November 2011 – Note: This blog posting contains photos that you may find upsetting.

Cambodia has a painful history and visiting the S-21 in Phnom Pehn is a must. It is a part of the history of this country a

nd coming here (and The Killing Fields) is crucial for a full understanding of what happened and why Cambodia finds itself in its current state.

S-21 was a former high school that was turned into a place of interrogation and torture by the Khmer Regime between 1975-79. During that time, about 3 million people were killed and 20,000 were victims of S-21. Of the 20,000, only 8 lived to tell the tales of the horrors committed there.

It was here that the educated class – doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, monks, nuns, and anyone else seen to be a threat to Pol Pot’s vision of a pure communal society – were brought to be tortured and killed. Family members of these individuals were also brought here. They too needed to be eliminated so as to avoid these members engaging in revenge killings against the regime.

Meticulous records and photographs (taken when the people entered and after their death) were kept.

As I wandered the various buildings looking at the vast sea of photographs of victims and exhibits showing the methods of torture, I had a lot of thoughts.

I thought about my circle of family and friends and how if we were here in Cambodia during the regime that we all would have been targets. That it would have been highly likely that we would have been murdered for the simple reason of not being from the peasant class, of being a member of the aforementioned professions, and of being a city dweller. I thought about the elimination of all these individuals, the loss of a generation of educated people and the tremendous long-term impact on the country.

Simply said, Pol Pot, his ideology and regime screwed this country.

I thought about the methods of torture and in particular, water-boarding, one of the methods used here. People who support this kind (or any other kind) of torture baffle me. When is torture ever right?

It was not an easy visit.

I have included some photos of the site to give you an idea of what it was like. In particular, I was fascinated by the graffiti that I stumbled upon underneath a stairwell. I am not alone in my sentiments.