Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - History

Upon arrival at the prison, prisoners were photographed and required to give detailed autobiographies, beginning with their childhood and ending with their arrest. After that, they were forced to strip to their underwear, and their possessions were confiscated. The prisoners were then taken to their cells. Those taken to the smaller cells were shackled to the walls or the concrete floor. Those who were held in the large mass cells were collectively shackled to long pieces of iron bar. The shackles were fixed to alternating bars; the prisoners slept with their heads in opposite directions. They slept on the floor without mats, mosquito nets, or blankets. They were forbidden to talk to each other.

Carbine: A breech-loading, single-shot, rifle-barreled gun primarily used by cavalry troops. A carbine's barrel is several inches shorter than a regular rifle-musket.

Bayonet: (pronounced bay-uh-net) A metal blade, like a long knife or short sword, that could be attached to the end of a musket or rifle-musket and used as a spear or pike in hand-to-hand combat.

Caliber: The distance around the inside of a gun barrel measured in thousands of an inch. Bullets are labeled by what caliber gun they fit.

Typhoid: Bacterial disease causing fever, diarrhea, headache, enlargement of the spleen, and extreme physical exhaustion and collapse.

Breach: A large gap or "hole" in a fortification's walls or embankments caused by artillery or mines, exposing the inside of the fortification to assault.