S21

INTRODUCTION TO THE MUSEUM OF CRIME

-In the past - Tuel Sleng - Museum was one of the secondary schools in the capital, called - Tuol Svay Prey - High School.

After April 17th, 1975 Pol Pot clique had transformed it into a prison called - S21- (Security Office 21) which was the biggest in Kampuchea Democratic (sic). It was surrounded with double wall of corrugated iron (sic), surmounted by dense barbed wires. The classrooms on the ground and first floors were pierced and divided into individual cells, where as the ones on the second floor were used for mass detention.

Several thousands of victims (peasants, workers, technicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, students, Buddhists monks, ministers, Pol Pot cadres, soldiers of all ranks, the Cambodian Diplomatic Corps. , Foreigners, etc…) were imprisoned and exterminated with their wives and children.

There are a lot of evidences (sic) here proving the atrocities of Pol Pot clique: cells, instruments of torture, dossiers and documents, list of prisoners names, photos of victims, their clothes and belongings.

The Security Regulations

  1. YOU MUST ANSWER ACCORDINGLY TO MY QUESTIONS_ DON’T TURN THEM AWAY.
  2. DON’T TRY TO HIDE THE FACTS BY MAKING PRETEXTS THIS AND THAT. YOU ARE STRICTLY PRHIBITED TO CONTEST ME.
  3. DON’T BE A FOOL FOR YOU ARE A CHAP WHO DARE TO THWART THE REVOLUTION.
  4. YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY ANSWER MY QUESTIONS WITHOUT WASTING TIME TO REFLECT.
  5. DON’T TELL ME EITHER ABOUT YOUR IMMORALITIES OR THE ESSENCE OF THE REVOLUTION.
  6. WHILE GETTING LASHES OR ELECTRIFICATION YOU MUST NOT CRY AT ALL.
  7. DO NOTHING, SIT STILL AND WAIT FOR MY ORDERS. IF THERE IS NO ORDER, KEEP QUIET. WHEN I ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING, YOU MUST DO IT RIGHT AWAY WITHOUT PROTESTING.
  8. DON’T MAKE PRTEXTS ABOUT KAMPUCHEA KROM IN ORDER TO HIDE YOUR JAW OF TRAITOR.
  9. IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW ALL THE ABOVE RULES, YOU SHALL GET MANY, MANY LASHES OF ELECTRIC WIRE.
  10. IF YOU DISOBEY ANY POINT OF MY REGULATIONS YOU SHALL GET EITHER TEN LASHES OR FIVE SHOCKS OF ELECTRIC DISCHARGE.

A visit to the S21 Museum of crime is a perfect compliment to the Killing Fields. Though one may never really fully fathom the extent of the atrocities that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge inflicted on the people of Cambodia, a visit to these sights will give one somewhat of an insight of the extent of Pol Pots reign of terror.

A walk through S21 is very disturbing. Before the victims were executed they were assigned numbers and photographs were taken. The Museum displays these photos, along with various instruments of torture and oil painting depictions of soldiers committing atrocities on Cambodian citizens. The above photo is a map of Cambodia constructed from the skulls of the victims. Below is a photo of the holding cells, and picture of a room used for electrical torture .

Click image to enlarge