S-21

The outside of one of the prison buildings at S-21

S-21 was one of about 80 prisons throughout Cambodia during the period of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.  It is located in the heart of Phnom Penh in what used to be a secondary school.  Portraits, taken of every prisoner upon arrival, lined many of the former classrooms.  You could feel the fear and sadness in their eyes.  Virtually no one made it out of S-21 alive.

From a place of learning to a place of endless torture.  When their will was finally broken, prisoners confessed to crimes they didn't commit and were blindfolded, shackled and taken to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields.  They arrived to the sounds of music being played on loudspeakers, which masked the moans of everyone being killed. 

The terrors we learned about are unfathomable.  Two million people were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime.  Life was so unfair to these innocent people.  We encourage everyone to learn more about this terrible period of Cambodian history.

Pictures of victims at S-21