Thai Lao - Hung Nguyen Martyrs' Monument: Historical relic marking a heroic struggle
Thai Lao Martyrs Monument is a historical relic marking the heroic struggle of the people of Hung Nguyen and Nam Dan districts. At the same time, this place also witnessed the brutal crimes of imperialism and feudalism.
The relic was built in Hung Thai commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province. The relic is 5 km west of Vinh city, located on National Highway 46 to President Ho Chi Minh's hometown (Kim Lien, Nam Dan).
From September 1930, the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement developed to its peak. A series of protests broke out in Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Typical was the struggle of the people of Hung Nguyen.
On the morning of September 12, 1930, about 8,000 farmers from three communes: Phu Long, Thong Lang (Hung Nguyen) and Nam Kim (Nam Dan) under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee, in neat ranks, equipped with sticks, spears, ropes, raising red flags with hammers and sickles marched to Yen Xuan station.
The demonstrators lined up in fours, about 3-4 km long, with a flag-bearing team and two propaganda teams in front, two red guard teams on either side, and the people in the middle. The command ordered the stationmaster to be tied up and the telegraph lines cut. Ms. Nguyen Thi Phia stood up to give a speech, denouncing the crimes of the French colonialists and the Southern feudalists, calling on the masses to follow the Communist Party. The shouts of slogans resounded throughout the area. The number of protesters grew larger and larger.
Threatened by a group of soldiers firing, and raining heavily, the protesters still held their ranks and marched toward Hung Nguyen district capital. When the protesters had just reached Thai Lao, the French colonialists dropped bombs on the crowd, killing and injuring many people. In the afternoon, when the farmers came out to pay their respects and bury the dead, the French planes came and massacred them again, killing 217 people, injuring 125, and arresting dozens. This brutal terrorist attack shocked public opinion at home and abroad.
From 1930 to 1955, this place was a land emerging in the middle of the field with low-lying graves of martyrs. To forever remember the merits of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the country, in 1956, Nghe An Provincial Party Committee and Nghe An Provincial People's Committee started to build a monument with the scale of a martyrs' cemetery. In 1960, Nghe An Department of Culture designed and expressed the scale of the martyrs' monument as it is today.
Thai Lao Martyrs Monument is a historical relic marking the heroic struggle of the people of Hung Nguyen and Nam Dan districts. At the same time, this place also witnessed the brutal crimes of imperialism and feudalism.
During his second visit to his hometown in 1961, Uncle Ho came to lay a wreath in front of the temple and commemorated the 217 soldiers who sacrificed their lives on September 12, 1930.
Every year on September 12, people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces come here to burn incense and celebrate the traditional day of Nghe Tinh Soviet.
The Ministry of Culture issued Decision No. 1288 VH/QD, dated November 16, 1988, recognizing Thai Lao Hung Nguyen Martyrs Monument as a National Historical Relic.
