Comrade Duch: age 17
Kaing Guek Eau aka comrade Duch is on trial for crimes against humanity. Comrade Duch was head of the torture centre S21. He ordered guards to electroshock and drown prisoners, and photograph them just before they died. He ordered guards to use baskets of spiders and scorpions to get people to confess to crimes.
“Duch oversaw a precise department of death. His guards dutifully photographed the prisoners upon arrival and photgraphed them at or near death, whether their throats were slit, their bodies otherwise mutilated, or so thin from torture and near starvation that they were beyond recognition. The photographs were part of the files to prove the enemies of the state had been killed. Duch even set aside specific days for killing various types of prisoners: one day the wives of “enemies”; another day the children; a different day, factory workers.” (From: ‘When the War Was Over‘ - by Elizabeth Becker)
Duch: symbol of Khmer Rouge horror
The video below is by John Pilger about Cambodia and the killing Fields.
Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia
"The new rulers of cambodia called 1975 year zero a dawn of an age in which there would be no families, no sentiment, no expressions of love or grief, no schools, no books, no learning, no holidays, no music, no songs...." (John Pilger)
Milgram and obedience to authority
This is a song I used to listen to when I was a kid round about the time of the killing fields....
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