Tuol Sleng operated as a prison and torture site during the regime of the Khmer Rouge. With a party slogan of, "Better to kill ten friends than to leave one enemy alive," the KR targeted not only ethnic minorities but "hidden enemies" among its own ranks as well, leading to places like Tuol Sleng. While it is now a museum in remembrance of the Cambodian genocide, during the genocide at least 14,000 were executed here, accused of espionage, and fewer than a dozen are believed to have survived. Inmates would be photographed upon arrival and then subjected to several weeks of torture before being killed.

The Cambodian Genocide lasted from 1975 to 1979 and killed between 1.7 and 2.2 million people. The ethnic minorities targeted (the Cham Muslims, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese populations) suffered great losses. The Cham population was reduced by a third, the Chinese by half, and all of the Vietnamese population (anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000) was killed. Despite these numbers, the majority of the body count is made up of ethnic Khmers. These people were not targeted, but rather just trying to survive under the Khmer Rouge regime. Despite the KR targeting and purposefully killing many, starvation killed far more. For this reason, the Cambodian genocide comes close to but does not completely match the characterization of an "autogenocide"—a genocide which targets the nation's own citizens.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, called the "Khmer Rouge," is responsible for this genocide. It had originally been formed with the desire to escape from French Colonialism. The KR, after fighting in the Cambodian Civil War from 1970 to 1975, established itself as the ruling party led, among others, by Pol Pot: Brother number one.

The United States' focus on Vietnam and its desire to weaken North Vietnam's influence benefited the Khmer Rouge. Even after it was overthrown, the KR was indirectly supported by the United States government, who believed having Cambodia aligned with China was preferable than the alternative. After the KR was overthrown it continued to present itself at the United Nations as the "legitimate" Cambodian government until the early 1990s. The Khmer Rouge did not disintegrate until after the national elections in 1993.

In the countryside lies the remains of hidden landmines, an afterthought of this genocide which continues to kill and injure hundreds every year. Many leading politicians and even Cambodia's incumbent prime minister Hun Sen have had associations with the Khmer Rouge. Among other high-ranking KR leaders, the director of Tuol Seng, "Comrade Duch," was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes against humanity. Pol Pot was given a life sentence by a "people's tribunal" but died only a year later.

Text by Sierra Glenn