On the occasion of the 1 year anniversary of the opening of the General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum in Hanoi, Lao Dong Newspaper reporters had a conversation with Ms. Dang Thi Minh Ngoc - wife of the late Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh to listen to stories about the museum that has a very important meaning to her family.
"The Teacher" is a work written by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh about his intelligence teacher. Can you share how the journey of Senior Lieutenant General writing the manuscript and completing the book went?
- Mr. Vinh has been cherishing a book about Mr. Ba Quoc for a long time. Mr. Ba Quoc is a modest person, he almost does not agree to let anyone write about him. Only later, writer Khuat Quang Thuy convinced him to write the book "Intelligence is not my profession". Mr. Vinh was also fascinated by the story about the life and career of that teacher. Mr. Vinh understood that for Mr. Ba Quoc, life and career are like attractive pages of a novel, and he decided that when he retired, he would write about his teacher.
Mr. Vinh is an avid reader, so writing down the stories of Mr. Ba Quoc's life and career was not difficult for him. The book's manuscript was revised many times due to Mr. Ba's special job.
After General Nguyen Chi Vinh passed away, the museum officially opened and had many practical activities and projects. The family also completed the publication of a book about General Nguyen Chi Thanh. Looking back at that time, how would you describe your feelings?
- I went through a very difficult time. Mr. Vinh spent his last days completing the book “Stories of General Nguyen Chi Thanh”, then his family and the editorial team published the book so that those stories could be spread to readers.
This was Mr. Vinh's wish for a long time, he wanted to tell stories about his father and his father's comrades during the time of revolutionary activities. When he finished the manuscript, he knew he would not be able to publish the book in time, so he told me: "You and Ms. Ha, please try to do it for me so that this book can be released to readers in time to celebrate the 110th anniversary of his birth...". My tears kept blurring when I heard him say that! Our family started the process of publishing the book right after he passed away. The book was published on December 22, 2023, which was also the 100th day of his passing, which was a special coincidence.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh is a talented general in the fields of intelligence and foreign affairs. Some people may be curious to ask, in the eyes of his wife in the rear, what kind of husband is a general with many glorious achievements?
- To me, Mr. Vinh is a filial person to his parents, responsible for both his paternal and maternal families. He is also very strict in all family matters, very affectionate, loving his wife, children and grandchildren. Until now, we still feel like he is still by our side. Our grandchildren still come to burn incense for him every day, clasp their hands and say loving words as when he was still alive. They say: "Grandpa, please come back, don't fly up to the sky anymore, come back and play with us..."
I was born into a military family, and so was my husband's family. When I met Mr. Vinh, I saw that my family and his family were close. When I became a daughter-in-law, I understood more about my parents' feelings, how they loved and raised their children. My father-in-law always wanted his children to strive, love each other and love to work.
During his lifetime, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh devoted much effort to building a museum to honor and commemorate his father, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Thanh. May I ask, what kind of father was Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Thanh?
- He was a father who always loved, cared for, and trained his children. He always wrote letters telling them how to study and how to work. He was not a person who spoiled his children, but he taught them from a young age, so that they would love to work, study well, help their families, and love everyone...
I was not fortunate enough to live with him, but through the stories of his family, Mr. Vinh was imbued with his thinking and determination when solving problems. Even at home, when there were difficult tasks, I was always assured because he was there. Mr. Vinh always tried to complete the assigned tasks well and left his mark, just like Mr. Thanh.
Mr. Vinh always thought of his father and followed his father's ideology. From a young age, he understood that he had to strive to improve himself and try to train himself.
When he built the General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum, he once said: "There will definitely be a time when I will rebuild the place to worship my father, and I will definitely put everything back to commemorate General Nguyen Chi Thanh." Early on, he devoted a lot of effort to building a memorial area for his grandparents and later asked permission from Thua Thien - Hue province and Hanoi city to establish a private museum. He had the idea of making a place to preserve memories of his time and his generation's activities, contributing to the cause of national liberation and unification.
What did the family keep in mind during the process of forming and building the museum with a massive amount of documents about General Nguyen Chi Thanh?
- Mr. Vinh is not an expert in museum construction, so he invited many experts in history and museums to help him learn from their experiences. Mr. Vinh also intended to hire foreign experts to do it, but the price was very high. Therefore, he decided to learn and do it himself. And he did it. Mr. Vinh is the architect for both museums in Hanoi and Hue. Our family is truly proud of his achievements.
It can be said that this museum is a work of Nguyen Chi Vinh, to pay tribute to his father, General Nguyen Chi Thanh, and his generation. Currently, both museums welcome many groups of visitors, and people come to live and study.
With nearly 700 artifacts, the General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum displays valuable documents and images about the life and career of General Nguyen Chi Thanh. Among them, there is a chest that you have kept and preserved for many years. Can you share your memories about this special chest?
- When I got married, my husband had passed away in 1967, and my wife had passed away in 1980. When he passed away, Vinh was still young. The family kept all of his albums, film rolls, and his belongings in this chest, such as name cards, pen boxes, medals, and costumes. In 1989, Vinh's family handed over the house at 34 Ly Nam De to the State. Our family brought with them all of his and his wife's belongings, including the chest. This was also the luggage for our family to make documents for the former memorial house and the current museum. Many people asked Vinh, after so many years, how he was able to preserve so many documents and memorabilia. We all answered that 80% of all the images we had were in this chest.
The General Nguyen Chi Thanh Museum was inaugurated and became a destination for history lovers. To his family, what values of personality and lifestyle did General Nguyen Chi Thanh leave for the generation living in peacetime?
- Our family always wants the museum to become a red address, a place to learn about reliable history and a destination for agencies, units, people, especially the young generation to come and study the history of our ancestors.
Although the museum model is a private museum, we still hope that the museum can integrate into the cultural flow, closely connected with people's lives. The family hopes to spread the good values of culture and history, to help people have a correct view of Vietnamese cultural and historical traditions.
(Posted on the special edition of Labor Weekend Spring At Ty)
