On the route of national liberation, Vietnamese people had experienced so much pain and loss. The harsh policies with continuous suppression tools: Courts, Detective Departments, Prisons and the bureaucracy were established in many locals by the colonial and imperial governments made the harsh life of Vietnamese people. View pano
Famine was more dangerous than the war. For example, in 6 years of war, only 1 million people died in France, and 3 million people died in Germance. Yet, half a year of famine in the Northern Vietnam, more than 2 million people died. Excerpts: The article “Exhorting people against famine” (President Ho Chi Minh), Saving nation Newspaper, No 86, November 8th 1945
Prison system built by the colonial and imperial government in Vietnam: View pano
Everyday, prisoners had to eat terrible food, they couldn’t use bowls and chopsticks and had to use wooden troughs and iron pots. All the food was stored in the trough and the soup was stored in the pot. One trough for each 6 or 10 people. Therefore, prisoners usually made the implements themselves: bowls were made out of coconuts and chopsticks were made out of branches or thrown-away baskets. Excerpts: The fight of patriotic, revolutionary soldiers in Hoa Lo Prison (1899 - 1954), National Politics Publishing House, Hanoi, 1994, p.40 - 41
The sizes of the Tiger Cages (Phu Quoc Prison Camp) were very diverse. There were cages in which prisoners could only lie on sand, there were cages that forced the prisoners to lie on barbed wires despite being punctured and bled, there were cages that only allowed prisoners to sit and couldn’t lay down or stand, the prisoners wear shorts to bathe in the sun or get soaked in the rain for days and nights… Excerpts: Con Dao Prison Historical Relic, Phu Quoc Prison, Labour Publishing House, 2011, p.423 - 424
Escape is the highest form of fights, a prisoner may die in a sacred forest or poisonous water; bait for wild animals or submerged in the middle of the ocean. Without letting go, the revolutionary soldiers were determined to organize daring escapes. The "wings longing for freedom" broke the shackles, flought their wings, came back to the light of the revolution. View pano
Hoa Lo - one of the most solid colonial prisons in Indochina. The seemingly inviolable place was where "miraculous" escapes in 1932, 1945, 1951 happened. The escapes showed the bravery and the extraordinary intelligence of the communist soldiers in the "Hell on the earth in Hanoi”. View pano
At the end of 1951, the Party Cell in the death row decided to organize a collective escape. According to the plan, prisoners used a rag soaked in lard to burn the wood at the shack to ease the foot out. Taking advantage of the time when Busan prison guard played ping-pong, prisoners took the sample of the cell key and 10 days to finish making the fake key. During that time, Hanoi Party Committee sent maps of the underground sewers, saw blades, acids, etc in and out through supply way. Thus, they meticulously cut underground iron bars for half a month. View pano
At 19:00 on December 24th, 1951, 16 death row political prisoners were divided into 3 groups, crawling into the sewer. In the cold winter night, when crawling in the deep, narrow, dark, the prisoners still tried to cling to each other, hold each other to the mouth of the drain and turn to Quan Su street. Just got to the manhole cover, the police came. The prisoners fiercely fought back but only 5 people escaped, 11 people were arrested.
To carry out the escape plan, our fellow prisoners had requested to increase their playing time and be allowed to play table tennis. This request was approved by the prison. Every day, we arranged two comrades Ky and Lien to play ping-pong with the guards. Taking the advantage, two comrades Hau and Chinh dropped the prison number plate hanging outside the cell door, creating an excuse to borrow a bunch of keys to close the number plate, and then, sampled the key for the cell door and key for the underground manhole cover. Memoirs “Escape from Hoa Lo Prison Hanoi, night of December 24th, 1951”, Dang Dinh Ky, Vu Duc Chinh, Tran Minh Viet, Pham Dinh Lien and Vu Dinh Quang
Some death sentenced prisoners escaped on the night of December 24th, 1951:
The Leading Committee discussed and assigned specifically: cutting iron bars in the cells by Mister Minh Viet and Nguyen Van Hung; assigned to comrade Vu Duc Chinh, who is a cold-iron worker cut underground sewers… When the cutting was completed, the marks were disguised with safety pins so when the guards checked the bars, he could not detect it. In order to drown out the sounds when cutting, a number of assigned comrades brought the buttered tubes and bulging bricks to the cement floor to make a loud noise. Memoirs “Escape from Hoa Lo Prison Hanoi, night of December 24th, 1951”, Dang Dinh Ky, Vu Duc Chinh, Tran Minh Viet, Pham Dinh Lien and Vu Dinh Quang
Within 15 year-jailing revolutional prisoners (1930 - 1945), in Son La Prison, there occurred two escapes in 1941 and 1943. Because of the location of the prison building in sacred rain forest, regime security guards should be likened to "a coffin with its lid opened, waiting for prisoners to bury themselves." French colonialists also offered prizes to the locals, whoever took the head of an escaped communist prisoner will be rewarded with 20 silver coins and 5 quintals of salt. Son La Chief Saint Poulot often threatened the communist prisoners: "Don't try to escape, because the aborigines will bring your heads in return for salt!". View pano
The escape by comrades: Nguyen Luong Bang, Tran Dang Ninh, Luu Duc Hieu and Nguyen Van Tran was a meticulous and thoughtful preparation for two years by Son La Prison: from preparing maps, personal tax cards, food, and exercising like walking. In particular, the Party Cell successfully enlightened the Thai ethnic - Lo Van Gia to lead the way. View pano
In order for the guards not to detect, the Party Cell used blankets and mats to fake four sick people, so the body count was still enough. Escaping from the prison, the comrades quickly disguised themselves with Thai clothes taken from the tomb, crossing the stream and the forest. When returning to Son La, Lo Van Gia was captured by the French colonists, brutally tortured and then stealthily burried away.
Four political prisoners Son La Prison who successfully escaped, August 3rd,1943:
No matter how, whenever we organize escape, I have to participate. All the dangers and difficulties you guys bear, I can bear. Even if I have to sacrifice halfway, I will still join. Comrade Nguyen Luong Bang
Escape on the land was already hard, escaping from the middle of the sea was even more difficult. In order to escape, the means of crossing the sea must be carefully prepared. From the rudimentary items, prisoners have to form boats, rafts, used clothes as sail. When crossing the sea, encountering large waves, there were lucky soldiers returning, but there were also many people sacrificed in the middle of the sea.
This fight for our fatherland is difficult
I am not allowed to stand by and look
Just a drop in the sea,
It still can contribute to make the sea salty
View pano
Waves of Con Dao had buried many souls which were full of enthusiasm. In 1932, comrade Luong Van Tuy with some other comrades escaped with a raft made by bamboo drums. With rough mean of transport, facing storms, the raft was broken, they sacrificed, Luong Van Tuy was only 18 years old. In 1933, comrades Nguyen Hoi, Tong Phuc Chieu... organized the escape from Tau Be wharf. Only a hundred meters away, the boat was sunk by big waves, all sacrificed. At the end of 1934, comrades: Ngo Gia Tu, Le Quang Sung, To Chan… organized another escape from Co Ong yards. The trip was carefully prepared, but unfortunately, facing the stormy sea, all comrades were forever lying in the deep sea. View pano
The escape from Dam quay had the contribution of thousands of prisoners during over half a year. During the day, the prisoners worked hard; at night, they all gathered to prepare for means of escape: digging tunnels, moving soil out, taking wooden boats, removing clothes and stitching them into big cloths and then paint the boats, making sail. In the middle of December 12th, 1952, 198 prisoners in the Tiger Cages area quickly used 5 boats to cross the sea. Due to rough means of transport, being pursued by the enemy, to avoid the boats from sinking, a lot of people wanted to jump into the sea, giving life to their teammates. The escape failed: 81 people sacrified, 117 were arrested. View pano
After the tunnel was completed, two boats were taken to the tunnel. This is a crucial stage for the whole plan of escape. On that night, my fellow prisoners precisely assigned each group to take out each support under the boats. The department used mound-like rattan wire in the design of a trough and slowly moved it down to the cellar. When finished, it was covered with wood, covered with grass, sand and gravel. Memoirs “We escaped from prison”, To Luong - political prison participated in the escape of Dam quay in 1952
The escape was unsuccessful, 81 soldiers sacrificed in the sea (75 were washed ashore, 6 were lost in the middle of the sea) were silently buried in Con Dao beaches at the Co Ong sandbank and set up temples… Currently, there are still 73 remains in Co Ong, Con Dao. It is the disadvantage of martyrs and their relatives because these families cannot return the bodies to their homeland for many different reasons. Memoirs “Con Dao heroic, the rising waves of East sea”, Doan Duy Thanh View pano
Phu Quoc Prison Camp was divided into 12 separate sections, most of the prisoners were soldiers of the armed forces. With patriotic hearts and full of experience, they were always seeking ways to escape from prison to continue to fight. Some escapes were led by the Party Committee, some were led by a group of loyal comrades, all were to find a way to return to serve the country. Although there were people who sacrificed, there were failures, but nothing quelled the will and the desire for freedom. They all became lessons for the other escapes, which were told by "historical witnesses" who were captured in Phu Quoc Prison Camp. View pano
In August 1968, with the approval of the Party committee, we organized escape via the tunnels. At first there were 6 people, later up to 15 people, 3 people per shift: the first people dug, the second moved the soil into the pocket made of pants legs, the third used a string to pull out. Every 15 - 20m, we created a large area as a place to transfer soil and make room for people to pull. The tunnel was 120m long, bringing about 20m3 of soil. These soils could be dissolved in the rain. View pano
After nearly 5 months of digging, until 19:00 on January 19th, 1969, we decided to escape, 6 people were sent to dig to create a path from the tunnel to the ground. Around 4:30 the next morning, 21 people escaped successfully. This was the first successful escape via the tunnel in Phu Quoc Prison Camp. Words of comrade Nguyen Ha Long, June 7th, 2019
In Phu Quoc Prison Camp, I was assigned to be a Secretary of a three-person group in a trio-style manner operating under the leadership of the Party Cell. Having mechanical experience, I was tasked with making shovels dig deep into the earth to escape from prison. From sprouts, drinking water, I make tiny shovels. From barbed wire, I brought straighten, knit into the hatch cover. At night, the brothers dug down to dig, tunnels like arms reaching out to the free light. Words of comrade Nguyen Trong Du, June 5th, 2019
The local prisons such as Bac Ninh, Cho Chu (Thai Nguyen), Buon Ma Thuot Prison, Da Lat Children's Prison... were also solidly built by the colonial government and imperialism guarding system, supervisor teams, professional reconnaissance. But nothing could stop the “brave hearts” always yearning for freedom, the revolution and Vietnamese people. View pano
Buon Ma Thuot Prison is located on a plateau, identical mountain forests with the high wall system, full of sharp pieces from broken glass bottles. In order to escape, the prisoners had to pass the only road through Khanh Duong garrison, where the French soldiers were strictly guarding day and night. French colonialists also bribed the villagers to capture the prisoners who tried to escape from camps in exchange for salt. Therefore, there were very few successful escapes. However, at the end of 1941, with their ability to take the opportunity, comrades Nguyen Chi Thanh, Le Tat Dac, Phan Van Dua took the opportunity to enter the forest, organized a successful escape from prison. View pano
In Buon Ma Thuot, besides Nguyen Vinh, there were Le Tat Dac and Phan Van Dua. The three people discussed and agreed on the plan for the escape. Each person prepares a little salt, a few matchboxes and a few medicines in case of illness on the road. On that day, when Do-riu (the soldier who escorted the prisoners into the forest to collect wood) asked for a "massage", 3 comrades crushed and tied him up. Then the three comrades crossed Tay Nguyen mountains, followed the sun, found their way to escape. Excerpts: Memories of the exile of Buon Ma Thuot Prison, Propaganda Department of Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee, 2000, p.145
In 1971, the republic government of Vietnam built a unique prison in the world - Dalat Children's Prison (Dalat Children's Training Center), where 600 prisoners were imprisoned (from 12 to 17 years old), so the children cannot learn the guidance from their previous generations. But, the harsh imprisonment regime did not overpower the fighting spirit of the young revolutionary soldiers. On May 7th, 1973, thirteen brave little boys broke the ceiling, removed the ties, climbed onto the roof, tore the clothes, tied them in a rope and tied them on their legs and arms to insulate them, passing through the dense barbed wire with high voltage lines. The thirteen escapes ended at the beginning of the morning. View pano
At that time, when I saw the dirty little boys poking out of the door, I knew that they were the prisoners escape from prison. After taking clothes from the house for the kids to wear, I cooked very large rice portions, but they ate all. At 3 o'clock in the morning, when I got up to cook rice again, the children also ate them all. Words of Mrs. Phan Thi Tich (Nam Tich), revolutionary base sheltering the children prisoners who escape on May 7th, 1973 View pano
The resounding victories of the Vietnamese nation in the twentieth century have been credited to many generations of political prisoners who have been imprisoned in "hell on the earth". With immortal faith, the brave people after escaping from prison, continued to devote their strength and intelligence to the fights for independence and to the cause of construction and development of the country. View pano
I am pleased to request that you trusted the citizen Nguyen Luong Bang, whom I have appointed as the Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics… I believe that sending the Vietnamese ambassador to the Soviet Union will strengthen the friendship between our two nations. Quoted: Letter of President Ho Chi Minh to Mr. N.M. Sveronich, President of the Supreme Soviet Presidium of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union), March 10th, 1952 View pano
When he was the Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Council of Ministers, then General Secretary of the Party Central Committee, in many times of working with international guests and diplomatic delegations, he had conquered the hearts of people through his simple and meaningful words. Excerpts: Comrade Do Muoi's university is a reality of life and fighting, Prof. Vu Khieu: Stories about comrade Do Muoi, Dan Tri Publishing House, Hanoi, 2011, p.257 View pano
The August Revolution was successful, comrade Nguyen Van Tran was appointed by the Party and the Government to be the Vice Chairman of the Northern Administrative Committee, the Chairman was Mister Nguyen Xien - a famous intellectual and many other intellectuals in the Committee. Comrade Tran still cleverly brought the Party's policies and guidelines to success. Excerpts: A memoir worth reading and pondering, Mai Vy - a senior revolutionary official: Revolutionary Memoirs and my life, Hanoi Publishing House, 2011, p.15 View pano
In just a few years in charge of logistics, Tran Dang Ninh had built a logistics system of the Vietnam People's War, including military logistics and people‘s logistics, to ensure adequate supports for the major forces as well as all the warfare on the battlefields. Excerpts: A competent and experienced practical activist, Vo Nguyen Giap: Comrade Tran Dang Ninh with the Vietnamese Revolution, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2014, p.19 View pano
From the Hanoi Opera House, we led the uprising rushing to Residential Palace... I along with comrades Tran Tu Binh, Nguyen Khang and many people passed through the iron gate, running to the hall and entered Residence imperial Commissioner office. In the name of the Revolutionary Military Committee, comrade Tran Tu Binh headed to the workplace of Nguyen Xuan Chu, the head of the "Political Committee", ordering him to surrender... Words of comrade Le Trong Nghia, Member of Hanoi Uprising Committee, 1945 Excerpts: Reportage - Historical witnesses on “Hanoi stands up” day, Police online, February 20th, 2015 View pano
In the early days of the August 1945 Revolution in Hanoi, comrade Le Trong Nghia was sent "alone to Residential Palace" to meet Imperial Commissioner Phan Ke Toai to find our his stance and to mobilise support for the Viet Minh battle. Historical witness record of comrade Le Trong Nghia, Administration Board of Hoa Lo Prison Relic, Hanoi, 2013 View pano
The female guerrilla Hoang Ngan is a vivid symbol in countless examples representing the heroic tradition, indomitable, middle-aged and courageous of Vietnamese women. Words of comrade Do Muoi, former General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam View pano
Hoang Ngan guerrilla team in localities in the resistance war against the French
As Chairman of the General Department of Politics, Mr. Thanh has made great contributions to build an army of ideological politics, a system of Party organizations, organizing political work, building a team of cadres, maintaining and strengthening the Party's leadership..., contributing to raise the spirit and the strength of our people. Words of General Vo Nguyen Giap View pano
Mister Van Tien Dung was assigned by the Politburo and the Central Military Commission to directly lead the Buon Ma Thuot battle to start the battles, encouraging the whole front. Excerpts: Van Tien Dung - A loyal communist soldier, a talented general of the army, Chu Huy Man: Forever remember General Van Tien Dung, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2004, p.55 View pano
At midnight on August 15th, 1945, I was assigned the task of immediately returning to Tuyen Quang, in charge of the uprising in some western provinces, and towns in two sides of Lo and Thao rivers: Tuyen Quang and Phu Tho, Yen Bai, Ha Giang... At Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, Yen Bai at that time there were strong war zones and bases organized by our Party comrades in Nghia Lo prison. Excerpts: Senior Lieutenant General Song Hao - Memoir and Works, People's Army Publishing House, Hanoi, 2005, p.75 View pano
After escaping from Phu Bai Prison, I joined the provisional Executive Committee of Quang Nam province, in charge of the Tien Phuoc district. On August 18th, 1945, I and my team successfully took control of the government in Quang Nam. Words of Major General Huynh Dac Huong, August 13th, 2019 View pano
Historical witnesses meet at Hoa Lo Prison Relic, recall the memory of escape from sewer in March, 1945 View pano
Historical witnesses meet at Hoa Lo Prison Relic, recall the memory of escape from sewer on night of December 12th 1951 View pano
Historical witnesses meet, recall the memory of escape from Dam quay, Con Dao Prison, December 12th 1952
Meeting to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Return in Victory" and "Memorial Ceremony of the sodiers sacrificed in Phu Quoc", at the Historical Site of Phu Quoc Prison Camp, March 15th, 2018
Representatives of the Communication Committee of Phu Quoc Prison Camp for Communist Prisoners in Hanoi met at the Hoa Lo Prison Relic, October 16th, 2019
