Page 28 - 2022 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.3

Nisay Hang Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to search for their

Director of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum lost relatives whom they expected were killed at
S-21 as evident through the thousands of black-
and-white mugshots in the exhibition hall. According
to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of
Cambodia (ECCC), at least 18,063 detainees were
killed at S-21. The result of this research came also
from the archive of the museum. At the same time,
researchers from around the world started doing the
Digitalized Technology’s Contribution crimes in the field of history, anthropology, sociology, human rights, and justice. Some
research and the investigation on the Khmer Rouge’s
to Humanity and Education: of those researchers accessed the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum archive. which is the
biggest collection about the Khmer Rouge bureaucracy. These publications help the people
of Cambodia and the world to understand more about the Khmer Rouge’s history and the
Experience of the Tuol Sleng Genocide reasons why the crime of genocide and crime against humanity could happen in the late
20th century.
Museum Archive Decades ago, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

archivists read through thousands of pages to confirm
the identification of a detainee. In 2009, a collection of
the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was registered to the
UNESCO Memory of the World. And in 2017, the Tuol
Sleng Genocide Museum Archive Preservation and
Digitization (TSGMAPD) project was implemented with
In April, 2022, a man in Phnom Penh prepared a ritual ceremony only a few the support of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and
days after discovering his father had been killed at S-21. The son of the victim became UNESCO Phnom Penh and was financially supported
a monk for a few days to fulfill the religious role in which he was expected to pray for his by KOICA Cambodia. It took three years to preserve 700,000 (seven hundred thousand)
father. Similarly, the relatives of the other victims found out information of their lost family pages of documents at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which include photos, negatives,
member through the S-21 archive, which notebooks, lists, resumes, and biographies. Single page documents were evaluated by
had been digitized recently. the staff, then captured with high-resolution images (scanning is avoided because the
S-21 was one of many prisons of high temperature might affect the paper). Images were reviewed before being sent to the
the Democratic Kampuchea known as indexing step. All steps were controlled by the staff on the Quality Check to make sure all
Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979. The of the steps were executed properly. Among those documents, more than 400,000 pages
Khmer Rouge converted a former high of archives were indexed and published on the website with a policy of balancing between
school into a prison (S-21). The role open access and respecting the privacy rights of the archives.
of the prison was to arrest, imprison,
torture, interrogate, and execute the After finishing a project, the way of work was changed. In total, the museum archive
people who were accused as enemies. now manages more than 5 million data, which had been extracted from digital documents.
Besides that, the Khmer Rouge wanted to create documentation about the detainees such Nowadays, the archive staff consult with research, access the database, review documents,
as their biographies, activities against the state and Kampuchea Communist party, and and confirm with those people who have lost
especially the network of detainees. From the procedure of interrogation and torturing, a relative. According to a report, since 2021
there were thousands of people arrested and ultimately killed after their confessions were more than 10 local Cambodian people have
extracted. In total, there were at least 18,063 detainees executed during the 3 years, 8 requested the Museum to search for their relatives’
months and 20 days. information. At the same time, hundreds of
When the Democratic Kampuchea regime collapsed in 1979, there were hundreds people around the world have accessed digital
of thousands of pages of the documents scattered around the site of S-21. Since August archives for research. The number shows the
1979, the Museum was officially opened, and the archive section was also formed as it positive evolution of Cambodian people and
was the core of the museum. Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian people visited the researchers around the world who are interested

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