Today was a very somber emotional day for me.  At the 11th hour of this 11th day of the 11th month I visited a high school that was converted to a prison for highly educated people of Cambodia (Khmer) in 1975.  One must never forget the torture and human atrocities that occurred here.  This has become a time for remembering all those that had made sacrifices and had suffered in so many ways.

​

To have a general understanding of the tragedy, a little historical perspective is required, which does not require looking too far back in the past … the 1970’s to be exact.  Because of the intervening of many outside foreign countries, changes occurred to the political structure of Cambodia.  Civil war broke out and with foreign influence over 300,000 people were killed.  By 1975, foreigners stepped away from their involvement and civil war ended.  At this time, Phnom Penh fell to communist control.  The communist group, Khmer Rouge convinced over 2 million people that it was in their best interest, and for their safety, to go for a few days to the countryside.   The people had to leave the majority of their belongings behind thinking they would return after a few days, but this did not happen.  Khmer Rouge had a goal of transforming most of Cambodia into a rural farming community and completely abandoned democracy.  The new government did not like to be challenged and to avoid any attempt of overthrow, the Khmer Rouge started to eliminate the educated people of Cambodia.  Schools, such as the one I visited, were converted to prisons.

​