HO CHI MINH'S HOUSE

Hanoi's humble Ho Chi Minh house

I'm in downtown Hanoi, and I enter what looks like a neighborhood park. Walking round a scenic, tree lined pond, I enter a small elevated house. It’s just a simple green home with few rooms, built on top of wooden stilts. This seems like a scene that I would see out in the Vietnamese countryside, not in the downtown's capital.

This humble little dwelling, was the house of Ho Chi Minh. 

Ho's conference room. Did he use the phones in the back to call Kruschev in the USSR, and Mao in China?

The official government brochure says this is: “The house-on-stilts where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from May of 1958 to August of 1969.” But I doubt Ho lived here all that time, especially during the war years when Hanoi endured heavy American bombing from the air. Made only of wood, this stilt house could have easily been destroyed by the US Air Force, if they had so desired. I suspect that Ho slept and hid elsewhere during Hanoi’s frequent air raids.

Among the stilts underneath the house, tables and chairs remain from Ho’s official meetings. Three old style rotary telephones here were used to report to him on the war’s progress. Did Ho use these old phones to speak with Mao Tse Tung in Beijing, or with Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow? Who could have predicted then, that only a few decades after these three old powerful communists were dead, that global communism would be dead too.

Upstairs is a simple office, and a small bedroom. The official brochure goes on to say that Ho’s home on stilts, “symbolizes his living way of simplicity, modesty, gentleness and dedication for the nation and the people.” A more accurate description would be to say that as the top communist in a mostly agrarian country, Ho wanted to always look like he was just another everyday guy.

With this stilt house so humble and basic, I wonder if Ho spent much time in the mansion nearby. Through the trees on these same grounds, is a grand yellow colonial building, that used to be the former Palace of Indochina's General Governor.  It’s also empty now, except for occasional official functions. Now known as the Presidential Palace, even the current President doesn’t live there.

Ho's home office

Nguyen Minh Triet, a recent Vietnam President until 2011, was the first post-war president to hail from southern Vietnam. Since Ho’s death Vietnam’s top government posts have been mainly held by northerners, although that's been slowly changing. Nguyen also became the first Vietnamese President since the war ended to visit the USA, meeting President George Bush at the White House in 2007. This changing of the guard, has brought a change and improvement in diplomatic relations with Hanoi's former enemy.

These days, Ho’s dreams of equality for the working class are gone, and he probably wouldn’t approve of Vietnam’s return to what he regarded as decadent capitalism. He didn’t live to see his dream of a reunited Vietnam, but Ho would be pleased that there are no longer foreign soldiers on Vietnamese soil. 

He may be forever hated by many French and Americans, but he will be forever loved here in Hanoi.

HO CHI MINH'S BODY

Vietnamese children play in front of Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum

There’s a light rain as I arrive at the entrance to this revered site. What I’m about to see is the pride of Vietnam. There’s no admission fee to get in either; it’s open for all to see. Hundreds of people have arrived here before me, and I find my way to the back of a long line, as everyone queues for entry.

Entering a security tent, a security guard asks me, “Camera or mobile phone?” I shake my head, and pass through a metal detector. A nearby sign lists the rules for entry. As usual, the English translation is less than perfect. One rule states, “Don’t bring in gold, weapon, germstone, poison”.

Leaving the tent, the queue moves surprisingly fast. I look around at the rest of the crowd, and except for a western couple everyone else is Vietnamese. None are wearing traditional Vietnamese clothing however, all are wearing western style clothes.

Near to our queue, three lines of preschoolers shuffle along on their way to the entrance. Their teachers herd them forward, with each child holding the back of the shirt of the child in front of them. As they stop and start, they resemble a cute, long accordian of children. As the cute kids pass a guard, his somber face cracks into a rare smile. Like the other guards, he wears an all white military uniform, an elite soldier of the People’s Army of Vietnam. 

Ho in 1946 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

As we round a corner, I see our destination, a dark imposing edifice. The architecture resembles the style of the ancient Greeks or Romans, except that the columns are square. Constructed in the 1970’s, this hallowed building was built with the aid of the Soviet Union. Passing flowered wreaths and more armed sentries, we enter the stone building. The interior is all marble, and the line continues up a stairwell, covered with red rubber mats to protect the visitors from floors made slick by the rain. I follow the crowd to an upper level, walk through thick wooden doors, and suddenly everyone is silent.

There he is, lying in a glass case.

Ho Chi Minh.

My first thought on seeing the dead body of this man, is that his skin looks so white. He has a yellowish light shining down on him, but still, he looks so unnaturally white. He’s dressed in a dark blue outfit, like the kind he used to wear to official communist party functions. His trademark goatee beard, is combed neatly down under his chin.

When this man was alive, he was so many things, to so many people. He was famous, and infamous. Loved, and despised.

To most Vietnamese, he was a patriot. Nationalist. Communist. Leader. He was the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He led the fight against the French, then the Japanese, then the Americans. He was Vietnam’s 20th century godfather.

To the French and Americans, he was more than an ardent communist. He was a rebel, a revolutionary. This one man was able to cause so much trouble to the USA, the world’s greatest superpower, and to the French colonials who dominated Vietnam long before them. He was America’s greatest enemy of the 1960’s, and even with all of their military might from land, sea and air, he was the man that they just couldn’t defeat.

And yet, he looks so short. Like most Asians he’s small in stature, but he made up for it with boundless determination, and total dedication to his cause. Ho never married; he dedicated his life to kicking the foreigners out of Vietnam and reuniting his country. Ho and his glass case are protected by four motionless honor guards. The glass surrounding him is so clean and spotless, that it appears as though there's no glass surrounding him at all. Behind him on the wall, are two long red banners, bearing the gold star from Vietnam’s flag, and the communist hammer and sickle. That’s fitting, since Vietnam and communism were Ho’s two greatest loves.

This tank in a Hanoi museum, crashed the Saigon palace gate to end the war. Ho didn't live to see it.

Frozen in time since his 1969 death, he looks older, than does in all of those old photos and propaganda films. But then again, when Ho finally died he was 79 years old. I look on this old motionless face, that still adorns this country’s paper currency. To most Vietnamese, he is their version of George Washington. 

Ho Chi Minh means ‘bringer of light’, and this was only one of countless pseudonyms he adopted over the years, to keep him from being arrested by the French. As an educated man he spoke French fluently, along with some Chinese, Russian, and even English that he picked up during his brief stint working in the USA. Back when he was an unknown, nobody could have imagined that this short Asian man that worked as a baker in New York, would later lead his country against America in what would become one of America's longest wars. While Ho lived in the USA, he learned more than just baking. In America, he found a country that had forced out an occupying colonial power, a feat that he later hoped to duplicate.

Years later when Vietnam declared its independence in 1945, Ho included these memorable words in his speech to Hanoi’s masses, “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” As part of his announcement of an independent Vietnam, Ho plagiarized part of the text of the American Declaration of Independence. Ho was also happy to receive weapons from America used to fight the Japanese during WW II, but that was before the cold war. Ho didn’t turn against Americans until later, when the US began supporting the French colonials. 

Ho with sailors from East Germany (Source: German archives)

With the hero of Vietnam’s body on display, I wonder what the preschool children think of seeing Ho like this. When I was their age I'd never even been to a funeral yet. I wonder if it's proper to have children view a dead body at such a young age.

Ho didn’t intend for his body to end up like this. It’s said that he wanted to be cremated, but the communists who replaced him had different ideas. Just like the Russians did with Lenin’s body, and the Chinese did with Mao’s body, the Vietnamese built a grand mausoleum, and put his preserved corpse here on display. It’s like a state funeral that never ends.

Rumors abound that Ho’s actual body isn't even displayed anymore. The word is what I’m seeing now is only a wax dummy. Looking at his lifeless face, it’s hard to tell. Photos aren't allowed inside, and visitors are left to guess for themselves. Is it really him? Only Vietnam’s top brass and the morticians know for sure.

With the crowd gently pushing me from behind, the queue continues forward quietly. Before I know it, I’m out of the room, and soon I’m out of the building. Looking around, I see Vietnam’s adoration of Ho isn’t limited to his mausoleum. As part of their enduring cult of personality for Ho, next door they built a Ho Chi Minh Museum. It’s a big imposing structure, much larger than the Ho Chi Minh Museum I already saw in Saigon, (or should I say, Ho Chi Minh City.) Making for a bit of overkill, there’s another Ho Chi Minh Museum in Danang, still another in Pleiku, and so on. Perhaps due to hero worship or misplaced patriotism, the government decided to have multiple museums across the country dedicated to old Uncle Ho. Attendance at those museums is sparse, unlike the long lines of people who came to see Ho’s body today. 

 Later after leaving the complex, I catch a taxi and return to Hanoi's Old Town. Upon telling a Vietnamese friend that I went to see the mausoleum, she asks me, “Did you say hello to my Uncle Ho?"

“Yeah,” I answer, “but he didn’t say anything back to me.”

BRIDGE OF TEARS FOR DIVIDED FAMILIES

Hien Luong Bridge divided North and South Vietnam in the former DeMilitarized Zone (DMZ)

I’m walking across a quiet, one lane bridge, and a light rain is falling. This bridge is different than others I’ve crossed in Vietnam, it’s more rustic. Of an older design, the surface I’m walking on is made of wood. This is unique, since most of Vietnam’s old colonial bridges were blown up or replaced long ago.

I’m the sole person crossing, and during the war years, very few people crossed this bridge at all. This span straddles the Ben Hai River, at the very center of the former Demilitarized Zone. During the war, this was the dividing line that marked the border between North and South Vietnam. Called the Hien Luong, this bridge in the DMZ was also known by another ironic name: ‘The Peace Bridge’.

This bridge on Highway 1 was never meant to be a border at all, and this is what all the fuss was about that led to war. As the French colonials departed Vietnam back in 1954, the United Nations brokered an agreement in Geneva to smoothen the transition. Vietnam would be temporarily divided into two zones of

Memorial to Vietnamese families separated by the war

control until national elections could be held in 1956, then the country would be unified again. In the north, Ho Chi Minh and his communists were in charge. In the south, the strongman Diem had the power. As the date approached, Diem the dictator knew that he would never beat the popular Ho in a fair election, so he canceled it.

This only set the stage for more conflict. Diem and the US government wished for this border to remain permanent. This would leave Vietnam divided, much as North and South Korea remain divided today. The North Vietnamese government wanted this border erased, and the country reunified. The war was back on.
On the south side of the river, stands a rather poignant memorial. In front of a group of feather shaped stone towers, is a tall statue of a Vietnamese woman standing with her child. They both look longingly across the bridge to the north, where the man of the house has gone.

As Vietnam was dividing into communist and anti-communist zones of control,

Plaster border police figures recall the days of division

many Viet Minh soldiers and political cadres left the south, leaving behind their wives and children. They crossed to refuge in the communist north on this bridge. At the time, they all hoped that the separation of the country, and of their families, would be relatively brief. But it was not to be. With the elections nixed, these men returned to fighting. Their separation from their families, and the war itself, would drag on for two more decades. 

It’s fitting that it’s raining today, because many tears were shed here at this very place where families were separated. For once, I’m looking at a memorial not dedicated to soldiers or politicians, but to Vietnam’s families. These statues stand in memory of those families torn apart by the country’s division. Many of those men who left their families behind on the south side of this bridge, would never see their families again.

After negotiations broke down, the only people who crossed this bridge were UN monitors, along with the border police of both sides. Located at about the 17th Parallel, the Ben Hai River became the de facto border. Land reaching about three miles on each side of the river was declared a ‘Demilitarized Zone’, meaning it would remain free of troops and their weapons. As the conflict heated up, this agreement was ignored by both sides, and the DMZ became filled with landmines, booby traps, barbed wire, and unexploded ordinance (UXO). Some US Marines ghoulishly remarked that the DMZ stood for, ‘Dead Marine Zone’. It’s still a very dangerous place today, loaded with literally tons of UXO and landmines.

Old propaganda flagpole on north side of river

A massive amount of heavy artillery was fired back and forth, high overhead of this dividing river. As the war raged across the rest of the DMZ, the war on this small bridge took on a different form. It became a silly war of propaganda. 

Not far from the bridge on the river’s north bank, stands a very tall flagpole flying the current flag of Vietnam. Back then this pole and its massive flag, were an attempt to assert their presence, and intimidate anyone viewing it from the southern side. Not to be outdone, the South Vietnamese government put up an even taller flagpole, with an even larger flag. But that one is gone now, only the north side flagpole remains.

As I walk by an old French bunker, I find a weapon I wasn’t expecting to see here: loudspeakers. Another part of the war of propaganda, was the war of words. In those days these large outdoor loudspeakers were mounted on both sides of the riverbank, and a continual war of rhetoric was broadcast through them. Some days it wasn’t only propaganda that was aimed at the opposing sides. When I examine one of the old loudspeakers sitting on the north side, I see that it has several bullet holes. Snipers firing from the south had tried to silence them.

With so much turmoil around the DMZ, this small bridge has had multiple incarnations. The original French colonial bridge was destroyed by a typhoon in 1963, then it was wrecked again by American bombing in 1967. As the Americans departed in the 1970’s, the North Vietnamese Army built a one lane floating bridge as they pushed southwards. Later a modern two lane bridge was built just upriver, improving the heavy flow of traffic on Highway 1. Finally, to preserve history, a bridge resembling the original colonial structure was rebuilt in 2001, in the original location.

An old yellow arch stands over the north side of the bridge, and written across the top it says, “Long Live President Ho”, though he’s long gone. On a nearby monument, Ho is quoted as saying, “This border is only temporary. Vietnam is one country.” Ho’s words about the border here were prophetic, however, he wouldn’t live to see the day when his country was once again reunified.

1961 view of bridge looking south, when Vietnam was divided (Photo: Museum)

Bullet riddled loudspeaker, with old police post beyond

OUTRAGEOUS PHOTO LIE

The 'Dragon House' on Saigon's waterfront. Originally French built, now it's Ho's legacy.

I decide that if I am to really understand Vietnam, I should make a visit to a place down by the Saigon River. Here sits the Ho Chi Minh Museum, dedicated to the old communist himself, Ho Chi Minh. Located in the old French colonial customs building called the Dragon House, it’s appropriately named, since I see dragon decorations across the rooftop.

Statue of young Ho, outside the museum.

Outside stands a statue, depicting a young and beardless Ho Chi Minh. At that time he was known as Nguyen Tat Thanh; he hadn’t changed his name to Ho Chi Minh yet. (He changed his name several times during his life.) It was on this very river front in 1911, that he boarded a boat to leave Saigon, not to return to Vietnam for decades. Most Americans will be surprised to learn, that the next year he even lived in New York for a while. There in the Big Apple, the future president of North Vietnam, and future enemy of the USA, worked as a mere baker. This stay in the states was long before Ho became a revolutionary opposed to the US. It was only later when he moved to France that he would embrace communism. While in New York, he developed a taste for American cigarettes, which he smoked for years afterward.

America's great enemy. Ho loved American cigarettes!

Almost unreconisable, this is Ho as a young man.

Ho never spent much time here in Saigon, since his family was from farther north. Since there are more interesting things to see about Ho in Hanoi, I spend little time in this museum, that's almost void of visitors. Perhaps this is due to the current lack of revolutionary fervor for communism. Another possible reason, is that this isn't the only museum in Vietnam dedicated to old Uncle Ho. There are several of these Ho Chi Minh museums throughout the country! Talk about overkill.

Photo of US troops in Vietnam hanging in Saigon's Ho Chi Minh Museum

What does deserve mention here, is the most ridiculous attempt at propaganda I’ve ever seen. (And that's saying a lot!) Among many photos displayed on the walls, one has an enlarged black and white photo that many students that studied the Vietnam War will recognize. Previously published in an American book, the photo shows US Special Forces soldiers after they returned from a successful combat mission in Vietnam. They wear camouflage fatigues, and carry assault rifles. Some have bandoliers of ammunition across their shoulders, others have had their faces partially blackened for night fighting. Most are smiling, and holding up a North Vietnamese flag that they have just captured in battle.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum took a copy of that same photo, and hung it up in this museum, with this outrageous caption: 

How ridiculous.