Today, April 30, I visited the Choeung Ek Genocide Center, a place all who visit PP should try to see. I didn’t take pictures of the bones or the killing tree as they are easily found online. Instead I am sharing these photos of beautiful flowers that grow there in stark contrast to the brutality of the late 70s.
I think it shows great courage and integrity for a nation to own this horrific past with to goal of respecting those who perished – and those who survived – and remembering is the best way to prevent such atrocities from happening again.
Somehow I only shed tears at the killing tree, while hearing how so many infants were murdered, and at one of the displays of human bones. A recently uncovered jawbone with all the front teeth missing was sitting on top of the box. Teeth probably knocked out by Khmer Rouge soldiers sometime before being murdered. I could not forget that this happened during my happy Canadian childhood.
This center doesn’t soften what happened. And it should not.
