Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - History

The prison had very strict regulations, and severe beatings were inflicted upon any prisoner who disobeyed. Almost every action had to be approved by one of the prison's guards. The prisoners were sometimes forced to eat human feces and drink human urine. The unhygienic living conditions in the prison caused skin diseases, lice, rashes, ringworm and other ailments. The prison's medical staff were untrained and offered treatment only to sustain prisoners' lives after they had been injured during interrogation. When prisoners were taken from one place to another for interrogation, they were blindfolded. Guards and prisoners were not allowed to converse. Moreover, within the prison, people who were in different groups were not allowed to have contact with one another.

Army: The largest organizational group of soldiers, made up of one or more corps. There were 16 Union armies (named after rivers, such as the Army of the Potomac) and 23 Confederate armies (named after states or regions, such as the Army of Northern Virginia). 1 company = 50 to 100 men, 10 companies = 1 regiment, about 4 regiments = 1 brigade, 2 to 5 brigades = 1 division, 2 or more divisions = 1 corps, 1 or more corps = 1 army.

U.S.C.T.: United States Colored Troops. Federal Army regiments composed of African-American soldiers. The U.S.C.T.'s were established by General Order Number 143, issued May 22, 1863, and included infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments. While the soldiers themselves were African American, officers were white. Until 1864 African American soldiers received less pay than their white counterparts. The most famous USCT regiment is the 54th Massachusetts, composed of free Northern men. The 33rd USCT regiment, however, has the distinction of being the first federally authorized regiment. Composed of freed slaves, it was originally called the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry.

Drill: To practice marching, military formations and the steps in firing and handling one's weapon.

Litter: A stretcher which was carried by two people and used to transport wounded soldiers.

Canteen: Round container used to carry water; made of wood or tin and carried over the shoulder by a strap.

Cham Muslims

In 1975, upon the victory of the CPK over the Khmer Republic forces, two brothers of Cham descent who had joined the Khmer Rouge as soldiers returned home to Region 21 within the Kampong Cham Province, where the largest Cham Muslim community could be found. The brothers then told their father of the adventures they had experienced being part of the revolution which included killing Khmers and consuming pork, in the hopes of convincing their father to join the communist cause. The father who had remained silent, was clearly not intrigued by the accounts related by his sons. Instead, he grabbed a cleaver, killed his sons, and told his fellow villagers that he had killed the enemy. When the villagers pointed out that he had indeed murdered his own sons, he recounted the stories he was told by his sons earlier, citing the Khmer Rouge's hatred for Islam and the Cham people. This prompted a unanimous agreement amongst the villagers to kill all Khmer Rouge soldiers within the area on that night. The next morning, more Khmer Rouge forces descended the area with heavy weapons and surrounded the village, killing every single villager in it.

Similarly, in June or July 1975, the CPK authorities in Region 21 of the Eastern Zone tried to confiscate all copies of the Qur'an from the people, while at the same time impose a mandatory short haircut for Cham women. The authorities were met with mass demonstration staged by the local Cham community who were shot at by the regime soldiers. The Cham retaliated forcefully with swords and blades killing a few soldiers, only to be met with military reinforcement from the regime which annihilated the villagers and their properties. In another account by Cham refugees in Malaysia, thirteen leading figures within the Cham Muslim community were killed by the regime in June 1975. The reasons behind the killings was supposedly because some of them were "leading prayers instead of attending a CPK meeting", while the others were purportedly "petitioning for the permission on marriage ceremonies."

Canteen: Round container used to carry water; made of wood or tin and carried over the shoulder by a strap.

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.

Casemate: (pronounced kays-mayt) A sturdily-built, arched masonry chamber enclosed by a fortification's ramparts or walls. Casemates were often used to protect gun positions, powder magazines, storerooms or living quarters.

Standard: A flag or banner carried into battle on a pole.

Massacre: The cruel killing of a number of helpless or unresisting people.

Vietnamese

The Khmer Rouge initially ordered the expulsion of ethnic Vietnamese from Cambodia but then conducted large scale massacres of large numbers of Vietnamese civilians who were being deported out of Cambodia. The regime then prevented the remaining 20,000 ethnic Vietnamese from fleeing, and much of this group was also executed. The Khmer Rouge also used the media to support their goals of genocide. Radio Phnom Penh called on Cambodians to "exterminate the 50 million Vietnamese."

Additionally, the Khmer Rouge conducted many cross-border raids into Vietnam where they slaughtered an estimated 30,000 Vietnamese civilians. Most notably, during the Ba Chúc massacre in April 1978, the Khmer Rouge military crossed the border and entered the village, slaughtering 3,157 Vietnamese civilians. This caused an urgent response from the Vietnamese government, precipitating the Cambodian�"Vietnamese War in which the Khmer Rouge was ultimately defeated.[117

"Quaker Guns": Large logs painted to look like cannons; used to fool the enemy into thinking a position was stronger than it really was.

Breastworks: Barriers which were about breast-high and protected soldiers from enemy fire.

Picket: Soldiers posted on guard ahead of a main force. Pickets included about 40 or 50 men each. Several pickets would form a rough line in front of the main army's camp. In case of enemy attack, the pickets usually would have time to warn the rest of the force.

Green Troops: Phrase used to describe soldiers who were either new to the military or had never fought in a battle before.

Recruits: The term used to describe new soldiers.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - Discovery

In 1979, H�" Văn Tây, a Vietnamese combat photographer, was the first journalist to document Tuol Sleng to the world. H�" and his colleagues followed the stench of rotting corpses to the gates of Tuol Sleng. The photos of H�" documenting what he saw when he entered the site are exhibited in Tuol Sleng today.

The Khmer Rouge required that the prison staff make a detailed dossier for each prisoner. Included in the documentation was a photograph. Since the original negatives and photographs were separated from the dossiers in the 1979�"1980 period, most of the photographs remain anonymous to this day.

Gabions: (pronounced gey-bee-en) Cylindrical wicker baskets which were filled with rocks and dirt, often used to build field fortifications or temporary fortified positions.

Hardtack: Hardtack is a term used to describe the hard crackers often issued to soldiers of both sides during the Civil War. These crackers consisted of nothing more than flour, water, and salt. They were simple and inexpensive to make in very large quantities. However, these crackers became almost rock solid once they went stale.

Federal: Loyal to the government of the United States. Also known as Union, Yankee, or Northern.

Brevet: (pronounced brehv-it) An honorary promotion in rank, usually for merit. Officers did not usually function at or receive pay for their brevet rank.

Green Troops: Phrase used to describe soldiers who were either new to the military or had never fought in a battle before.