Figure 1.--The Communists were much better than the NAZIs in keeping cameras out of their horific concentration and slave labor capms. While we have a wealth of accounts, there are few images. This image gives us a good idea. It is the survivor of a Viet Cong camp during the Vietnam War. The press caption read, "Shades of Dachau: Nurse checks pulse of a 23-year old emacipated Vietnamese after he and nine others hadbeen liberated from a Communist prison campin the moutain jungles og Phu Yen Province about 200 miles northeast of Saigon. An American officer of the 1st Batalion, First Airborn Division, which rescued the prisonrs last Satrday, said that the camp looked liked Dachau (infamous Nazi camp of World war II) all over again". An escaped South Vietnamese soldier led Americans to the camp, but before it was captured the Viet Cong rushed an estimted 40 to 60 prisoners away. This man was reported to be a former Viet Cong who defected and [bottom of the clipping lost]. The photograph was date september 29, 1966.

The Communist North Vietnamese Army seized Saigon (April 30, 1975). The South Vietnamese people, especially those involved in some way with the defeated Souuth Vietnamese Government and the Americans had no real idea what would come next, although some had an inkling. The North Vietnamese Communists ordered South Vietnamese men to report for Reeducation. The Communists began opening hundreds of detenion camps throughout the country. Those ordered to report included former Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) officers, religious leaders, those involved with the Americans, school teachers, and Republic of Vietnam (RVN) employees. They were ordered to report for 'reducation' to learn "... about the ways of the new government." Some South Vietnamese men chose to flee, often with their families on boats. Others were unwilling to give up their established lives and extended families in Vietnam. So they followed instructions from the new Communist authorities. They thus entered the hastily prepared camps, hoping to soon be able to reconcile the new Government and then peacefully continue their livesy. The Coomunists let it be known that the reeducation process would only last for 10 days, and perhaps 2 weeks at the most. Once detained lagely with out the bother of being rounded up, they were subjected to many years of brutal interogation, physical punishment, inadequae food, little or no medical care, incesent propaganda sessions, and unrelenting grueling labor. Tere is no exact accounting, but something like 1-3 million Vietnamese people, the vast majority men, were subjected to the reeducation process.

North Vietnamese Victory

The Communist North Vietnamese Army seized Saigon (April 30, 1975). The South Vietnamese people, especially those involved in some way with the defeated Souuth Vietnamese Government and the Americans had no real idea what would come next, although some had an inkling.

Report Order

The North Vietnamese Communists ordered South Vietnamese men to report for Reeducation. The Communists began opening hundreds of detenion camps throughout the country. Those ordered to report included former Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) officers, religious leaders, those involved with the Americans, school teachers, intellectuals, merchants, and Republic of Vietnam (RVN) employees. Even some South Vietnamese Communists reported. They were ordered to report for 'reducation' to learn "... about the ways of the new government."

The Boat People

Some South Vietnamese men chose to flee, often with their families on boats. Thousands of South Vietnamese attempted to flee their country. As this was only possible by sea, they have become known as the Boat People. It was a very dangerous undertaking, both because of the Vietnamese Governmet policies and the fact that in most cases their boats and rafts were not very seaworthy. Assessments of these refugeess is controversial and often affected by views about the Vietnam War itself. Many believe that the refugees were fleeing the Communists and and their repressive measures. Some believe that the Communists killed about 1 million people in Vietnam after their victory. Others South Vietnamese suffered lengthy detention in concentration camps an reducation centers. Other refugees were fleeing the economic disaster that resulted from the Communist victory. Both factors were almost certainly important. Anti-Communists tend to emphasize the former. The anti-War movement tend to focus on the latter, referring to the Boat People as economic refugees. Emigration laws vary from country to country, but political refugees are generally accorded greater protection than economic refugees. I am not sure how many people were involved, but it was cetainly in the hundreds of thousands. An unknown number of these refugees perished at sea in their often decrepit boats. Many attempted to reach Hong Kong which at the time was still a British territory. Some managed to eventually emigrate to countries like Australia, Canada, France, and the United States which all have sizeable Vienamese communities.

Reporting

Other Vietnamese men were unwilling to give up their established lives and extende families in Vietnam. So they followed instructions from the new Communist authorities. They thus entered the hastily prepared camps, hoping to soon be able to reconcile the new Government and then peacefully continue their lives. The Communists let it be known that the reeducation process would only last for 10 days, and perhaps 2 weeks at the most.

The Communist Description

The new Communist Government set up hunfreds of these reducation camps. There is no exact accounting, but something like 1.0-2.5 million Vietnamese people, the vast majority men, were subjected to the reeducation process. [Desbarats] Accounts vary widely. North Vietnamese authorities described the camps as places where individuals could “learn about the ways of the new government” through education and 'socially constructive' labor.

Levels

The Communists organized the Reeducatiom Camps into. The level-one camps were called study day-study centers, They were set up in the major cities. Often this was done in public parks. The individuals were more attendees than detainees. They returned home each night. Some 0.5 million people were instructed on socialism and Communist Government. They had to unlearn old ways of thinking. The level-two camps had a similar purpose as the level-one camps, but were somewhat more intense. They were internees who were not allowed to return home daily, but held for 3-6 months. Some 0.2 million people were held in more than 300 level–two camps. (The numbers cited here for each camp level are the lower estimates, consitent with the 1 million total. If the higher reeducation total are accurate, than the camp level estimtes need to to be increased.) The levels three camps were no longer classified as study camps, they were socialist-reform camps. They were opened in almost every southern province and held more than 50,000 inmates. These were more carefully selected inmates. They were South Vetnam's educated elite. Most of them were educated people and thus less susceptible to crude indctrnation than the mostly uneducated people in the level one and two camps. And to help drive home their reducation, they were ubjected to restricted and generally poor living conditions aswell as exhausting slave labor, and daily indoctrination sessions. The Communist authorities in the twoo uppe level camps escalated the brutality inflicted on the inmates. Thse camps were designaed for the individuals considered dangerous. This meant writers, national and provincial officials, judges, and others. The idea was to intern them until the Communit regime was fully established in the south. One the Communist rule was stabilized, than the release of these dangerous indivisuals could be considered. Communist authorities in Hanoi believed that by separating the upper and middle class (potential class enemies) from the general public they could more easily establish their rule over the south. This made any kind of joint resistances, even passive resistance, impossible. And the camp regime enable the Communists to force the new social norms on the former South Vienmese elite. TheCommunits were not eaer to release these people. One source reports that as late as 1987, more than 15,000 'dangerous' former officialsand others were still incarcerated inthe level-four and level-five camps. [LOC]

Camp Conditions and Mortalities

Once detained lagely with out the bother of being rounded up, the detainees were subjected to many years of brutal interogation, physical punishment, inadequae food, little or no medical care, incesent propaganda sessions, and unrelenting grueling labor. Living conditions in the Reeducation Camps can best be describd as inhumane. [Troung, Q.] In some of the camps they were deadly. To an extent this depended on the camp comnder. In the higher level camps they were horific. Prisoners had to survive with little food, poor sanitation, and the absence of medical care. [Cao] The inmates were forced to do heavy and risky work, essentially as slave labor. They were put to work clearing the jungle, constructing barracks, digging wells, cutting trees, and even clearing mine fields without needed equipment to do safely. The camp regimes, much like NAZI slave labor camps and the Soviet Gulag was designed to do more than isolate and break potential resistance, but to phyically eliminate much of the potential resistance. Hard labor requires energy, meaning good food and plenty of it. This is not what the inmates received. The food provided, however, was not much above starvation levels. we n hve many prioner accounts. [Troung, H.] They are not well publicized. The american media and acdemia are reluctantto report the actions of the Communists after Aerica left Vietnam. Prisoner accounts recall that hunger dominated every inmate. Food was what the talked about, sometimes the only matter of conversation. Even when they were not orking, food still dominated their thoughts and dreams while sleeping. And because of the primitive camp conditions, diseases like malaria, beriberi and dysentery were widespread in the camps. This caried a great deal from camp to camp. Weakened by the poor diets and hard labor, the inmtes weremore seuspetable to voteacting disease. And once contracted theme had apoorer chance of recoverig. Little or no medicine was made availble. The starvation diets, heavy work assifnmets, long hours, diseases, harsh punishment all had the desired impact. One academic estimates that some 165,000 inmates died in the camps. ["Vietnamese Amerians", p.83.]

Ending the Reeducation Program (1986-88)

Communist authorities operated the Reeducation camps in to the 1980s. Nguyen Van Linh became the General Secretary of the Communist Party (1986). He began to close the harsher camps and instituted refors at oters. [Jonathan]. As part of the beginning of araprochment between Vietnam and America, the two former enemies reached an agreement that Vietnam would free all former soldiers and officials of the RVN who were still in the Reducation Camps. They were llowed to emigrate to the United States if they so desird. A special program, the under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) was set up. Over 0.4 millio Reeducaion inmates and their families were resettled in the United States. [Accounts] Communists authorities wee more thn glad to get rid of potentially debvisive element. Ther w no cnsideration of the capabe people the were losing. South Vietnam since the Communist victory had become like North Vietnam one of the poorest countries in Asia. And as in China, even some Communists were beginning to ask questions.

Sources

Cao, N. P. “A form of torture: Food deprivation”.

Desbarats, J. “Repression in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Executions and Population Relocation”.

Jonathan, W. “Re-education in Vietnam”.

Truong, Quyen. "Vietnamese Re-Education Camps: A Brief History," The Choices Program.

Troung, Hoa Minh. The Dark Journey - Inside The Reeducation Camps of Vietcong (Eloquent Books, Durham, Ct., 2010).

Libarry ofCingress (LOC). “Vietnam Re-education Camps”, The Library of Congress Country Studies (CIA World Factbook).

“Accounts of Imprisonment and Re-education”, Vietnamese Perspectives on the War in Vietnam.

“Vietnamese Americans: Lessons in American History – An Interdisciplinary Curriculum and Resource Guide”.

Created: 1:55 AM 7/11/2016
Last updated: 1:55 AM 7/11/2016