fields, you can literally feel death in the air. People walk slowly, carefully stepping over pieces of clothing and human bones. There are literally bones of murdered people lying in the ground and 8,985 skulls form a memorial stupa. While Auchswitz/Birkenau was
staggering in it size, the killing fields are staggering in their closeness, their intimateness. The skulls bear the marks of victims who were killed by pipes, axes and gunshots. Over 100 women and children were buried in a space smaller than my room.

I don't mean to write on war or murder or genocide, but it was interesting to visit this place after seeing some of the Vietnam war history. In Cambodia the question is how could these people do this to eachother. In Poland it is how could these people do this to my
people. And in Vietnam it is how could WE do this to other people. It seems like people always talk about learning from the past, learning from mistakes, learning from atrocities, but does it ever really happen?

Steve (and only steve)

# posted by Steve @ 11:21 AM