Choeung Ek Killing Fields

Choeung Ek Killing Fields is a memorial site and former mass-execution ground located about 17 kilometers south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is the most prominent of the country’s “killing fields,” where the Khmer Rouge regime carried out systematic executions between 1975 and 1979. Today it serves as a place of remembrance and education about the Cambodian genocide.

Key facts

• Distance from Phnom Penh: ≈ 17 km southwest (Dangkor District)

• Period of killings: 1975 – 1979

• Estimated victims: ≈ 17 000 executed; 8 985 remains exhumed

• Memorial Stupa built: 1988

• Hours & fee (2025): 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM daily; USD 6 includes audio guide

Historical background

Before 1975, Choeung Ek was a quiet orchard and Chinese cemetery. Under Pol Pot’s regime, it became the primary execution site for prisoners from Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21). Victims—men, women, and children—were trucked to the site at night, blindfolded, and killed with blunt tools to save ammunition. The bodies were buried in more than 120 mass graves that still mark the ground.

Memorial and features

At the center stands a 17-tiered Buddhist stupa containing more than 5 000 human skulls arranged by age and gender behind glass panels. Surrounding paths lead past the “Killing Tree,” where children were murdered, and the “Magic Tree,” which once blared revolutionary songs to mask victims’ screams. Visitors encounter sunken pits—the exhumed graves—and fragments of bones and clothing that surface after rains.

Preservation and visitor experience

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Cambodian authorities exhumed mass graves and established Choeung Ek as a genocide memorial. Managed under a preservation agreement since 2005, it offers a multilingual audio tour recounting survivors’ testimonies. Annual remembrance ceremonies on May 9 and May 20 honor the dead. Visitors are expected to dress modestly and maintain silence to respect the sanctity of the site.

Significance

Choeung Ek remains a central symbol of Cambodia’s collective memory and resilience. Together with Tuol Sleng, it documents the machinery of state terror that claimed roughly two million Cambodian lives. The site stands as both a national shrine and an international warning against genocide.