Photograph #73
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Google Earth Coordinates:
Date: October 2004
Format and Resolution: Digital (photo available in 1200 X 1600 resolution)
Photo Description: Torture room, past & present. Painful reminder of the atrocities which occured at Tuol Sleng interrogation centre (code-named S-21), located in the abandoned Phnom Penh high school. On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced everyone to evacuate the city, and moved them by gun point in to forced labor camps in the countryside. During the 4-year rule of Pol Pot, it is estimated that 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution (approximately 30% of the Cambodian population). Between 1975 and 1978, more than 17,000 men, women and children, including soldiers, were taken to the notorious Tuol Sleng to be tortured and 'interrogated', after which they were transported to an extermination camp 16 km outside Phmon Penh which became known as "The Killing Fields of Choueung Ek". Of the 17,000 people who were taken to Tuol Sleng, only 6 are known to have survived. To see more photos from Phnom Penh, Cambodia click here.