Becky Hurwitz

S-21 or Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (http://www.tuolsleng.com/) was a Phnom Penh school turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge, now preserved as a genocide museum.  It is estimated that as many as 20,000 people may have been detained at S-21 where they were torchered and killed. The map of Cambodia made of skulls and the thousands of headshots of KR victims are at S-21. There are only 12 known survivors of S-21. Of those 12, 4 are still alive,Vann Nath is one of them.

Vann Nath (http://www.vannnath.com/) is famous as a survivor and also as a painter.  His paintings hang around S-21, depicting scenes of torcher, killing fields.

I met up with Sovannith, Vann Nath, and a group of high school students at S-21 this morning. On Saturdays, S-21 invites a school group to visit. The group tours the museum and then gathers to watch a slide show narrated by Vann Nath and the museum head.

We spoke with Vann Nath about his impressions of the conference the day before (he was on the panel) and about what he thinks victims need and want going forward. We observed him speaking with students and spoke with their teacher afterwards.

Some observations/questions:

• the students’ school was selected by S-21
• how many student groups pass through S-21?
• how far do these groups travel?

Each student is given a feedback form and asked to discuss the experience with their families, to fill out the form, and to return it to their teacher.

• What does the museum do with these forms?

The teacher told us that the students have been studying Democratic Kampuchea in school and will continue to discuss it in history class. Need to talk to more school teachers and students.

• What materials are they using to teach?
• do they travel to S-21? to the ECCC?
• do they have computers in school?
• do they have net connections in school?
• what languages are classes taught in?