The Hoa La Prison Museum is an astonishing mix of horror and propaganda.Built by the French administration in 1896, and named Maison Centrale during
the French rule – the original sign still hangs over the entrance - most
of the prison complex was demolished in 1997. What remains is the the
Hoa Lo Prison Museum. The prison was used by
the French to hold Vietnamese (largely political) prisoners. Originally
intended to hold around 450 prisoners, by the 1930s
the number of detainees had soared to almost 2,000.
When you read any westernized tour information, the emphasis is on the incarceration of US pilots, who nick-named it the Hanoi Hilton. A smaller section of the museum is devoted to the American period and the pictures show smiling PoWs washing and eating and playing cards. Videos play movies about the atrocities committed by the attempted (US) invaders. No mention is made of torture or starvation of PoWs. Walls are covered with images of how other countries (France, UK, Russia) helped Vietnam in its very poor, dark days.
Much of the museum, however, concentrates on the horrifying treatment of the Vietnamese by the French - shackles, whips, and other instruments of torture, as well as tiny solitary confinement cells, which date from the French-colonial period.
Also on display is part of the sewer system - more than 100 prisoners escaped in August 1945. At the back of the museum is the guillotine. Not the oppressive size I was expecting, but still terrifying. It was difficult to remind myself that this was not the medieval period but the turn of the 20th Century.
When you read any westernized tour information, the emphasis is on the incarceration of US pilots, who nick-named it the Hanoi Hilton. A smaller section of the museum is devoted to the American period and the pictures show smiling PoWs washing and eating and playing cards. Videos play movies about the atrocities committed by the attempted (US) invaders. No mention is made of torture or starvation of PoWs. Walls are covered with images of how other countries (France, UK, Russia) helped Vietnam in its very poor, dark days.
Much of the museum, however, concentrates on the horrifying treatment of the Vietnamese by the French - shackles, whips, and other instruments of torture, as well as tiny solitary confinement cells, which date from the French-colonial period.
Also on display is part of the sewer system - more than 100 prisoners escaped in August 1945. At the back of the museum is the guillotine. Not the oppressive size I was expecting, but still terrifying. It was difficult to remind myself that this was not the medieval period but the turn of the 20th Century.
No comments:
Post a Comment