Re-reading the poems written in blood in prison by revolutionary Nguyen Thi Minh Khai

The touching story of revolutionary activist Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and her sister Nguyen Thi Quang Thai (first wife of General Vo Nguyen Giap), who both died at a very young age, leaving behind young children and touching poems and letters, is being introduced to viewers at Hoa Lo Prison Relic, Hanoi .

It is a special exhibition titled Sharp Pen, Loyal Heart, commemorating War Invalids and Martyrs Day July 27 and celebrating National Day September 2.

Here, the stories of steadfast revolutionaries, examples of sacrifice for the nation, and the poems and writings they left behind deeply move viewers.

Words that touch the heart

The exhibition introduces many touching stories about the lives devoted to the country of revolutionaries who were imprisoned by the enemy, leaving behind many indomitable poems and literature, from Nguyen An Ninh, Nguyen Duc Canh, Tran Dang Ninh, Thoi Hieu...

In particular, the story of the two "martyr" sisters Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Nguyen Thi Quang Thai made many viewers choke up.

As one of the first female members of the Communist Party of Vietnam , active both domestically and internationally, in 1940, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai was arrested by the French colonialists, sentenced to death, and imprisoned at Catinat Police Station, Phu My Prison, and Saigon Central Prison.

The story of the heroine who used her blood to write poems expressing the steadfast, indomitable will of a revolutionary soldier during her days in prison moved viewers to tears.

And reading the words she told her younger sister Nguyen Thi Quang Thai when she learned she was sentenced to death in 1941 made many people choke up: "Please help me, when Hong Minh grows up, you can take him home to raise and teach him to be a good person...".

Because just one year later, her younger sister was also separated from her young child because she was imprisoned by the enemy in Hoa Lo. And three years after her older sister Nguyen Thi Minh Khai died, her younger sister Nguyen Thi Quang Thai also died in prison, leaving behind her young child.

The last blood-soaked letters

The exhibition also brings many of the last emotional blood-soaked words written by patriots in prison.

That was the last poem composed by patriot Nguyen An Ninh before his death (August 14, 1943). And the heartfelt words of the patriot who was once the "idol of the people of the six provinces" Nguyen An Ninh spoke at the Southern Education Promotion Association (Saigon), January 25, 1923:

"I yearn passionately for a culture for our race, created by ourselves, from our own intestines, from our own blood.

A culture that reflects our soul, not the soul of the Far East, but the soul of the yellow people, the soul of the Annamese people".

Or the book "Worker Movement" that the staunch revolutionary Nguyen Duc Canh wrote in his last days in prison, before his execution, as well as the poem "Farewell" he sent to his mother before his death.

The exhibition also introduces images of some prisons that the enemy used to imprison Vietnamese patriots and revolutionaries: Hoa Lo Prison, Con Dao Prison, Kham Lon (Saigon), Chin Ham Prison, Buon Ma Thuot Prison...