In the heart of the city, there is a hill named Khau Ca lying beside the Nam La stream. This place also preserves historical evidence of Son La Prison - evidence of a historical period of revolutionary struggle and the spirit of injustice. The remains of resilient communists who were imprisoned by the French colonialists, and the Son La museum, which displays many precious artifacts, introducing the historical and cultural traditions of a community of 12 ethnic groups united together. together to build Son La into a rich province of Vietnam.
Son La Prison was built by the French colonialists in 1908 with an initial area of 500 m2. The prison is built quite solidly: the walls are built of stone and brick, the roof is covered with corrugated iron, there is no ceiling, the beds for prisoners are also built of stone, the surface is cemented, the outside edge is attached with a system of vertical leg shackles. along the length of the floor. In each cell there is a floating toilet built higher than the floor, without a lid, without flushing water, and not cleaned regularly. With such a design, in the summer, the Lao wind of the Northwest region causes scorching heat, the frost creates cold, bone-chilling cold in the winter, combined with the polluted environment in the area. Each cell has caused diseases to arise and spread very quickly among prisoners.
In 1930, the Communist Party of Vietnam was born and led the people to fight against the brutal regime of feudal colonialism. The struggle movement surprised the enemy, who frantically sought every way to suppress and arrest patriotic Vietnamese people in an attempt to quell the revolutionary movement. On the other hand, strengthen the construction and expansion of the prison system throughout the country, paying special attention to Son La prison. In 1940, Son La Prison was expanded to add a large prison to hold more prisoners and send a number of female prisoners to Son La, but that plot failed to materialize.
Thus, through 3 times of construction and expansion, Son La prison has a total area of: 2,170m2. The French colonialists turned this place into a living hell to imprison, deport and destroy the will of the Communists to fight. With an extremely harsh prison regime and extremely cruel torture methods, the enemy thought they could destroy the spirit and body of the revolutionary soldiers, but this place became a revolutionary school. network, train the will and supplement the Party and the revolution with loyal communist soldiers and party members, most notably the role of comrade To Hieu and many other loyal comrades.
After being devastated twice by the enemy's bombs, the old relics are now dilapidated, remaining almost nothing more than a pile of destroyed bricks, and the ruined prison walls are a testament to the brutal crimes of the enemy. What remains intact is the To Hieu peach tree, a symbol associated with the name of the steadfast Party Secretary of the prison, which still blooms brilliantly when spring comes...
In 1952, when the French colonialists withdrew from Son La, they bombed to erase traces of their crimes. The second time in 1965, the American imperialists raided Son La Town and destroyed part of the prison. In 1980, Son La Museum carried out the first restoration: Leveling bomb craters, rebuilding some surrounding fence sections; The second time, in 1994, restored the two watchtowers, the kitchen, the large prison, reinforced the underground bunker, and built the walls of the cells according to the traces of the old foundations. In 1994, Son La Museum intended to restore the entire relic site to its original form, but could not find complete records, so there was not enough scientific basis to restore the entire site. Just build the walls a little higher so visitors can visualize the structure of the Son La prison complex.
Every year, the historical site of Son La prison welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists to visit, research, study... Surely, at some point, tourists come to Son La, return to the mountains and forests. Northwest to experience and reminisce about the war that took place more than a century ago; With the skillful leadership of the party, the passionate patriotic spirit willing to sacrifice for national independence, the strong solidarity between peoples... We have left behind a peaceful country for today's posterity.
Son La
From January to December
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