Attending the ceremony were Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia - Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of Central Propaganda; Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh - Politburo member, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of the Government; Ms. Vo Thi Anh Xuan - Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; together with leaders and former leaders of the Party, State; departments, ministries, branches, central agencies; Thanh Hoa province and other provinces and cities.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh - Secretary of Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee said that 70 years ago, after the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign "famous in five continents, shaking the earth", the Geneva Agreement on suspending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam and the Indochinese countries was signed. The 17th parallel, the Ben Hai River, became the military boundary dividing the North and the South. The North was at peace, entering the cause of building socialism; the South continued the struggle to unify the country.
Immediately after the Geneva Agreement was signed, with a strategic vision, the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh decided to arrange a group of cadres and party members to stay behind to lead the fight in the South and transfer tens of thousands of compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students from the South to the North.
Thanh Hoa was honored to be the first place in the North to be entrusted by the Party Central Committee, the Government and Uncle Ho with the task of welcoming the Southern compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students. In just 9 months (from September 1954 to May 1955), Thanh Hoa province organized the reception of 47,346 cadres, soldiers, 1,869 wounded soldiers, 5,922 students and 1,443 families of Southern cadres; it was the locality that welcomed the largest number of Southern compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Trong Nghia - Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of Central Propaganda, said that 70 years have passed, but the event of welcoming cadres, soldiers, people and students from the South to the North has become a deep mark in the history of the nation, in the hearts of many generations of people and soldiers from the South and the North; is a priceless lesson about "Party's will, people's heart"; a shining symbol of the spirit of great solidarity and affirms the truth "Vietnam is one, the Vietnamese people are one. Rivers may dry up, mountains may wear away, but that truth will never change".
To promote the strength of historical and cultural traditions, the spirit of self-reliance and self-improvement, and the strength of the great national unity bloc, and to strongly promote the great historical significance of the gathering event to the North, provinces and cities across the country, especially those that played an important role in the gathering to the North such as Thanh Hoa, Dong Thap, Ca Mau, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, Quang Tri, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, etc., need to further strengthen cooperative relationships, closely and effectively connect.
“During the war, we shared food and clothes. In peace, we must join hands, be united, maximize the strength of each locality and support each other for a developed and integrated Vietnam,” emphasized Head of Central Propaganda Nguyen Trong Nghia.
The Central Propaganda Head also hopes that the Party Committees and the Thanh Hoa Provincial Government will continue to pay attention to and effectively promote the value of the Memorial Site for Southern compatriots, cadres, soldiers and students who gathered in the North to the people of all walks of life. Along with that, cadres, Southern compatriots, scientists, experts and people across the country will continue to collect and add documents to the Memorial Site, so that this place can truly become a "red address" in revolutionary tradition education, an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists.
