The Cambodian Killing Fields – Wat Thmei

If you want to go visit a small killing field in Siem Reap, as they are generally known as, then you can do so at Wat Thmei which is located on the left fork road on the road to Angkor. Wat Thmei has a small memorial stupa containing skulls and bones of some of the Khmer Rouge’s victims.

On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all the people living in the city to the countryside to work in labour camps. During Khmer Rouge rule under Pol Pot, it is estimated that around 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution and this was around 30% of Cambodia’s population at the time.

The Khmer Rouge banned all businesses and services in Cambodia, including shops, banks, clinics, hospitals, schools and religious or family gatherings. Everyone was forced to work 12-14 hours a day, every day in the labour camps. The people were fed once a day normally a bowl of watery soup with very little rice inside. People were killed everywhere whether they were children, elderly or fit adults who could work in the labour camps. The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn’t like them, if they didn’t work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed a little disobedience but most were killed without reason.

There are over 18000 killing fields within Cambodia and not just the killing field of Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh that most people know of. You can visit a killing field in Siem Reap at Wat Thmei, on the left fork of the road to Angkor Wat, it has a small memorial stupa containing the skulls and bones of victims of the Khmer Rouge.