Over four decades since the fall of Pol Pot, the dark memories of the Khmer Rouge still remain deeply embedded in the national psyche of Cambodia. It is one of the gravest crimes against humanity in recent history. For more than 25-years Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia has been working to rebuild a better Cambodia with many local partners in many challenging areas. One of them is peacebuilding. Year after year, we have been implementing many relevant projects to strengthen and heal Cambodia’s society. Since 20XX, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia has partnered with and supported Toul Sleng Genocide Museum on several projects in processing the history of the Khmer Rouge.
M-13, located in Kampong Speu province, was one of the most important prisons of the early Khmer Rouge. It was used to punish, torture, and kill many innocent Cambodians from 1971 to 1975. Understanding what happened at M-13 is an important part of understanding the evolution the Khmer Rouge ideology and its development of imprisonment and torture even before the regime seized full power over the country in April 1975. M-13 has already been documented by previous studies but details on its functioning and operation are still limited.
This in-depth study conducted by Toul Sleng Genocide Museum illustrates the lesser known sides of M-13 including its structure, prisoners and victims as well as the living conditions of individuals there. These findings give us great insight into the already initially inhuman ideology of the Khmer Rouge. This study has been conducted to general academic standard and will form the foundation of future research on this chapter of Cambodian history.
We believe that the findings of this historical study will ultimately help Cambodia overcome the national trauma of this period and put it on a path towards a brighter future. Knowledge about the past is the basis to avert repeating its mistakes.
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Dr. Daniel Schmuecking