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DC-Cam has in its possession over 6,000 photographs taken during
Democratic Kampuchea, as well as in the periods immediately
before and after the regime.
DK Leaders
(double click on photographs to read a biography)
Photographs from the PRK (by Province)
Photographs from DC-Cam:
Stilled Lives
Photographs from Toul Sleng (S-21) prision
Photographs from Laos
Photographs from the Archives of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation,
Germany
To view additional photographs, please click
The
Cambodia Tuol Sleng Image Database.
These are photographs (e.g., “mug shots” from S-21 prison) that
DC-Cam has scanned with the permission of the
Tuol
Sleng Genocide Museum. Please note that before any of the images
from this database can be reproduced, written permission must be
obtained from either DC-Cam (dccam@online.com.kh)
or
Tuol
Sleng
Genocide Museum (sopheara@online.com.kh).
DC-Cam welcomes the addition of photographs (or scans of
photographs) to its archives. Please contact:
Sopheak Sim
Team
Leader
Museum of Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Museum Exhibitions
Exhibitions in Cambodia.
Two of the photo
exhibitions we installed during 2003 at the
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (one on
Former Khmer Rouge during DK and Today
and the other on the regime’s top leaders) continue to be
displayed and receive favorable comments from Cambodian and
international visitors alike.
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From Cambodia: “I feel extremely pained. Without the Pol Pot
regime, I would have met my grandfather, my grandmother, my
uncle, and my aunts. Pol Pot’s group were such beasts.”
“What happened was bad and horrifying, but what is worse is
that the Khmer Rouge was never brought to justice.”
“After I visited Tuol Sleng and saw the photos exhibited, I
still don’t understand the purpose of Pol Pot, and that
Khmers killed their own people. So, the only way to give
peace to the victims is to try the surviving Khmer Rouge
leaders.”
From the UK: “Seeing is believing, to remember and never
forget. Why should this happen, again and again? Will there
ever be a last time? Will we ever learn? Rest in peace
forever, all you innocent people. I will carry this visit
with me always.”
From the USA: “I think this exhibition is very inspired.
What was committed will never be forgivable. But the
opportunity to give voice to those forced into Khmer Rouge
servitude – for fear of their own lives – adds much to
trying to understanding the atrocities. Seeing them in your
beautiful (and technically very talented) photos as
villagers today makes one realize how very recent and
unfinished this is.”
From Ireland: “Your photo exhibition is excellent,
depressing, real, and disturbing. It takes a lot of courage
to be honest and real about what happened here at this
‘school.’ The people of Cambodia are strong and brave, and I
am left feeling sick and stunned.”
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In 2004, we mounted a new
Forensics
exhibition at Tuol Sleng. It contains photographs of 10 skulls
excavated from Choeung Ek (the “killing fields” south of
Phnom Penh where Tuol Sleng prisoners were
executed) and other parts of
Cambodia,
accompanied by text explaining the type of trauma to each skull.
This exhibit seeks to demonstrate the value of forensic evidence
in documenting the Khmer Rouge’s crimes against humanity. It is
also intended to educate the public about the types of
information that can be scientifically gathered from victims’
remains in order to prove and record evidence of
murder/genocide. (Because some Cambodians are uncomfortable with
the idea of boxing human remains, we house the skulls in a
separate room at Tuol Sleng, which is open only to officials.)
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From the UK: “Thank you for the cogent presentation of a
truly unbelievable period of your past history. History must
never be allowed to repeat itself. I hope for a peaceful
rebuilding of a new future, where lessons are learned.”
From Australia: “May the work carried out here play a
positive role in bringing the perpetrators of these inhuman
crimes to justice. Seeing the exhibit gives me a sense of
shame, that I can be part of a species that does this to
itself, but also hope, in the smiles of Cambodians and their
determination to keep on surviving. This must never be
forgotten and it must never happen again.”
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In 2005, we will mount an
exhibition called
Stilled Lives,
a photo essay on the lives of 51 former Khmer Rouge. This
exhibition will be shown at Tuol Sleng and
Rutgers University in the United States.
Some Quotes from the Stilled Lives Exhibit Guestbook
at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum:
From Cambodia:
When I saw this horrifying
exhibit, in my mind, I seem to be seeing the killings going on,
as if they were not finished yet.
I am An Sam At, called Paoch.
I am a novice monk in Siem Reap. This is the first time I came
to visit Tuol Sleng Prison. I have seen it and have been
frightened and angry, and felt pity and regret. Nothing can
compare to it in my imagination. I never understand enough. Only
today did I fully understand that Khmers from the old regimes
were very brutal. We in this generation will not follow in their
footsteps.
From two teachers in Denmark:
It makes me feel sick, but
that’s the way history should be taught! Well done!!
From Sweden:
A beautiful exhibition of such
terrible events. May we not only look upon it and say that we
shall remember, so that it will never happen again, but learn
from it to prevent anything of this kind from occurring in any
country on our earth.
From the USA:
For the people of
Cambodia to still exhibit kindness and compassion amongst a
history of such cruelty and poverty is truly an extraordinary
and inspirational demonstration of the strength and resilience
of the human spirit. May your story be told the world over, in
hopes of encouraging others to maintain their humanity when the
world around you seems so devoid of it.
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