The Killing Fields

Many of you have heard of the genocide that took place in Cambodia. There was a book written and a movie made by the above name in the 1980’s. It was a story about the atrocities against the Cambodian people by Vietnam, the U.S., and most of all the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot.
The Killing fields are to Cambodia what the ovens and gas chambers were to Hitler’s Germany in WWII. We went to see the so called place last Monday. We drove a van some 25 kilometers south of the capital, Phnom Penh, to reach the site. Although I have read the book and seen the movie several times, I was surprised by the enormity of the event.
It is believed that two million people were murdered from 1975 and 1979. One to two million more died due to starvation and just simply being worked to death. The Cambodians located these mass graves in the early 1980’s and began to dig up several areas. Today there are just depressions in the ground where several hundred people would be buried. This particular site was where all of the educated people were bought to be executed. They estimate that around 20,000 people were buried here. They had unearthed 9000 before they stopped. A large glass tower holds the skulls of these unfortunate souls.
I thought there was only one “Killing Field”. We found out there are over 300 such places in Cambodia. As we walked along the paths, you could see bones and clothing on the surface that the monsoon rains have unearthed. It was eerie to walk among the massive graves!
Thirty years later the United Nations is trying to have tribunals to bring some of the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice. Our guide said that the people all knew someone who was a soldier in the Army at that time. They do no want all of them to be prosecuted, just the top leaders. He said that what the people really wanted was just to know one thing. WHY?