Provoking Memory at the Hanoi Hilton

Having decided after much research to forgo a trip to World Heritage site Halong Bay, I narrow my focus to a few tourist attractions in Hanoi.

Perhaps a natural first stop for an American is the notorious Hoa Lo Prison.  Also known as the Hanoi Hilton, this was the prison used to house American pilots and other U.S. prisoners captured during the Vietnam War.  U.S. Senator John McCain is just one of the many notable inmates who resided here in the late '60s-early '70s.  One of the many display cases in the museum shows McCain's flight suit and parachute.

Wikipedia's entry on the subject, despite an understandable pro-U.S. bias,  is very informative and has this to say:

Most of the prison was demolished in the mid-1990s and the site now contains two high-rise buildings, one of them the 25-story Somerset Grand Hanoi serviced apartment building.^[3] Other parts have been converted into a commercial complex retaining the original French colonial walls.^[28] Only part of the prison exists today as a museum. The displays mainly show the prison during the French colonial period, including the guillotine room, still with original equipment, and the quarters for men and women Vietnamese political prisoners.^[29] Exhibits related to the American prisoners include the interrogation room where many newly captured Americans were questioned (notorious among former prisoners as the "blue room") is now made up to look like a very comfortable, if spartan, barracks-style room. Displays in the room claim that Americans were treated well and not harmed (and even cite the nickname "Hanoi Hilton" as proof that inmates found the accommodations comparable to a hotel's). The museum's claims are contradicted by former prisoners' published memoirs and oral histories broadcast on C-SPAN identify the room (and other nearby locales) as the site of numerous acts of torture.

An English language Vietnamese publication Hoa Lo Prison:  Historical Relic, published in December 2013 by the Administration Board of the museum,  has this to say about the "American War" period:

From August 5, 1964, when the US started the war of destruction against North Vietnam to 7 a.m. on December 30, 1972, when the US had to declare an end to all bombing raid activities from the 20th Parallel northwards, the North Vietnamese army and people shot down 4,181 US craft, killed and captured hundreds of experienced American pilots.

In particular, during the 12 days and nights of December 1972 (the so-called "Christmas bombing"), North Vietnamese army and people shot down 23 B52 and 2 F11 aircraft, captured alive many American pilots, smashing the large-scale strategic surprise B52 attack by the US Air Force against two Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong, winning the "Dien Bien Phu Victory on the Air" (sic), defeating the supremacy of the US Air Force and forcing the US to sit at the negotiating table at the Paris Conference that led to an end to the war (sic) and restoration of peace in Vietnam.

According to the museum administration board, the U.S. pilots

were given sufficient personal belonging including smallest things to meet their daily needs...captured pilots were created (sic) favorable conditions for entertainment, cultural and sports activities, chess playing, listening to Voice of Vietnam radio (English broadcasts), watching films and enjoying music.  Parties were organized for them during New Year festivals amd holidays, what were impossible (sic) for the Vietnamese at that time.

For the Vietnamese this museum provokes historical memory of the 100-year colonial experience under the French, so most of the site is dedicated to those years from the mid-1890s until the 1940s-1950s.

The solitary confinement cells are the most harrowing for today's visitor.  The smallness of the cells combined with the unbearable heat and humidity illustrate the barest glimpse of the misery of countless political prisoners many of whom awaited execution by guillotine.

Two rooms, the only air conditioned ones on site(!?), are dedicated to the U.S. prisoners.  Each room has a video monitor running propaganda videos on loop over the various display cases of artifacts and photographs from the period.

Book lovers will like to know that inside one of the museum courtyards there is a pretty good used book shop (mostly English language) with Vietnam-themed postcards for sale as well.