Tuol Sleng

Last Saturday Marije and I finally went to visit Tuol Sleng. Tuol Sleng used to be a high school and then it was transformed into an interrogation and extermination center during the Khmer Rouge. Sadly, those used as guards to torture and kill were children between the ages of 10-15.

In the following picture, I am walking through one of the rooms containing the cells where the prisoners were kept. You can still see blood stains on the floor. Between 1975 and 1978 it is estimated that a total of 10499 prisoners were kept here. Unfortunately only a few lived to tell about it. Our tour guide told us that they would keep prisoners for a month, then, whether they were able to get any information out of them or not, they were killed. Even foreigners were killed here including one or more Canadians. Babies too were murdered on mass.

Before prisoners were taken to their cells, they were forced to have their picture taken. To do so prisoners had to sit on this horrid contraption which held their head in place so that they looked directly at the camera. Also note in the picture below how the victims number was safety pinned to his throat instead of his clothing.

It is heart breaking to see what we as human beings are capable of doing. Many of the guards who worked at Tuol Sleng are now working freely in Cambodia. I pray that they will find God's mercy. I also pray that Cambodians will be able to forgive and find healing from a cruel past.

If you haven't read "Tears of My Soul" by Sokreaksa Himm, I highly recommend doing so. It is about his experience of living through the Khmer Rouge and how he learned to forgive those who brutally killed his family.