Architect Huynh Tan Phat - Building a legendary stage in just 1 night
Báo Thanh niên•25/08/2024
More than half a century later, recalling the days of the August Revolution in 1945, Professor Tran Van Giau expressed regret: "It's a pity that today we don't have any photos of the construction Huynh Tan Phat built on the night of August 24, 1945, a construction that Pham Ngoc Thach said at that time was like a legendary castle in a fairy tale, built in one night."
Mr. Tran Van Giau knew that Mr. Huynh Tan Phat had been active in the patriotic movement in Saigon since 1943. By early 1945, groups of progressive patriotic intellectual students in the South had done many things: propagating patriotism, spreading the national language, and popularizing patriotic songs that urged the spirit of struggle. Especially after the Japanese coup against the French (March 9, 1945), Southern students left Hanoi University for Saigon and were unusually active. The most typical was the group of Students Putting Down Their Pens and Inks, including Huynh Van Tieng, Mai Van Bo, Luu Huu Phuoc, Dang Ngoc Tot, Tran Buu Kiem... Among the large number of patriotic intellectuals in Saigon at that time, architect Huynh Tan Phat and doctor Pham Ngoc Thach stood out. Historian Tran Van Giau assessed: "Huynh Tan Phat's role was the most active, first of all because Phat owned the Thanh Nien weekly newspaper, a progressive mouthpiece".
Architect Huynh Tan Phat (1913 - 1989)
Photo: Document
Huynh Tan Phat was born in Tan Hung village, An Hoa district, My Tho province (now Chau Hung commune, Binh Dai district, Ben Tre province). Graduated as valedictorian of the architecture department of the Indochina College of Fine Arts (September 1938), two years later, he was the first Vietnamese architect to open an architectural office in Saigon. Therefore, as Secretary of the Southern Party Committee, Mr. Tran Van Giau directed the Saigon Executive Committee to send cadres into the open student, youth, and intellectual movement, finding ways to guide them in the Communist Party's line, with a gathering center, which was the Thanh Nien newspaper headed by architect Huynh Tan Phat. Mr. Giau connected and opened a political training class right at Mr. Phat's private home at 68 Mayer Street - Saigon (now Vo Thi Sau Street, Ho Chi Minh City). Then, on March 5, 1945, Tran Van Giau announced Huynh Tan Phat's admission into the Indochina Communist Party. Together with Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach and many other famous patriotic intellectuals of the South, architect Huynh Tan Phat organized the Vanguard Youth Organization, attracting and uniting with young people and intellectuals everywhere. To prepare for the uprising to seize power in Saigon, the Southern Regional Party Committee decided to neutralize the Eastern Special Police Department (Catinat post). The task was assigned to Huynh Tan Phat and Huynh Van Tieng. They completed the assigned task well. Professor Tran Van Giau recounted that, 2 days before the uprising, at the expanded Regional Party Committee Conference in Cho Dem (August 23, 1945), architect Huynh Tan Phat was appointed as a member of the Southern Administrative Committee when the uprising succeeded. But Mr. Phat refused and nominated Mr. Huynh Van Tieng instead. On the night of August 24, 1945, the people of Saigon - Cho Lon - Gia Dinh rose up to seize power. According to the plan, the uprising would start simultaneously at 7 p.m. and would be completed at midnight. At this time, Huynh Tan Phat was not present at the General Headquarters 6 Colombert (now Thai Van Lung). He was busy directing the construction of the stage for the Provisional Administrative Committee of the South to present itself to the people of Saigon - Cho Lon - Gia Dinh.
People in Saigon demonstrate their strength on the morning of August 25, 1945.
Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Museum
The uprising was carried out earlier than planned. At exactly 10 pm on August 24, Mr. Tran Van Giau and Mr. Huynh Van Tieng walked out to see if Mr. Huynh Tan Phat had finished building the stage. When they arrived, both men were overwhelmed by a 15-meter high red flagpole, inscribed with the names of 11 members of the Provisional Administrative Committee of Southern Vietnam, towering, towering, shining, and majestic at the intersection of Bonard - Charner Avenue (now Nguyen Hue - Le Loi Street). At exactly 10 am on August 25, 1945, an armed march of one million compatriots from the city and the suburbs of Saigon - Cho Lon - Gia Dinh crowded the three avenues of today, Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, Ham Nghi, and Cuniac Square (now Quach Thi Trang). It is a pity that no photos were kept of the stage that was built in just one night like in a fairy tale by architect Huynh Tan Phat. With prestige among the people of the South, in the first general election of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (January 6, 1946), Mr. Huynh Tan Phat was elected as a delegate to the National Assembly of the first term of My Tho province (followed by the terms II, III, VI, VII, VIII). He became Chairman of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (1969 - 1975). The country was unified, architect Huynh Tan Phat continued to hold many important positions: Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front. (to be continued)
From after World War I to World War II, in Saigon, there was no patriotic movement without the participation, right at the forefront, of national intellectuals, one of the most prominent of whom was architect Huynh Tan Phat. Professor Tran Van Giau - Chairman of the Provisional People's Committee of the South, August 1945
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