March 26, 2018 - I love this picture. It looks straight out of a Anthony Bourdain episode. This is the thriving central market in Siem Reap Cambodia. If you walked down the aisle there is a little noodle place.
Cambodia was described to to us as ‘Thailand 30 years ago’. It has has come along way since the nightmare of the late 70’s which still hangs over my generation of Cambodians
In April 1975 Cambodia was in a civil war and a Marxist group called the Khmer Rouge took power. They wanted to literally erase every bit of history, create a utopian society, and make everyone ‘equal’. Thus if you had any education or lived in a city, say this one, you were either killed or forcibly relocated to labor camps. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, accountants, teachers, even if you just wore glasses you were murdered.
They also wanted a pure Cambodia so if you were of Chinese, Vietnamese, or any other ethnic group, you were also killed.
Everything was destroyed in service of the state - Money, art, music, buildings, records, marriage, family, religion, even the idea of wearing color. The KR forcibly emptied every city and marched people to horrific labor camps that were called “Re-education centers”
The KR were in power for only 3 years and 7 months. In that brief time they managed to kill 1.7 to 3 million people. Mostly by forced starvation. It was 25% of the entire population of the country. Some 25,000 mass graves have been discovered. It only ended when Vietnam invaded and overthrew them in 1979, the year I graduated high school.
The leader was never caught. Only one person ever went to jail. There are many former Khmer Rouge officials still in position of power here.
It is not something you can adequately write about here. But as I share these travels I want to try and remember what happened here. I think it’s important not to forget.
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