Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

When the Khmer Rouge controlled my country from 1975 to 1979, Security Prison 21 (S-21) was a place of horror for my people.

 

Before it was made into the notorious Toul Sleng prison, it was the Chao Ponhea Yat High School. Now it is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It reminds us of how precious life really is and how easy it can be taken away.
Four months after the Khmer Rouge won the civil war, they converted the high school into a prison and interrogation center. They renamed it Security Prison 21. The classrooms were converted into tiny prison cells and torture chambers and all the windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire.
Between 1975 and 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned here. Most of the victims were from the previous Lon Nol regime and included soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks and engineers. Eventually the Khmer Rouge turned on itself and began imprisoning members of their own regime.
Of the 17,000 prisoners at Tuol Sleng, there are only 12 known survivors.