Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields)

Category: Genocide

Immediately after Pol Pot and his followers captured Phnom Penh, they began their efforts to "purify" the country of any traces of the old regime, religion, capitalism, and any Western influences. In addition to intellectuals, he targeted all leaders and civil servants during the old regime, and all of this leir friends, relatives, and acquaintances. A mass grave of nearly 9,000 bodies was discovered at Choeung Ek, which was once an orchard just south of the capital.