Ed and I had a chance to do some shopping at Psar Tuol Tom Pong, known as the "Russian Market" to foreigners because many Russians shopped there in the 1980s. After a bite to eat at a shaded little restaurant, we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
Here's a bit of Cambodian history: After the capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's security forces and turned into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). S-21 was designed for detention, interrogation, torture, and killing after recieving and documenting detainees' "confessions". Many who were detained were later shipped off to the "killing fields" to be killed and dumped into large pits. Between 1975 and 1978 records indicated over 10,500 people (not including the many children) were prisoners here. There were only seven survivors of this prison. An interesting note, in 1993 the former leader of S-21, Kang Keck lev (also known as Duch) left the Khmer Rouge, later became a Christian and was baptized in 1996. He had been quietly ministering with a Christian humanitarian organization among the rural poor. Duch has since been imprisoned with his Bible at his bedside. He is the only former Khmer Rouge leader to admit to the terrible atrocities he has committed. God's grace can change anyone. Don Cormack in his book "Killing Fields, Living Fields" says it this way "Two names in particular come to mind when we think of the horrors of that time: Pol Pot, the mastermind of the revolution, and Duch, its chief executioner; two notorious, condemed men... In 1998, in a jungle hideout, the former died, alone, bitter and unrepentant; the other chose life, turned in faith to the cucified Savior and said 'remember me'. As they dumped his remains on a bonfire, Pol Pot's erstwhile comrades in arms cursed his memory, 'Just burn, burn.' Duch, imprisoned in Phnom Penh...has heard the promise of Jesus,'You shall be with me in paradise.'"
1 comment:
Ok Scott, The last post almost had me in tears, but this one...
Again, vivid memories. 3/4 of the way though the museum, I had to leave and go outside. I was just so overwhelmed, I had never fainted before, but I knew that I was very close. The pictures of those young mothers with their babies in their laps, knowing that their lives ended the same as the thousands of the others there, with an ax buried in the back of their heads in the killing fields. Vivid memories, but I think that I must have left before the section on Duch. What an amazing God we serve! His mercies never fail. I know that I will see Duch in heaven 'cause God promises,"I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more." Thank you, Lord!
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