摘要: Justification of Outstanding Universal Value　　The Khmer Rouge regime governed Cambodia during Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) following a radical ideology - rooted from different communist beliefs an

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

　　The Khmer Rouge regime governed Cambodia during Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) following a radical ideology - rooted from different communist beliefs and politics - that was put into practice in the entire country over an extremely short period of three years, eight months and twenty days. It is the only regime known to have emptied all cities in their sphere of power within days, forcing their inhabitants to move from their home places and to regroup in agricultural communes - as well as to undertake several subsequent massive population movements, involving also the rural. In a mixture of extreme nationalism and racism they wanted to realize an agrarian-autarkic society by destroying institutions of the former state, including schools, pagodas, industries and factories, killing intellectuals, professionals and monks, forbidding religion and traditions and replacing deep rooted family relations with the anonymous “Angkar” (the Organization). This so-called “Super great leap forward” was one of the most extreme examples of sociological experiment a regime or government ever tried to put in practice. It caused the death of millions inhabitants (around 25-30% of the entire population). The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek Genocidal Center are the only historical sites that have so far been established as museum institutions in Cambodia to represent the crimes of the Khmer Rouge regime, although several smaller local memorials have been established, including the former prison M-13.

　　Of particular significance as an extremely rare practice in the world, is this example of a society memorialising crimes committed by its “own” people. In addition to that, the three sites are three out of very few sites of remembrance of mass crimes in a Buddhist society, located in Southeast-Asia.

　　As all three sites are still existing – former M-13, former S-21 and its former killing site at Choeung E, a serial sequence of sites presents a unique chance to explain how violence can escalate - a process that is represented by the sites, the buildings, the documents, bureaucratic structures, the practice of torture, the killing tools, etc.

Specific Sites

　　M-13, former early Khmer Rouge Prison (1971-1975): There are very rare cases, where a prison in the countryside (constructed only out of natural material without permanent buildings) has remained with visible traces after nearly 50 years. This site gives the unique chance to show that any prison (like the much better known S-21) has its pre-history, where guards were trained and the head of the prison invented and tested various methods of interrogation, torture and killing.

　　Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former “Security Office S-21” (1976-1979): S-21 was one out of so far identified and documented 196 prisons throughout the country during the Khmer Rouge regime. The particular significance of S-21 and its distinction from the other prisons (some of them of the same size as S-21 and may have had even more victims) was that it was the apex of the nation-wide security system, and that prisoners were sent to S-21 from all around the country under the command of the Central Committee. Furthermore, these prisoners were destined to be killed. With very, very few exceptions nobody was to survive S-21, whose death rate was more than 99%.

　　As the huge amount of documents produced in the S-21 prison institution (“confessions”, “biographies”, lists, notes, etc.) manifestly represent the ideology and hierarchical decision making process of the Khmer Rouge, the Tuol Sleng Archive’s more than 50.000 documents from S-21 were successfully inscribed into the UNESCO “Memory of the World” International Register in 2009, following inscription on the Asia Pacific Regional Register in 2008. 

　　“Choeung Ek, the former Execution Site of S-21 (1976? -1978): Choeung Ek is one of thousands of killing sites throughout Cambodia. It was turned into a memorial site (including a small museum) and is the best known and is widely visited, as it was the killing site of S-21. The government (now since over 40 years) has not buried or cremated the remains, which are visible in (a religious building) a stupa - although not in keeping with the religious beliefs and traditions of the Buddhist majority.

　　Criterion (iii): The three sites are the principal sites in Cambodia, which have been turned into memorial site museums (institutions) to remember the crimes of the “Democratic Kampuchea” regime. As S-21 was unique – being the interrogation and torture site of the Central Committee – it is representing together with Choeung Ek a unique historical site in Cambodia. None of the so far identified 196 prisons had this outstanding importance for the regime and also since its overthrow in 1979 as the principal locations to represent the crimes in total for the overall country. As Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek are representing the crimes in total of the Khmer Rouge regime, it is at the same time the place to remember the attempt to kill entire minorities, like the Cham, the ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese inhabitants.

　　Criterion (iv): The fact that all three sites still exist, are protected and managed by the government give the chance to present them together as an ensemble which illustrates a significant stage of inhuman history. The history of this ensemble marks the outstanding significance. It might not be outstanding, that school buildings are transformed into prisons or hidden spots in nature used as prisons and killing sites, but the the fact that the details of how Duch (head of prison M-13 and later S-21) developed his techniques of interrogation and torture, later accompanied by an extreme bureaucratic procedure, can be shown in the entire length of the history – pre-prison – central prison – killing site – in this series of three sites.

　　

　　Criterion (vi): There have been mass crimes and attempts of genocide all over the world. But still not all crimes are the same. It is of universal significance to understand what was specific and outstanding in the crimes of the Khmer Rouge (see explanation above) and to acknowledge, that these three sites are the sites in Cambodia to remember the victims of the regime. The thousands of photos of prisoners together with the photos of mass graves and skulls have been endowed with an iconic status internationally to represent the image of the Khmer Rouge crimes. Without the institutions Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek, the link to the real places, where these photos were taken, would not be possible. The buildings and landscapes (Choeung Ek and former M-13) provide the physical evidence that these crimes were committed.

　　These sites have also held particular significance in the evolution of international criminal justice in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries. The then just established museum Tuol Sleng played already the pivotal role in the world’s first trial against genocide, the People′s Revolutionary Tribunal in August 1979 and all three sites were examined intensively by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) established in 2006, the first hybrid court, initially termed “the Cambodian model”.

　　In Case 002/2 the Trial Chamber found Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan guilty of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and genocide of the Vietnamese ethnic, national and racial group. The Chamber additionally convicted Nuon Chea of genocide of the Cham ethnic and religious group under the doctrine of superior responsibility. Nuon Chea subsequently died. The conviction of Khieu Samphan is now (March 2020) under appeal to the Supreme Court Chamber.

　　In addition to this juridical aspect of international importance, numerous researchers as well as artists have quoted, linked, recreated etc. images of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek and even M-13 in their works. The most famous is Rithy Panh, international recognized Cambodian filmmaker and author, who chose many topics related to S-21 and Duch as core of his artistic works over the last decades.