Payathonzu (; my, ဘုရားသုံးဆူမြို့ (Payathonzu Myo) is a town in the Karen State of south

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, close to the border with

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. It is separated from the Thai border

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

of Nong Lu by the

Three Pagodas Pass Three Pagodas Pass ( Phlone ; my, ဘုရားသုံးဆူ တောင်ကြားလမ်း, ''Paya Thon Zu Taung Za Lang'', ; th, ด่านเจดีย์สามองค์, , ) is a pass in the Tenasserim Hills on the ...

. It is also the administrative seat of Hpayarthonezu Sub-township (fourth-level administrative division of Myanmar) in

Kyain Seikgyi Township Kyainseikgyi Township (Eastern Pwo language, Phlone: ; my, ကြာအင်းဆိပ်ကြီးမြို့နယ်, ) is a Townships of Burma, township of Kawkareik District in the Kayin State of Myanmar. It is the fourth-biggest tow ...

Kawkareik District Kawkareik District ( Phlone ; ; also called Dooplaya in Karen language) is a district of the Karen State in Myanmar. It consists of 4 towns; Kawkareik, the capital, Kyainseikgyi, Kyondoe, Payathonzu and Kyaikdon; and 552 villages. The population ...

Kayin State Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ...

Overview

Payathonzu is home to

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

and

Mon people The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး‌, ; th, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and se ...

. Separatist armies have been active in the town. Since 1990, it is under control of the

Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...

, however there is still occasional fighting in the area. The Tai Ta Ya monastery is located in the town, and features a long row of statues. Payathonzu can be accessed from the Thai side via the Three Pagodas Pass. The border may not be open to foreign visitors.

Camp Paya Thanzu Taung

Camp Paya Thanzu Taung (also Kilo 108)) was a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

camp during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on the

Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...

. It was located about 500 metres north of the border. The first prisoners arrived in March 1943, and were mainly Dutch. Later, they were joined by British and Australian prisoners. The conditions were really bad with barely any food resulting in many deaths. After September 1943, the camp was used for maintenance of the rail road. The camp was abandoned in March 1944.

References

External links

* * {{Borders of Myanmar Populated places in Kayin State Burma Railway