Choeung Ek Killing Fields

About 15 km southwest of the city centre lies one of the many sites of Khmer Rouge mass executions. The exhumed skulls of some 8,000 people, arranged by sex and age, are displayed behind glass panels in the Memorial Stupa, which was erected in 1988. Although some were killed and buried at Tuol Sleng, most victims were driven out to Choeung Ek at night by truck.

Some were made to dig their own graves before being clubbed to death with any heavy instrument available. In addition to those exhumed, another 43 pits have been left undisturbed and the final shocking total can only be guessed.

The pleasant orchard setting does little to dispel the horror engendered by this grim sight, as Choeung Ek is just one of the thousands of recorded mass gravesites throughout the country, and is by no means, the largest. On May 9th each year a memorial service is conducted at the stupa, in memory of the estimated 1.7 million people who died during the genocide.