Tay Ninh Road Examination - A testament to a time of bloodshed and war.

Located in the heart of Tan Ninh ward, the Tay Ninh Prison Historical Site is one of the most significant historical landmarks in Tay Ninh province. Each remaining wall, iron bar, and prison cell stands as a living witness, recounting to today's generation the tragic yet proud past of the nation, and the steadfast revolutionary fighters who, despite imprisonment, remained loyal and determined to win independence and freedom for the Fatherland.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the patriotic movement of the people of Tay Ninh developed strongly, causing great concern to the French colonial government. To suppress the movement, they built the Tay Ninh Prison to imprison and terrorize patriots and revolutionary fighters who dared to stand up against their rule.

From its inception, the prison was a symbol of the brutality of the colonial regime and a tool for suppressing the people's will to fight.

A portion of the former prison building has been preserved as a historical monument.

Following the 1954 Geneva Accords, the US imperialists and their puppet regime continued to use prisons to detain and torture revolutionary fighters, patriotic citizens, and even intellectuals and prominent figures who opposed the dictatorial regime.

One of the crimes associated with the Tay Ninh Prison was the arrest and execution of Comrade Hoang Le Kha, a member of the Standing Committee of the Tay Ninh Provincial Party Committee. Arrested on August 5, 1959, despite brutal torture, he maintained his communist integrity, remaining loyal to the Fatherland and his comrades. Failing to break his will, the Saigon government brought him before a special mobile military court on September 20, 1959, and sentenced him to death. Hoang Le Kha became the last person executed by beheading under the Ngo Dinh Diem regime according to Law 10/59.

According to witnesses who were once imprisoned there, Tay Ninh Prison was solidly constructed with bricks 20-40cm thick, surrounded by a 4m high wall studded with sharp shards of glass to prevent prisoners from escaping. The entire complex covered an area of ​​over 3,600m², consisting of many parallel rows of buildings along two axes: North-South and East-West. Each cell was only a little over 50m², sometimes holding up to a hundred people.

Prisoners had to sleep crammed together on the cement floor, without blankets or pillows. All daily activities, including urination, took place in cramped, damp cells. The water reservoir was rarely full, making the air suffocating and foul-smelling. Prisoners' lives were marked by insufficient food, poor sanitation, lack of medicine, and widespread illness. Intestinal diseases were quite common, especially dysentery...

Throughout the two wars of resistance against France and the United States, Tay Ninh Prison held hundreds of cadres, Party members, revolutionary soldiers, and patriotic citizens. Despite being terrorized, beaten, and starved, they remained united, secretly organizing propaganda, political education, and nurturing their fighting spirit even in the darkness of the prison.

From 1957, in the harsh prison environment, steadfast communists maintained contact with the Provincial Party Committee, secretly establishing Party branches, leading prisoners in struggle, caring for one another, and upholding their integrity. The Tay Ninh prison, with its loyal individuals, together established a communication network connecting the Party organization outside with those inside the prisons, and between Con Dao prison and the mainland.

Inside the prison cells, models of revolutionary soldiers were recreated.

Journalist Nguyen Tan Hung - former Editorial Secretary of Tay Ninh Newspaper (old), once wrote an article titled "On the Restoration of Tay Ninh Prison: The Story of One End of the Network," in which he asserted that Tay Ninh Prison was one end of the "Con Dao Network."

He wrote: “Once, while visiting Con Dao, an island known as ‘hell on earth,’ I heard the tour guide introduce the ‘Con Dao Network,’ a secret communication line between revolutionary prisoners during the resistance war, then called ‘political prisoners,’ and the revolutionary headquarters in the South. Suddenly, I speculated: So, one end of the network was in Con Dao, and the other end must be in Tay Ninh! Because for almost 15 years of the resistance war against the US, the Central Committee of the South had its base in Tay Ninh, except for the first year in the Ma Da forest in Dong Nai province. […] I sought out a person whom I believed knew about the ‘Con Dao Network,’ because he was a leader of the Tay Ninh Provincial Party Committee during the anti-American resistance war: Mr. Nguyen Van Hai, commonly known as Uncle Bay Hai, former Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee before liberation and Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee after liberation. Fortunately, Uncle Bay Hai was the person assigned by Comrade Nguyen Van Linh, Secretary of the Central Committee, to establish the network.” "Establish the 'Con Dao Line' and direct the operation of the line on the mainland."

It was in this place, seemingly a "burial ground" for human lives, that revolutionary will was forged, and political prisoners, unarmed, made a tremendous contribution to the glorious history of the nation.

After taking over, the Tay Ninh prison was handed over to the Tay Ninh Provincial Police (before the merger) for management. The unit utilized part of the facility for the Political Department's work; the rest was preserved as a provincial-level historical relic.

Currently, the Tay Ninh Prison Historical Site consists of two prison cells oriented along the North-South and East-West axes, with the main facade facing Tran Quoc Toan Street, bordered to the East by Ham Nghi Street, to the West by 30/4 Street, and behind it is the former Tay Ninh Newspaper headquarters. The total area of ​​the site is 1,954.5 m², including the protected area (1,316.64 m²) and the adjacent land which is a landscaped park (bordering 30/4 Street).

To ensure proper preservation and maintenance, in 2013, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism invested over 5.3 billion VND to renovate and restore the site, and handed it over to the People's Committee of Tay Ninh City (formerly) for management in 2014.

In 2020, from the city's budget, the historical site received further investment of nearly 290 million VND to combat termite infestation, replace roofing and rafters, and repaint the entire structure, ensuring the site remains intact and safe for visitors. Inside the site, models recreating scenes of prisoners' daily lives and the forms of torture inflicted by the enemy help viewers visualize the suffering endured by previous generations.

Currently, the historical site is managed by the Tan Ninh Ward People's Committee. Over more than a century, the Tay Ninh Prison has witnessed countless historical ups and downs, countless lives buried in darkness, but it is also from this that the light of patriotism and revolutionary faith has been kindled.

From a place once considered "hell on earth," this location has become a symbol of the unwavering spirit, courage, and indomitable will of the people of Tay Ninh.

Khai Tuong

Source: https://baolongan.vn/kham-duong-tay-ninh-chung-tich-mot-thoi-mau-lua-a205703.html