 People attend the trial opening of General Nguyen Chi Thanh in Hanoi. (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
There is another General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum in Hue city, and a gallery dedicated to him in his home village in Thua Thien Hue province.
Nguyen Hong Linh, a member of the Veterans Association of Thuy Phuong ward, Bac Tu Liem district, said, “We are proud to be comrades-in-arms of General Nguyen Chi Thanh. Visiting the museum taught us a lot about his career during the resistance wars against the French and the Americans. The General's merits were great.”
General Nguyen Chi Thanh, whose real name was Nguyen Vịnh, was born on January 1, 1914, in Niem Pho village, Quang Tho commune, Quang Dien district, Thua Thien-Hue province. He was brevetted General of the Vietnam People's Army in 1959, the second General of the Vietnam People's Army after General Vo Nguyen Giap.
In 1967, as he prepared to go to the South to command the 1968 Mau Than General Offensive, the General suddenly died. Colonel Nguyen Van Oanh, Deputy Director of the Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army, said, “General Nguyen Chi Thanh was a staunch Communist soldier, a talented commander with a strategic vision. During his revolutionary life, regardless of his position or difficult fronts, General Nguyen Chi Thanh successfully fulfilled all tasks assigned by the Party, State, and people. He is a shining pearl and the prototype on which poet To Huu based his works.”
 Soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army visit the museum. (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
The General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum in Hanoi was begun in October 2021 and completed in June 2022. The 3-story building has a gallery, conference room, movie room, reading room, artifact warehouse, and other facilities. The building matches the architecture of the house at 34 Ly Nam De street in Hanoi where the General and his family lived from 1955 to 1986.
Colonel Pham Van Phi, Director of the General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum, said, “President Ho Chi Minh visited General Nguyen Chi Thanh’s family at 34 Ly Nam De street. At this house the Politburo met to discuss the struggle to liberate the South and reunify the country after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964. The museum has different themes: the homeland, the revolution in the northern, central, and southern region, the General's death on July 6, and the reactions of his family and the public."
"On display are 670 images, documents, personal items, books written by or about the General, and 23 bronze statues of notable Vietnamese figures and historical events. There are recreations of the General’s home office and his shack at the Central Office for South Vietnam,” Phi said.
Museum visitors will see the Mercier bicycle General Thanh used during the resistance war against the French, the P38 pistol he used for self-defense while commanding the Binh Tri Thien subdivision in 1947, and the desk clock he used from 1954 to 1960.
 The recreation of the General’s home office at 34 Ly Nam De street. (Photo: Ngoc Anh) |
Some documents have been made public for the first time, including a letter from the Chairman of the General Political Department of the Polish Army to the Chairman of the General Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army asking for help with the Polish Army Museum, and a letter from the Chairman of the General Political Department of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) to General Thanh asking for help with the Czechoslovak Military Museum.
Vu Ha, Secretary of the Bac Tu Liem district Party Committee, said, “The museum holds many valuable historical documents associated with General Nguyen Chi Thanh’s revolutionary career. The documents, artifacts, and pictures vividly recall the General’s life and career and have great historical value. The museum is a top attraction for domestic and foreign tourists. The district will organize associated tours and extracurricular activities for young people.”
The General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum is in preview mode until the end of this year, when the items on display will be updated for the museum’s official inaugural ceremony on January 1, 2024, to celebrate General Nguyen Chi Thanh’s 110th birthday.