Choeung Ek, Center of Genocide Crimes
Many visitors find Choeung Ek to be a raw and shocking site. The most famous of what have become known as Cambodia’s “killing fields,” Choeung Ek consists of a field of roughly excavated mass graves and an open memorial tower filled with thousands of human bones. While there are many similar memorial sites throughout Cambodia, Choeung Ek is unusual in that has become a mass tourism destination: more than 500 international tourists visit every day.
Located about 15 kilometers outside of Phnom Penh, Choeung Ek is closely linked to the S-21 detention center, which is now the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide Crimes. Most of the prisoners who were held captive at S-21 were taken to the Choeung Ek killing field where they were bludgeoned to death and deposited in one of the approximately 129 mass graves. It is estimated that the graves contain the remains of over 20,000 victims, many of whom had been cadres in the Khmer Rouge themselves.
The Vietnamese discovered the site in 1979 during their occupation in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge reign. They capitalized upon the strategic importance of the site and set to work exhuming the mass graves. They also enlisted Mai Lam, a Vietnamese colonel turned museologist, to preserve the remains and transform the site into a memorial. During this time, they treated the remains they exhumed with preservatives and stored them in an open-walled wooden memorial pavilion. Eventually, these remains were showcased in the memorial’s centerpiece stupa, or Buddhist shrine.
In 2005, Choeung Ek was turned over to a private Japanese company tasked with the responsibility to “develop and renovate the beauty of Choueng Ek” in order to attract more paying visitors. The Cambodian government agreed to allow JC Royal, Co., manage the site for thirty years in exchange for the site’s development and for $15,000 per year in revenue.
After assuming control of the site, representatives of JC Royal said they planned to increase the site’s entry fees to 500 riel (US$0.12) for Cambodians and US$3.00 for foreigners. The Cambodian government also claimed that the profits from Choeung Ek’s fledging tourist industry would be channeled to the Sun Fund, established by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2002, to bolster the revival of Khmer cultural education. The Documentation Center of Cambodia has subsequently accused the government of “using the bones of the dead to make business.” Their agreement stipulates, however, that JC Royal, Co. is prohibited from moving or disturbing the human remains at the site.
References
This essay was adapted in part from this article: Moore, Lisa. “Recovering the Past, Remembering Trauma: The Politics of Commemoration at Sites of Atrocity.” Journal of Public and International Affairs, Princeton: Princeton University, Spring, 2009.
Bickford, Louis. “Transforming a Legacy of Genocide: Pedagogy and Tourism at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek.” Memory, Memorials, and Museums (MMM) Program, International Center for Transitional Justice, February 2009.
De Launey, Guy. “Killing Fields Deal Sparks Anger.” BBC News, April 6, 2005.
External Link
Istvan, Zoltan. “‘Killing Fields’ Lure Tourists in Cambodia.” National Geographic Today, Jan 10, 2003.
External Link
Montlake, Simon. “Cambodia’s Killing Fields Get Privatized.” Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 2005.
External Link
Discussions
Never Again: Memorials and Prevention
Over the course of the past fifty years, an increasingly global interest in constructing memorials to genocide and mass atrocity has emerged. This article will explore…
Discussion of Choeung Ek
Some Cambodians have made the objection that the preservation and presentation of skulls in Choeung Ek’s stupa violates Buddhist custom. In an appeal for the…
Design of Choeung Ek
Choeung Ek is a large site, about the size of a soccer field, and is surrounded by farmland. The centerpiece of the site, a 62-meter…
Related Resources
There has been much written about how Choeung Ek has been used to political and nationalistic ends, but little on the site’s current use as an educational resource. With this in mind, ICTJ’s Louis Bickford conducted a survey of visitors to Choeung Ek.
The New York Times has a 1999 account of the annual Day of Hate ceremony at Choeung Ek.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia has a great deal of information on mass grave sites throughout Cambodia and on the Khmer Rouge in general.
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Hughes, Rachel
“Witnessing Genocide: Vigilance and Remembrance at Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 18, no. 2 (2004): 234-254.
Print
Bickford, Louis
“Transforming a Legacy of Genocide: Pedagogy and Tourism at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek.” Memory, Memorials, and Museums (MMM) Program, International Center for Transitional Justice, February 2009.
Print
“The earning fields.” The Economist 375, no. 8426 (May 14, 2005): 45.
Print
Ledgerwood, Judy
“The Cambodian Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes: National Narrative.” Museum Anthropology 21, no. 1 (1997): 82-98.
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Cambodia
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Previous Comments
When a genocide occurs nobody knows what to expect, but the outcomes are devastating. When such atrocities occur many try to prevent such crimes in the future. Some do this by having memorials for the victims. One of the Memorials that I believed to be interesting is the Choeung Ek Memorial located in Cambodia. This is a unique memorial because it displays the remains of a victim in such way that it has attracted many tourists to Cambodia.
by Maria Reyes (Sun, April 11, 2010)
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