In the late 1970s, up to 3 million people died in the Killing Fields of the Cambodian genocide. This is what it looked like.
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26 Haunting Portraits Of Prisoners During The Cambodian Genocide
Cambodian Genocide Officially Recognized As Two Perpetrators Receive Life Imprisonment
The Five Biggest Killing Fields In America
1 of 34A distraught woman cries over the body of her husband, killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 2 of 34A group of women huddle together, 1975.Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 34A terrified prisoner is photographed inside the Tuol Sleng prison.
Of the nearly 20,000 people locked in Tuol Sleng, only seven survived.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 4 of 34Skulls lie in the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 5 of 34Khmer Rouge soldiers drive through the capital.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 6 of 34Child soldiers working for the Khmer Rouge show off their machine guns.
Galaw, Cambodia. Circa 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 7 of 34A child soldier with a human skull resting on the tip of his rifle.
Dei Kraham, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 8 of 34A family of starving refugees struggle to make their way across the border to Thailand.
Phnom Penh. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 9 of 34A crowd gathers around a civilian killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet/Getty Images 10 of 34A child soldier stands over a blindfolded soldier.
Though the atrocities of the killing fields were unjustifiably horrible, this photo shows a more complex version of the story. Here, the child soldier is fighting for the Khmer Republic - and his prisoner is a member of the Khmer Rouge.
Angkor Chey, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 11 of 34Refugees peer through the gate to the French Embassy, begging to get in.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 12 of 34A soldier stands by a mass grave.
Oudong, Cambodia. 1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 13 of 34An employee at the French Embassy offers a cigarette to a Khmer Rouge soldier.
The gate to the embassy, by this time, had been barricaded off with barbed wire.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images 14 of 34A woman rides a bicycle by a stack of destroyed cars, cast aside by the Khmer Rouge as of symbol of the bourgeoisie.
Phnom Penh. 1979.John Bryson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 15 of 34At the twilight of the Cambodian Civil War, the people of Phnom Penh start to evacuate, as the burning gasoline depot behind them signals the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images 16 of 34Cambodians climb over a fence, trying to escape to the French Embassy.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 17 of 34Young refugees hide under tall grass, escaping from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1979.Henri Bureau/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images 18 of 34A young girl and her baby, inside of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 19 of 34Thousands of refugees prepare to evacuate the capital, fleeing from the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.AFP/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 34Cambodians try to help an injured civilian.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 21 of 34As the Khmer Rouge moves into the capital, thousands of people abandon their country in fear of what’s to come.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 22 of 34A line of a thousand Cambodian refugees makes it into Thailand.
Klong Kwang, Thailand. 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 23 of 34The French Embassy in Phnom Penh struggles to handle the hordes of people begging for protection.
1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 24 of 34Injured people hide out in the hospital, before the capital was under complete Khmer Rouge control.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 25 of 34A Thai border patrolman finds a dead child that was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Thailand. 1977.Bettmann/Getty Images 26 of 34Starving refugees get help from a Thai relief mission, laying in tents near the border.
Pailin, Cambodia. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 27 of 34Cambodian soldiers who fought against the Khmer Rouge in the Olympic Stadium, the place the Khmer Rouge used for their executions, Phnom Penh, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 28 of 34A dead man’s body lies on the ground at Tuol Sleng, following his murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 34A field of people massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
My Duc, Vietnam. 1978.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 30 of 34A dead man, with his shirt ripped open, lies on the cold ground of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 34A young boy picks up a soldier’s helmet as the victorious Khmer Rouge parades through the streets of his city.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 34A prisoner bleeds on the floor of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 34A Cambodian soldier fighting against the Khmer Rouger is captured in Thailand.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1985.Alex Bowie/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide View Gallery
Few horrors compare to the Killing Fields of the Cambodian genocide.
Like this gallery?Share it:
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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
26 Haunting Portraits Of Prisoners During The Cambodian Genocide
Cambodian Genocide Officially Recognized As Two Perpetrators Receive Life Imprisonment
The Five Biggest Killing Fields In America
1 of 34A distraught woman cries over the body of her husband, killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 2 of 34A group of women huddle together, 1975.Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 34A terrified prisoner is photographed inside the Tuol Sleng prison.
Of the nearly 20,000 people locked in Tuol Sleng, only seven survived.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 4 of 34Skulls lie in the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 5 of 34Khmer Rouge soldiers drive through the capital.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 6 of 34Child soldiers working for the Khmer Rouge show off their machine guns.
Galaw, Cambodia. Circa 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 7 of 34A child soldier with a human skull resting on the tip of his rifle.
Dei Kraham, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 8 of 34A family of starving refugees struggle to make their way across the border to Thailand.
Phnom Penh. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 9 of 34A crowd gathers around a civilian killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet/Getty Images 10 of 34A child soldier stands over a blindfolded soldier.
Though the atrocities of the killing fields were unjustifiably horrible, this photo shows a more complex version of the story. Here, the child soldier is fighting for the Khmer Republic - and his prisoner is a member of the Khmer Rouge.
Angkor Chey, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 11 of 34Refugees peer through the gate to the French Embassy, begging to get in.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 12 of 34A soldier stands by a mass grave.
Oudong, Cambodia. 1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 13 of 34An employee at the French Embassy offers a cigarette to a Khmer Rouge soldier.
The gate to the embassy, by this time, had been barricaded off with barbed wire.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images 14 of 34A woman rides a bicycle by a stack of destroyed cars, cast aside by the Khmer Rouge as of symbol of the bourgeoisie.
Phnom Penh. 1979.John Bryson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 15 of 34At the twilight of the Cambodian Civil War, the people of Phnom Penh start to evacuate, as the burning gasoline depot behind them signals the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images 16 of 34Cambodians climb over a fence, trying to escape to the French Embassy.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 17 of 34Young refugees hide under tall grass, escaping from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1979.Henri Bureau/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images 18 of 34A young girl and her baby, inside of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 19 of 34Thousands of refugees prepare to evacuate the capital, fleeing from the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.AFP/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 34Cambodians try to help an injured civilian.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 21 of 34As the Khmer Rouge moves into the capital, thousands of people abandon their country in fear of what’s to come.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 22 of 34A line of a thousand Cambodian refugees makes it into Thailand.
Klong Kwang, Thailand. 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 23 of 34The French Embassy in Phnom Penh struggles to handle the hordes of people begging for protection.
1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 24 of 34Injured people hide out in the hospital, before the capital was under complete Khmer Rouge control.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 25 of 34A Thai border patrolman finds a dead child that was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Thailand. 1977.Bettmann/Getty Images 26 of 34Starving refugees get help from a Thai relief mission, laying in tents near the border.
Pailin, Cambodia. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 27 of 34Cambodian soldiers who fought against the Khmer Rouge in the Olympic Stadium, the place the Khmer Rouge used for their executions, Phnom Penh, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 28 of 34A dead man’s body lies on the ground at Tuol Sleng, following his murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 34A field of people massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
My Duc, Vietnam. 1978.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 30 of 34A dead man, with his shirt ripped open, lies on the cold ground of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 34A young boy picks up a soldier’s helmet as the victorious Khmer Rouge parades through the streets of his city.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 34A prisoner bleeds on the floor of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 34A Cambodian soldier fighting against the Khmer Rouger is captured in Thailand.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1985.Alex Bowie/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
26 Haunting Portraits Of Prisoners During The Cambodian Genocide
Cambodian Genocide Officially Recognized As Two Perpetrators Receive Life Imprisonment
The Five Biggest Killing Fields In America
1 of 34A distraught woman cries over the body of her husband, killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 2 of 34A group of women huddle together, 1975.Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 34A terrified prisoner is photographed inside the Tuol Sleng prison.
Of the nearly 20,000 people locked in Tuol Sleng, only seven survived.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 4 of 34Skulls lie in the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 5 of 34Khmer Rouge soldiers drive through the capital.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 6 of 34Child soldiers working for the Khmer Rouge show off their machine guns.
Galaw, Cambodia. Circa 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 7 of 34A child soldier with a human skull resting on the tip of his rifle.
Dei Kraham, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 8 of 34A family of starving refugees struggle to make their way across the border to Thailand.
Phnom Penh. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 9 of 34A crowd gathers around a civilian killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet/Getty Images 10 of 34A child soldier stands over a blindfolded soldier.
Though the atrocities of the killing fields were unjustifiably horrible, this photo shows a more complex version of the story. Here, the child soldier is fighting for the Khmer Republic - and his prisoner is a member of the Khmer Rouge.
Angkor Chey, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 11 of 34Refugees peer through the gate to the French Embassy, begging to get in.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 12 of 34A soldier stands by a mass grave.
Oudong, Cambodia. 1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 13 of 34An employee at the French Embassy offers a cigarette to a Khmer Rouge soldier.
The gate to the embassy, by this time, had been barricaded off with barbed wire.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images 14 of 34A woman rides a bicycle by a stack of destroyed cars, cast aside by the Khmer Rouge as of symbol of the bourgeoisie.
Phnom Penh. 1979.John Bryson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 15 of 34At the twilight of the Cambodian Civil War, the people of Phnom Penh start to evacuate, as the burning gasoline depot behind them signals the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images 16 of 34Cambodians climb over a fence, trying to escape to the French Embassy.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 17 of 34Young refugees hide under tall grass, escaping from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1979.Henri Bureau/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images 18 of 34A young girl and her baby, inside of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 19 of 34Thousands of refugees prepare to evacuate the capital, fleeing from the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.AFP/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 34Cambodians try to help an injured civilian.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 21 of 34As the Khmer Rouge moves into the capital, thousands of people abandon their country in fear of what’s to come.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 22 of 34A line of a thousand Cambodian refugees makes it into Thailand.
Klong Kwang, Thailand. 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 23 of 34The French Embassy in Phnom Penh struggles to handle the hordes of people begging for protection.
1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 24 of 34Injured people hide out in the hospital, before the capital was under complete Khmer Rouge control.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 25 of 34A Thai border patrolman finds a dead child that was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Thailand. 1977.Bettmann/Getty Images 26 of 34Starving refugees get help from a Thai relief mission, laying in tents near the border.
Pailin, Cambodia. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 27 of 34Cambodian soldiers who fought against the Khmer Rouge in the Olympic Stadium, the place the Khmer Rouge used for their executions, Phnom Penh, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 28 of 34A dead man’s body lies on the ground at Tuol Sleng, following his murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 34A field of people massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
My Duc, Vietnam. 1978.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 30 of 34A dead man, with his shirt ripped open, lies on the cold ground of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 34A young boy picks up a soldier’s helmet as the victorious Khmer Rouge parades through the streets of his city.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 34A prisoner bleeds on the floor of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 34A Cambodian soldier fighting against the Khmer Rouger is captured in Thailand.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1985.Alex Bowie/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
Like this gallery?Share it:
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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:
26 Haunting Portraits Of Prisoners During The Cambodian Genocide
Cambodian Genocide Officially Recognized As Two Perpetrators Receive Life Imprisonment
The Five Biggest Killing Fields In America
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1 of 34A distraught woman cries over the body of her husband, killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 2 of 34A group of women huddle together, 1975.Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 3 of 34A terrified prisoner is photographed inside the Tuol Sleng prison.
Of the nearly 20,000 people locked in Tuol Sleng, only seven survived.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 4 of 34Skulls lie in the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 5 of 34Khmer Rouge soldiers drive through the capital.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 6 of 34Child soldiers working for the Khmer Rouge show off their machine guns.
Galaw, Cambodia. Circa 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 7 of 34A child soldier with a human skull resting on the tip of his rifle.
Dei Kraham, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 8 of 34A family of starving refugees struggle to make their way across the border to Thailand.
Phnom Penh. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 9 of 34A crowd gathers around a civilian killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet/Getty Images 10 of 34A child soldier stands over a blindfolded soldier.
Though the atrocities of the killing fields were unjustifiably horrible, this photo shows a more complex version of the story. Here, the child soldier is fighting for the Khmer Republic - and his prisoner is a member of the Khmer Rouge.
Angkor Chey, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images 11 of 34Refugees peer through the gate to the French Embassy, begging to get in.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 12 of 34A soldier stands by a mass grave.
Oudong, Cambodia. 1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 13 of 34An employee at the French Embassy offers a cigarette to a Khmer Rouge soldier.
The gate to the embassy, by this time, had been barricaded off with barbed wire.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images 14 of 34A woman rides a bicycle by a stack of destroyed cars, cast aside by the Khmer Rouge as of symbol of the bourgeoisie.
Phnom Penh. 1979.John Bryson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 15 of 34At the twilight of the Cambodian Civil War, the people of Phnom Penh start to evacuate, as the burning gasoline depot behind them signals the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images 16 of 34Cambodians climb over a fence, trying to escape to the French Embassy.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 17 of 34Young refugees hide under tall grass, escaping from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1979.Henri Bureau/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images 18 of 34A young girl and her baby, inside of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 19 of 34Thousands of refugees prepare to evacuate the capital, fleeing from the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.AFP/AFP/Getty Images 20 of 34Cambodians try to help an injured civilian.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 21 of 34As the Khmer Rouge moves into the capital, thousands of people abandon their country in fear of what’s to come.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 22 of 34A line of a thousand Cambodian refugees makes it into Thailand.
Klong Kwang, Thailand. 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images 23 of 34The French Embassy in Phnom Penh struggles to handle the hordes of people begging for protection.
1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 24 of 34Injured people hide out in the hospital, before the capital was under complete Khmer Rouge control.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 25 of 34A Thai border patrolman finds a dead child that was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Thailand. 1977.Bettmann/Getty Images 26 of 34Starving refugees get help from a Thai relief mission, laying in tents near the border.
Pailin, Cambodia. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 27 of 34Cambodian soldiers who fought against the Khmer Rouge in the Olympic Stadium, the place the Khmer Rouge used for their executions, Phnom Penh, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images 28 of 34A dead man’s body lies on the ground at Tuol Sleng, following his murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 29 of 34A field of people massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
My Duc, Vietnam. 1978.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 30 of 34A dead man, with his shirt ripped open, lies on the cold ground of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 31 of 34A young boy picks up a soldier’s helmet as the victorious Khmer Rouge parades through the streets of his city.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images 32 of 34A prisoner bleeds on the floor of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons 33 of 34A Cambodian soldier fighting against the Khmer Rouger is captured in Thailand.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1985.Alex Bowie/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
Share
1 of 34A distraught woman cries over the body of her husband, killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
2 of 34A group of women huddle together, 1975.Romano Cagnoni/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
3 of 34A terrified prisoner is photographed inside the Tuol Sleng prison.
Of the nearly 20,000 people locked in Tuol Sleng, only seven survived.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons
4 of 34Skulls lie in the killing fields of Choeung Ek.
1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
5 of 34Khmer Rouge soldiers drive through the capital.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images
6 of 34Child soldiers working for the Khmer Rouge show off their machine guns.
Galaw, Cambodia. Circa 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images
7 of 34A child soldier with a human skull resting on the tip of his rifle.
Dei Kraham, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images
8 of 34A family of starving refugees struggle to make their way across the border to Thailand.
Phnom Penh. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
9 of 34A crowd gathers around a civilian killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Francoise De Mulder/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
10 of 34A child soldier stands over a blindfolded soldier.
Though the atrocities of the killing fields were unjustifiably horrible, this photo shows a more complex version of the story. Here, the child soldier is fighting for the Khmer Republic - and his prisoner is a member of the Khmer Rouge.
Angkor Chey, Cambodia. 1973.Bettmann/Getty Images
11 of 34Refugees peer through the gate to the French Embassy, begging to get in.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
12 of 34A soldier stands by a mass grave.
Oudong, Cambodia. 1981.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
13 of 34An employee at the French Embassy offers a cigarette to a Khmer Rouge soldier.
The gate to the embassy, by this time, had been barricaded off with barbed wire.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Express/Archive Photos/Getty Images
14 of 34A woman rides a bicycle by a stack of destroyed cars, cast aside by the Khmer Rouge as of symbol of the bourgeoisie.
Phnom Penh. 1979.John Bryson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
15 of 34At the twilight of the Cambodian Civil War, the people of Phnom Penh start to evacuate, as the burning gasoline depot behind them signals the arrival of the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.CLAUDE JUVENAL/AFP/Getty Images
16 of 34Cambodians climb over a fence, trying to escape to the French Embassy.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images
17 of 34Young refugees hide under tall grass, escaping from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1979.Henri Bureau/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
18 of 34A young girl and her baby, inside of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons
19 of 34Thousands of refugees prepare to evacuate the capital, fleeing from the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh. 1975.AFP/AFP/Getty Images
20 of 34Cambodians try to help an injured civilian.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
21 of 34As the Khmer Rouge moves into the capital, thousands of people abandon their country in fear of what’s to come.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
22 of 34A line of a thousand Cambodian refugees makes it into Thailand.
Klong Kwang, Thailand. 1979.Bettmann/Getty Images
23 of 34The French Embassy in Phnom Penh struggles to handle the hordes of people begging for protection.
1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
24 of 34Injured people hide out in the hospital, before the capital was under complete Khmer Rouge control.
Phnom Penh. 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
25 of 34A Thai border patrolman finds a dead child that was killed by Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Thailand. 1977.Bettmann/Getty Images
26 of 34Starving refugees get help from a Thai relief mission, laying in tents near the border.
Pailin, Cambodia. 1979.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
27 of 34Cambodian soldiers who fought against the Khmer Rouge in the Olympic Stadium, the place the Khmer Rouge used for their executions, Phnom Penh, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images
28 of 34A dead man’s body lies on the ground at Tuol Sleng, following his murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons
29 of 34A field of people massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
My Duc, Vietnam. 1978.Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
30 of 34A dead man, with his shirt ripped open, lies on the cold ground of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons
31 of 34A young boy picks up a soldier’s helmet as the victorious Khmer Rouge parades through the streets of his city.
Phnom Penh. 1975.SJOBERG/AFP/Getty Images
32 of 34A prisoner bleeds on the floor of Tuol Sleng.
Phnom Penh.Wikimedia Commons
33 of 34A Cambodian soldier fighting against the Khmer Rouger is captured in Thailand.
Aranyaprathet, Thailand. 1985.Alex Bowie/Getty Images
34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide View Gallery
33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide View Gallery
33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide View Gallery
33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide View Gallery
33 Haunting Photos From The Killing Fields Of The Cambodian Genocide
View Gallery
Over four short years, from 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge systematically exterminated up to 3 million people. The people of Cambodia had to live in fear, knowing that they might be the next one dragged out to the Killing Fields. The chances of being chosen were indeed high – by the end of the massacre, the Khmer Rouge had wiped out nearly 25 percent of the population.
The nightmare began in Phnom Penh, with the end of the Cambodian Civil War. It was the last stronghold of the right-wing, military-led Khmer Republic, and with its fall, Cambodia came into the hands of the dictator Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge regime.
When the Khmer Rouge emerged from the civil war victorious and marched down the streets, thousands of terrified people fled, some rushing for the border with Thailand while others flooded the gates of the French Embassy.
The massacres soon began and the Cambodian genocide was underway. The fighters who had stood up against the Khmer Rouge were executed en masse. Then the Khmer Rouge turned on civilians, driving the people into the countryside and killing thousands in the process.
Soon, the Khmer Rouge was rounding up anyone who did anything that could be seen as capitalist. Selling a product or talking to anyone from the world beyond Cambodia’s borders was treated like an act of treason. Those caught were sent to so-called re-education camps like Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, a fate that nearly always meant getting tortured and killed.
Adults were forced to dig their own graves before they were slaughtered with spades and sharpened bamboo. Their children, meanwhile, were smashed to death against the trunks of trees and thrown into the mass graves where their parents lay.
There were more than 150 of these execution centers across the country. One of the most brutal, Tuol Sleng, was a former school that transformed into a factory of death. About 20,000 people ended up locked inside of its walls – and only seven got out alive.
The massacres on the Killing Fields stopped when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979 and brought an end to the Khmer Rouge. As the Vietnamese marched through Cambodia, they found places like Tuol Sleng. They uncovered mass graves full of thousands of human remains – and found photos of some of the many people who had been lost in the Cambodian genocide.
After learning about the Killing Fields and the Cambodian Genocide, view some haunting portraits of prisoners under the Khmer Rouge and learn more about the Pol Pot. Then, learn about the brutality of Belgium’s Leopold II and his genocide in Africa.
