Tuol Svay Prey School - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Posted by: 
denben
N 11° 32.920 E 104° 55.070
48P E 491040 N 1276648
This former Phnom Penh high school was turned into a prison called "S-21" or "Tuol Sleng" under the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. It is now the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide.
Waymark Code: WME9Q1
Location: Cambodia
Date Posted: 04/23/2012
Views: 8
"Perhaps the most notorious of the atrocities that occurred under the rule of Pol Pot occurred at Security Prison 21 (S-21), formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School (named after a royal ancestor of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia) in Phnom Penh. The five buildings of the complex were converted in August 1975 into a prison and interrogation center by the Khmer Rouge regime. The buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes. From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at S-21; there were only twelve known survivors. At any one time, the prison held between 1,000 to 1,500 inmates. They were repeatedly tortured and coerced into naming family members and close associates, who were in turn arrested, tortured, and killed." (
visit link)
"The historical photographs and documents from the site of the S-21 prison and interrogation center, currently held at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register on 31 July, 2009. The museum archive holds 4,186 prisoner “confessions”, 6,226 biographies of prisoners and 6,147 photographic prints." (
visit link)
The sadness I have felt during my visit to the Genocide Museum was increased by the story of the personal experience of our guide whose husband (a teacher) was arrested and never came back.
Admission $2