Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) - The Killing Fields Cambodia

While in Phnom Penh Do Not Forget to visited two important sites related to the Cambodian Genocides - The Killing Field Of Cambodia and the criminal actions imposed by the Khmer Rouge on the Cambodian people. Why visit such a place? It's important to honor those whose lives were taken by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978. As it is important to visit similar sites worldwide for the same reason.

Tuol Sleng was once a high school in Phnom Penh and since education became nonexistent under the Khmer Rouge, this school along with others was transformed into prisons and detention centers for those deemed a threat. Tuol Sleng, which came to be know as as S-21, became the largest center of detention and torture in the country, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned here between 1975 and 1978. When the Vietnamese liberated S-21, there were only seven survivors. The mood of the museum is depressing and bleak, as would be expected. Walking through the rooms, former classrooms divided into tiny cells, it's unimaginable how this could happen. The darkness of what happened here is contrasted by the yellow and white tile floors. Walking through other classrooms filled with photos of the prisoners–men, women and even children, I was reminded of how real and recent these events were. I walked away from Tuol Sleng with many thoughts spinning in my head.

(Corner of Street 113 & Street 350 - $2.00 - Open everyday, including holidays, 8AM-5PM - Closed for lunch)