Voices from S-21: Terror and History in Pol Pot's Secret ... (ISBN 0520222474)

Excellent view of a lost chapter in 20th century history!:
Chandler has done a magnificient job bringing the Khmer Rouge prison "S-21" into clear view. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge S-21 was used as the prison, interrogation center, and finally, the place of execution for several thousand Cambodians who were suspected of counter revolutionary activity. Chandler shows that the mania of the Khmer Rouge leadership could not differentiate between the truth and made up stories under torture. One example of this gross misconception of reality within in the minds of the Khmer Rouge leadership is the fact that people were thrown into S-21 and executed on grounds of counter revolutionary activity simply because they had broken farming equipment, thereby tried to hinder the outcome of the 4 year plan for the agricultural sector! Chandler also manages to draw interesting parallells between the Nazi KZs and Stalin's terror in the 1930's, and the Chinese cultural revolution in the 60's. He shows that some ingredients of terror are always there, no matter if it happens in Treblinka, Moscow, the country side of China, or in the killing fields of Cambodia. Chandler's book is more than just a story of an awful prison in Cambodia. It is about the mechanisms that make some humans commit unspeakable acts(apparently by their own free will) against their fellow human beings, simply because of a belief in a political ideology! A must read for people interested in the thoughts and methods behind the slaughter of millions of people in communist and faschist countries in the 20th century!

Not what I expected from the title:
The title "Voices from S-21" suggests that Chandler's book will contain interviews/narrative from the prisoners held at the infamous Cambodian santebal. There is very little in the book detailing any one individual's personal experience (understandably, since only a handful survived). The book is extremely well-researched (45 of the total pages are footnotes) and I found it a dry read. Gets into theory of the prison's existence and why the interrogators carried out their orders with such detachment. However there is very little by way of firsthand accounts of what went on, if that's what you're expecting from the book.

Terrified and terrifying:
Prof. Chandler gives us a remarkably deep analysis of Pol Pot's secret prison S-21, which within the autogenocide of the Cambodian people stands out as a haunting symbol. It reflected the unlimited paranoia of Angkar and its schizophrenic regime that 'was at once terrified and terrifying, omnipotent and continually under threat'. All family members (women, children and BABIES) of the condemned were slaughtered. Only 7 of the 14000 inmates survived. As prof. Chandler remarks chillingly: 'a reign of terror and continuous revolution requires a continuous supply of enemies.' There were no limits. As one of the interrogators rightly asked: 'If Angkar arrests everybody, who will be left to make a revolution?' The same subject has been treated by Ben Kiernan in his book 'The Pol Pot regime'. But whereas Ben Kiernan sees racism as the main motive behind the murderous regime, prof. Chandler digs far deeper and concludes clinically that 'the real truth behind S-21 is to be found in ourselves'! Indeed, the S-21 experience is not unique in the 20th century with its Nazi camps, communist show trials, Indonesian, Rwandan and Bosnian mass killings, Argentinean tortures ... He remarks also that the Cambodian regime was an imported phenomenon. The Khmer leaders were all recruited and educated by the Stalinist French PC in the 1950s. This nearly unbearable book should be read as a reminder that 'ordinary people can commit demonic acts' (R. F. Lifton). David Chandler is not afraid to say 'how things really are' (L. Betzig). A terrifying book about a terrifying experience.

Disturbing:
David Chandler has made extensive use of the archives of S-21, with photographs and "confessions" to show the absurd paranoia of the leaders in Democratic Kampuchea. An excellent book, with some aspects that put me off, though: blunt anticommunism, some assertions about Soviet, Chinese and Vietnamese leaders that are rather anecdotal than based on serious historic scholarship, and weird comparisons between the turturers at S-21 and psychoanalysts.

Voices from S-21:
A very good book that offer insights into what made drove these mad men to kill their own people. They were as horrible as Hitler, Moussolini, Mao (their mentor), and Saddam. Highly recommended.