Talking about Vietnamese women is talking about bravery, altruism, sacrifice, diligence, patience, dedication, loyalty and creative talent. “Heroic, indomitable, loyal, and capable” – these are the eight golden words that President Ho Chi Minh bestowed on Vietnamese women during the resistance war, how honorable, worthy and proud.
In the history of the struggle to build and defend the country of the Vietnamese people, there have been countless examples of patriotic women whose names have been recorded in history books. From the time of the Trung sisters to the Ho Chi Minh era, there have been millions of brave women who sacrificed for the independence of the country. That passionate tradition of patriotism has crystallized brightly in the image of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thap - an indomitable and loyal daughter of the Tien River.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thap (real name Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tot), was born in 1908 in a poor peasant family in Long Hung commune, Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province. From the age of 20, she was enlightened with revolutionary ideals, participating in the Farmers' Association in Long Hung with many activities supported by many poor peasants. In 1931, she was honored to join the ranks of the Communist Party of Vietnam . After that, she took the pseudonym Muoi Thap and left the movement, building bases in My Tho, Tan An, Ben Tre, Saigon... In April 1935, she was elected to the Southern Regional Party Committee. In May of that year, she was arrested by the enemy and sentenced to prison. Immediately after her prison term ended, she secretly returned to her hometown and continued to participate in revolutionary activities. In December 1938, after leading a protest against taxes by farmers in Long Hung commune, comrade Nguyen Thi Thap was arrested again, but this time thousands of people from Long Hung and Long Dinh communes came to free her.
In 1940, Mrs. Muoi Thap joined the leadership of the Southern Uprising in My Tho province. Even though she was close to giving birth, she still tied her belly, commanded the militia, and the people to raise flags and banners, and stormed the Tam Hiep post. Her husband, a communist soldier who had been captured and imprisoned by the French colonialists in Con Dao since 1930, had just returned to the mainland and joined the uprising. After the Southern Uprising, her husband was arrested in January 1941 and executed by the French.
In 1945, Ms. Muoi Thap participated in leading the people to seize power in My Tho province (now Tien Giang province) and in 1946, she was elected as a delegate to the 1st National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
In November 1946, the French colonialists returned to Vietnam, the whole country resisted, the Central Committee moved to the Viet Bac resistance zone. At this time, as a member of the Party Central Committee, she was assigned to return to the South with the special task of building and consolidating the increasingly strong Southern Party Committee. In 1947, she was appointed as the Head of the Southern Women's National Salvation Group, then the President of the Southern Women's Union. In 1953, the Central Committee transferred her to work in the Viet Bac resistance zone. The Geneva Agreement was signed, she was sent to the South to disseminate the implementation of the Armistice Agreement. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap gathered in the North in 1954, from 1956 to 1974 she held the position of President of the Vietnam Women's Union. In 1955, she was elected to the Central Executive Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party until her retirement according to policy (in 1980).
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap was also assigned by the Party and the State to many important positions such as: Secretary of the Women's Party Committee and Head of the Central Party Women's Committee; Member of the Party Central Committee from the 2nd to the 4th term, elected to the National Assembly from the 1st to the 6th term and held the position of Vice President of the National Assembly from the 2nd to the 6th term. In 1985, she was awarded the Gold Star Order by the State - the highest order of the State of Vietnam and was conferred the honorary title of the State - Heroic Vietnamese Mother.
In 1954, after many years of separation, mother and son were reunited. However, pain struck again. In May 1954, the eldest son, a commune team leader of Long Hung - Long Hoa commune, heroically sacrificed himself in a raid by the enemy. The second son was selected to study cinema in the German Democratic Republic. After graduating and returning to the country, he asked his mother to join the fight in the Southeast battlefield and heroically died in his homeland with a rich revolutionary tradition like his father and brother.
After the great victory in the spring of 1975, she again started to summarize the history of the Vietnamese Women's Movement before returning to the South to retire. In 1982, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap and 12 veteran female revolutionary cadres established the Southern Women's History Group with the task of summarizing the revolutionary struggle movement of Southern women in the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, collecting and preserving artifacts to introduce to future generations the role and contributions of women in the two resistance wars. With responsibility and love for future generations of women, the Southern Women's History Group published the book "History of Southern Women in the Bronze Citadel" and inaugurated the Southern Women's Traditional House in 1985, the predecessor of today's Southern Women's Museum.
With nearly 60 years of participating in revolutionary activities, assigned many important responsibilities by the Party and State, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap has always overcome all difficulties and dangers, not afraid of sacrifice to excellently complete all tasks assigned by the Party and people.
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thap - a resilient woman of the Southern land, after dedicating her entire life to the Fatherland, on March 19, 1996, due to old age and poor health, she passed away in Ho Chi Minh City, at the age of 88. According to her will, her family buried her at the Martyrs' Cemetery of Tien Giang province, next to her husband's grave.
During her revolutionary activities, in 1965, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap attended the Third Chinese Women's Congress in Beijing. Before leaving, she visited Uncle Ho and Uncle Ton. She saw that Uncle Ho's blanket was too old and had some frayed parts, so she intended to buy a new blanket to give to Uncle Ho, but she was afraid that Uncle Ho would find out, so she asked Comrade Vu Ky (who was then Uncle Ho's secretary) to help measure the size of Uncle Ho's blanket so that she could buy the right size for the blanket Uncle was using.
During her time attending the Chinese Women's Congress, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap bought this blanket and brought it to Uncle Ho as a gift when she returned to Vietnam. Uncle Ho later gave it back to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thap to use and she kept the blanket as a souvenir at home.
The “Blanket” is made of satin, cotton thread, mouse (the satin surface has some frayed spots about 1cm), size: 177cm x 115cm. The blanket has 2 layers, in the middle is a mouse pad, on the surface layer is orange cotton thread with purple patterns. The blanket is hand-sewn with a sewing machine. This is a gift from Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thap to Uncle Ho and then Uncle Ho gave it back to her for her own use.
THE "BLANKET" MRS. NGUYEN THI THAP GIVEN TO PRESIDENT HO CHI MINH
In March 1997, Ms. Le Ngoc Thu - daughter of comrade Nguyen Thi Thap donated this artifact to Ton Duc Thang Museum for preservation and maintenance. In order to preserve and effectively promote the value of cultural heritage related to the great President Ho Chi Minh, Ton Duc Thang Museum transferred the above artifact to the Southern Women's Museum for preservation on February 28, 2005 (under the direction of the Board of Directors of the Department of Culture and Information of Ho Chi Minh City). Attached is the artifact file with inventory number 149.
Ho Chi Minh City, March 3, 2025
Pham Tuan Truong
Department of Communication - Education and International Relations
Source: https://baotangphunu.com/ba-nguyen-thi-thap-va-chiec-chan-men-tang-chu-cich-ho-chi-minh/
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