One of the many Killing Fields found in Cambodia

Killing Fields - Choeung Ek

The Killing Fields, a former longan orchard was the place where prisoners from S-21 (Tuol Sleng) were sent after interrogation and torture.  Thousands of people including children and babies were killed here – often being bludgeoned to death to save bullets.  There were 129 communal graves here of which 86 had the remains of persons exhumed in 1980.  It is estimated that about 20,000 peope including foreigners were brutally executed here. A memorial stupa currently houses more than 8000 skulls

As one walks around the area, clothes and bones are easily seen (and often stepped on as one walks down the paths).  This killing field is only one of many ‘mass graves’ found throughout Cambodia. It is recorded that there are 300 sites throughout Cambodia where civilians were tortured, executed and either buried or thrown into shallow graves

Guests can either be guided around or go alone with an audio recording available in 15 languages. This allows one to go at his or her own pace and stop to sit and listen to various testimonies from those who worked in Tuol Sleng or the Killing Fields and those who survived the regime

Expected time taken at the Killing Fields is about 1 to 1&1/2 hours

Opening hours: 0800 – 1700 daily including public holidays

 

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This stupa is dedicated to those who were killed at Killing Fields. The stupa is filled with hundreds of skulls