New Coffin for Pol Pot's Memory

A new coffin-shaped structure topped with a clear plastic roof looms over the cremation site of Pol Pot in Anlong Veng, a testament to the estimated two million Cambodian lives lost under his genocidal rule.

- Anlong Veng

Anlong Veng – A new coffin-shaped structure topped with a clear plastic roof looms over the cremation site of Pol Pot in Anlong Veng, a testament to the estimated two million Cambodian lives lost under his genocidal rule.

One of history's most notorious mass murderers, his Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh 50 years ago on Thursday and his dark legacy still casts a long shadow over modern Cambodia.

Now Anlong Veng in the Dangrek mountains offers a unique window into the complexities of memory and reconciliation.

The Khmer Rouge reset the calendar to "Year Zero" and began a brutal reign of terror, emptying the capital and sending its people to work camps in the countryside as they pursued an ideal peasant society free from money, class and religion.