[The following is in regards to the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as Comrade Duch, who was the head of the Khmer Rouge’s internal security branch, in which he oversaw the Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison camp where thousands were held for interrogation and torture. While the trial itself takes place in the early 2000s, I still felt it appropriate, as the trial only covered events taking place between the years 1975-1979. Every testimony is from that time period, and everything depicted by the author, who was present at the trial, are essentially reactions to this gruesome period of history by contemporaries who were present or had participated. In that sense, I feel this fits well for our purposes, and I do not believe it breaks the 20 Year Rule.]
In the land of the Khmer Rouge, when a commander was arrested, his men soon followed. It was known as a “line.” A few months after the fall of his commander, Bou Meng and his wife were transferred to what he dubs a “hot reeducation” cooperative: in effect, a forced labor camp run with ruthless discipline. Like hundreds of thousands of his countrymen, Bou Meng became a prisoner. He dug canals and built dykes until he was on the verge of collapse. Then he had the good fortune to be transferred first to carpentry, then to the vegetable garden. He grew cabbages and eggplants for the collective.
In May of 1977 (or maybe it was June, he doesn’t remember exactly) he was slaving away in a vegetable patch when a group of black-shirted men jumped out of a jeep like a murder of crows. They told Bou Meng and his wife to pack their things; they were going to become teachers at the School of Fine Arts. Bou Meng was thrilled – he was a painter, not a gardener. He and his wife cheerfully got into the vehicle. The vehicle drove away from the camp, then stopped. They were ordered to get out, to sit down, and to put their hands behind their backs. They were tied up and blindfolded. Bou Meng’s wife began to cry. He sank to the depths of despair.
[…]
When a prisoner arrived at S-21 and had his photo taken, a number would be hung around his neck. Bou Meng’s wife, Ma Yoeun, wore number 331, indicating that she was the 331st person to enter the prison that month. In her photo, Ma Yoeun wears her hair in the only style available to women in Democratic Kampuchea: a bob reaching halfway down her neck and parted square in the middle – though a few coquettish rebels pushed the part slightly to one side. In the photo, Ma Yoeun is a pretty twenty-five-year-old with a slightly frightened look in her eyes – a normal reaction in someone who has been arrested and just had their blindfold removed.
The photo taken at S-21 is the only trace Bou Meng has left of his wife, and though it was taken by those who killed her, he never parts from it.
Source:
Cruvellier, T., and Alex Gilly. “Chapter 3.” The Master of Confessions: The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer. Ecco, 2014. 16, 20. Print.
Further Reading:
សារមន្ទីរឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ទួលស្លែង (Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum) / Security Prison 21 (S-21)
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