A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21

2 ideas

1. Painting Pol Pot bought time in S-21

   Vann Nath, a sign and portrait painter, was arrested in late 1977 and taken to S-21 (Tuol Sleng), a Phnom Penh school turned interrogation center where nearly all prisoners were killed. After authorities sought someone who could paint, he was moved to a workshop to paint Pol Pot's portrait from photographs, which gave him a measure of protection. When Vietnamese forces advanced on Phnom Penh in January 1979, he escaped and became one of the few S-21 prisoners to survive.

2. Protection through work stayed conditional

   Nath's painting work shielded him, but only on condition that the work satisfied his captors. He painted under the threat of punishment for portraits judged unsatisfactory, so his protection could be withdrawn at any time.

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