reportage The Sadness of S-21
When the Vietnamese finally overran Phnom Penh, they found the bodies of prisoners executed only hours earlier, their spilt blood not yet dried. Following the chaotic retreat of Pol Pot's forces, a large part of the archive was looted and destroyed; and what remained was scattered, filthy and mildewed. Still, with the efforts of the US-based Photo Archive Group, some 6,000 negatives survived to be housed in archives when the former school was turned into a museum to commemorate the holocaust that Cambodia, now Kampuchea, had endured. Recently, the photographer responsible for these haunting images was discovered in Kampuchea. Nhem Ein, now 37, joined the Khmer Rouge as a 10-year-old. He was sent to China for training and returned in May 1976 aged 16 to be chief photographer at Tuol Sleng.
Spring 1997 | The Photo Archive Group and related links | Archive | Back | Next | 8 of 10