Cambodia was a unique experiment in human history orchestrated by the Communists. Several Paris-educated and Chinese-backed Cambodians placed the country on a self-destructive path and sent it back to the Stone Age in a matter of months. They declared Year 0, dismantled education, closed the hospitals, killed all the intellectuals, and transformed the entire country into a forced labor colony. They called themselves, The Khmer Rouge.

Their regime lasted three years, eight months, and twenty days, numbers engraved into the minds of the Cambodians.

The country tries to forget luring the travelers to the spectacular ruins of Angkor Wat, the fortified city of Angkor Thom, and all the other magnificent temples lost in the jungle for centuries. Or to the colorful water festival in Phnom Penh that we reach after a boat ride over Tonle Sap. But it’s hard to escape the horrors inflicted by the Communists while visiting Tuol Sleng, the infamous SS-21 security prison, or paying respect at the monument of the Killing Fields.