Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

សារមន្ទីរឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ទួលស្លែង

S-21, a prison that the Khmer Rouge turned from a secondary school. Between 1975 and 1979, about 18,000 people were interrogated and executed here, with only a dozen or so surviving. The cells, torture devices and thousands of prisoner photographs are preserved, making it essential to understanding Cambodian history.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is in a residential neighborhood in southern Phnom Penh. It was formerly a French-style secondary school. After the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, they turned it into a secret prison code-named S-21, run by Duch. Over four years, it held and executed about 18,000 to 20,000 'enemies,' including former government officials, intellectuals, monks, foreigners, and later Khmer Rouge cadres and their families. Most prisoners were taken after torture-extracted confessions to the Choeung Ek killing fields for execution. When Vietnamese forces entered in 1979, they found only seven adult survivors and a few children.

The museum has kept the four classroom buildings largely as they were. Building A is the interrogation block, where iron beds and shackles remain, and photographs of corpses found at liberation hang on the walls. Building B displays the black-and-white registration photos the Khmer Rouge took of every prisoner. Thousands of faces stare out at visitors in rows, and this is the most shocking part of the museum. Building C contains small brick single cells, and their balconies are still wrapped in barbed wire to prevent jumping. Building D displays torture devices, paintings by survivors and records of the killings.

Admission is US$5. The Chinese audio guide costs US$3 and is strongly recommended, as it includes survivors' testimony. Survivors Chum Mey or Bou Meng often sit in the courtyard selling signed books. The museum and the Choeung Ek killing fields 15 km away are two ends of the same history, so they are usually visited together in one morning or afternoon. Hiring a tuk-tuk costs about US$15 to 20. In 2009 to 2012, the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers sentenced Duch to life imprisonment for this case. Getting there: it is a 15-minute tuk-tuk ride from the riverfront district.

Note: The content is extremely harrowing. Keep your voice down, and do not take selfies or joke around in front of the prisoner photographs. Think carefully before bringing children; 12 and up is recommended. Respect the survivors. Buying a book supports them.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

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