Toul Sleng Genocide Museum

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, the former security office 21 in "Democratic Kampuchea" was created on orders of Pol Pot (Sa lut Sor) in April 17, 1975. Office 21 was called S-21 and designed for detention, interrogation, inhuman torture, and killing after confession from the detainees were received and documented.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly known as S-21 prison

On January 7, 1979, the Party and the Government collected all the evidence in S-21 such as photographs, films, the prisoner confession archives, torture tools, shackles, and the fourteen victim corpses ( one of them was female).  Now the evidence of the criminal regime is display for Cambodian and international visitors.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum was opened on August 19, 1979 when Kampuchea People's tribunal started the prosecution of Democratic Kampuchea leaders: Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khiev Samphorn, the former iffice S-21, covered the area of 600 x 400 meters. Faces Sihanouk Blvd on the north, Mao Zedong Blvd on the south, Monivong Blvd on the east and street 163 on the west. The compound is surrounded by two rows of corrugated iron fence covered with dense barbed wire.

Previously the area hosted Toul Sleng Primary School and Toul Svay Prey high school, one more fence of double-row iron topped with barbed wire was erected circling the larger area stretching from street 113 on the east to street 350 on the south.

The enclosure was made after Pol  Pot's clique forced city dwellers to leave their homes and live in remote countryside in condition close to slavery which seem as prison without walls.

The four buildings of high school have seen classrooms turned into small cell 0.8 x 2 meters caging individual prisoners. The front of the buildings was covered in the fishnet of barbed wire preventing prisoners from committing suicide by jumping down.

In 1997 - 1998, Building A was converted into a set of rooms 6 x 4 meters each, the window were paneled with glass to minimize the sound of prisoners' screams heard outside the facility in times of torture.

Building A was used for detaining cadres who were accused of leading the uprising against Pol Pot revolution. Their cages were furnished with a bed, blanket, cushion and mat. An iron bucket or a plastic water-container was provided to dispose their body waste.

Building "B", "C", and "D" have been reconstructed differently: the ground floor was divided by brick walls; the first floor and upper floors were used for large cells where many prisoners were crowded together.

A bodies of 14 victims were discovered by the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea (UFNSK) on January 7, 1979. The bodies were unidentifiable due to bad decomposition, were carried out and buried in front of Building A. The 14 corpses whom one was female, were the last people to be tortured and killed by S-21 personnel before they fled.

A wooden pole in the yard once used for physical education of students was turned into interrogation and torture machine. The interrogator tied both hands of the prisoner behind their back and lifted the prisoner upside down. This action was repeated a number of times until the prisoner lost its consciousness, then the interrogator dipped the prisoners head into a barrel of filthy water. This shocked the victims back into consciousness  so that the torturer could continue their questioning.

To maintain the security and keep up the work of the facility in office S-21 and its branches, 1684 staffs were employed in 1976, and divided into 3 parts: office S-21  (Toul Sleng), office S-21 Kor (located in Ta Khmao), office S-21 Khor (located at Prey Sor west of Phnom Penh District, Kandal Province) were responsible for producing agriculture supplies for the S-21 complex.

The office and its branches reported directly to the authority of  central Community and Khmer Rouge ministry of defense. A general permanent of central community as an assistant and took the responsibility was Kang Keck lev ( also known as Duch). Duch was a chief of office S-21.

The research into prisoner record of S-21 gave us the following number of inmates from 1975 until June 1978:

1975.......................................  154 prisoners

1976......................................2,250 prisoners

1977......................................2,350 prisoners

1978......................................5,765 prisoners

These figures do not include children killed by Khmer Rouge, the figure is estimated to be 20,000. The imprisonment in S-21  lasted 2 to 4 months. Political prisoner were held between 6 or 7 months.

Today it  is compulsory to preserve the Archive evidences of the bloody regime and remember the oppression, anguish, and suffering caused by Khmer Rouge.

Keeping the memory of the atrocities committed of Cambodia soil alive is the key to build a new strong and just state.

Furthermore, making the crimes of inhuman regime of Khmer Rouge republic plays crucial role in preventing new Pol Pot from emerging in the lands of Angkor or anywhere on Earth.

Extract from the Genocide Museum pamphlet

Prepared by Toul Sleng Genocide Museum