Inside the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21)

vietnam, cambodia and laos 11th solo backpacking tour
august 24 - september 1, 2011 wednesday to thursday

objective: to visit the best tourist spot that fits to my budget at limited amount of time.
additional tasks: lost half of my pocket-money in day 1... show must go on for the planned itinerary no matter how it takes

phnom penh city solo half-day tour
the killing field (choeung ek genocidal center)

continued...

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer [tu?l slae?]) means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill".

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

Formerly the Chao Ponhea Yat High School, named after a Royal ancestor of King Norodom Sihanouk, the five buildings of the complex were converted in August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge won the civil war, into a prison and interrogation center. The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes.

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

The buildings at Tuol Sleng are preserved as they were left when the Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979. The regime kept extensive records, including thousands of photographs. Several rooms of the museum are now lined, floor to ceiling, with black and white photographs of some of the estimated 20,000 prisoners who passed through the prison.

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

tuol sleng genocide museum (S-21)

phnom penh city other famous landmarks
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