I have read somewhere before that “Forgetting and forgetting is also a reason to live in life. Knowing how to forget, life suddenly knows how to sing", but in life there are things that happen that make it difficult for us to forget, even need to remember, to engrave. One of those unforgettable things was the business trip to Con Dao in October. It's been almost 5 months but I still can't forget the feelings when I first set foot in this land, meet the dear people there and know the stories that seemed only in the movies.
First, I must confirm that this is my first time going to Con Dao, but this is not the first time I have heard of this place, nor do I know what Con Dao is? “During the war, Con Dao was known as hell on earth” — that's a saying we often tell visitors when they come to the display area to recreate the model of "tiger cage" at Con Dao prison.
We went to Con Dao in erratic weather days. In the morning of the first day, Con Dao welcomed us with very calm sea waves, golden sunshine, white sand, wind chirping in the trees along the way to our destination. In my mind, on this trip, I will take a lot of documents for myself about Con Dao, I will record, take photos, and interview a lot of witnesses to supplement my knowledge and serve my work. I'm at the museum. But what happened next made it impossible for me to fulfill my plans.
I was dumbfounded when I realized that everywhere in Con Dao there are traces of not a prison but a notorious prison system, the most brutal during the resistance wars against the French and the Americans to save the country. The room that my colleague and I stayed in during our stopover days in Con Dao had the front facing the sea, but the back facing a prison — Camp Phu Son. This is the place to mark generations of political prisoners such as comrades Le Hong Phong, Pham Van Dong, Nguyen Van Linh, patriot Nguyen An Ninh. The French colonialists called the cell in this camp "Communist Plantation Nursery", because many other parties were brought out and imprisoned with political prisoners to cause conflicts, but with the emotional talent of Vietnamese communists, they eventually became communists.
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In front of the gate of the Phu Son Camp Correctional Center.
In the evening, we went for a walk to the Cong Quan House area. It is a guest house built by France in the late 19th century located in the complex of the island Lord's mansion. Under the American invasion of Vietnam, this relic is called Nha Cong inn and is for people who were sent to Con Dao by the US or the old Saigon government to perform their official duties. Con Dao at night is so peaceful, this peacefulness is probably what generations of prisoners who have been detained here wish for, I feel my generation is very lucky to live in the peace today.
The second day in Con Dao was an unforgettable day. Ms.Xuan - the guide of the Con Dao Relic Management Board introduced us to the notorious prison camps at that time, but we could not visit all of them because the whole Con Dao in the past. As a prison system, the number of relics here is very large, but the time to stay in Con Dao is limited. We had to choose three places to visit, namely Phu Hai camp, Phu Tuong camp and Phu Binh camp.
Phu Hai camp is the largest and oldest camp in Con Dao built by the French in the late 19th century. This is where the first Communist Party cell in Con Dao prison was born at the end of 1932. where communists opened their cultural, theoretical, and political studies. The first class of female political prisoners in the anti-American era were also detained here. The Phu Hai camp is typical of the hard labor regime. This place is also the embodiment of "hell on earth" Con Dao. But this is also the starting place of the struggle against Communist Party secession of imprisoned political prisoners, the flagship of the movement to protect the climate of Con Dao political prisoners.
Leaving Phu Hai camp, we went to Phu Tuong camp. This is probably the place that I want to go the most when I set foot on the land of Con Dao. This place, together with Banh III and Camp 5, forms a cluster around the isolated area "French Tiger Cage." The reason I wanted to come here the most was because it was in the prison system display area at the War Remnants Museum restored the French-style tiger cages, I would love to hear directly. . .Mrs. Xuan at the Con Dao Monuments Management Board was the one to guide us about the tiger cages that the French built it to detain Vietnamese patriots at that time.To be honest, every day I guided many groups of guests to the tiger cage display area at the Museum where I worked, but when I stood on the ground, in this sacred Con Dao, I feel very moved, my heart can't help but feel agitated when I hear about a time of arduous struggle of the imprisoned revolutionary soldiers here. After listening to Ms. Xuan discuss more about the tiger cage area in Phu Tuong farm, I was a bit embarrassed, I told myself that I would have to try harder, learn and learn more about the tiger cage, about the animals. touching story in Con Dao prison to supplement and enrich my own understanding, because what I know about Con Dao in the past few years is quite little compared to what we have heard and known in the past few years. This journey. I admire even more the professional bravery of the tour guides here, not only in terms of knowledge but also in how to convey, how to make the listener not be able to ignore a single moment. Therefore, on this trip, I only took a few quick photos in the "French-style tiger cage" area and quickly followed her to the "American-style tiger cage" area at Phu Binh camp.
When we just arrived at Phu Binh camp, it was also the time when it started to rain. The rain in Con Dao was not incessant, but sporadic for several hours. The sound of rain mixed with the musty smell of dark and low prisons (a feature of the American Tiger Cage), along with the clear, honest voice of Ms.Xuan about the prison here made us choke, tears just about to flow. According to Ms. Xuan, almost every piece of land on Con Dao is engraved with the hardships and blood of the prisoners. In their miserable torment, communists and patriots had to decide their fate, to die weary or to struggle to live and return to continue their revolutionary activities. Prisoners have to fight a whole machine from the lord of the island to many guards and henchmen. ...That requires communist prisoners to be organized into tight teams, with appropriate forms of struggle. Through her story, in front of our eyes, a slow-motion movie, full of tragedy, about the days of resilient struggle of the previous generation, about the choked sentence: "We need Uncle Ho's photo" of Comrade representing Con Dao provisional Party Committee, when asked if he needed anything, the mainland would immediately support him, right after the day of liberation. In addition to the above places, our group also went to Ben Dam port, Hang Duong cemetery, pier 914, So Co, etc. Each place marked the indomitable struggle of the revolutionary soldiers when imprisoned in Con Dao, about a time when the whole nation had only one goal, a peaceful and unified country.
Roofs of tiger cages - corridors for guards to patrol
After more than three days of studying, we left Con Dao on a rainy day early in the morning, the sea was rough, the plane that brought us back to the mainland shook violently, but it couldn't be equal to emotion. is stirring in our hearts after three days of studying here. Saying goodbye to Con Dao with a heart full of happy and sad emotions, the image of Xuan with a small body and a conical hat standing in the area of the tiger cage is talking in front of international guests about the prison system here. stay in my mind forever. Three days in Con Dao was not enough for me to learn all about this island, but after this trip I realized that I need to learn a lot more, both in terms of knowledge and communication skills. may be worthy to work in a museum that contributes to the world's knowledge of the consequences of war, and contributes to preserving the peace not only of Vietnam but of the world. In the old days, grandparents used to say, "Go for a day, learn a smart sieve!" it's not wrong! These October days are unforgettable in my mind. . .
A rainy afternoon in Con Dao - a corner of Phu Binh camp
The model recreates the torture scene in the sun room at Phu Tuong camp.