WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) | Vietnam

The collection of the War Remnants Museum does more than simply catalogue the effects of war in Vietnam and promote peace. The museum provides a living example of how a collecting institution may approach the subject of war after victory.

The War Remnants Museum was established on 4 September 1975 and “specializes in researching, collecting, preserving and displaying evidence of crimes and consequences of the war of aggression against Vietnam, thereby calling for awareness against unjust wars, protecting peace and promoting solidarity between nations.”

The first thing that a visitor to the War Remnants Museum will notice is the collection of large US military vehicles that sit in arrangement within the museum grounds. The artefacts appear to be authentic and include several planes and helicopters of differing sizes. There is also a flamethrower which looks like a tank and a bulldozer.

The entrance level of the museum is an immense open plan area that displays a wide variety of foreign-made posters that proclaim solidarity with the Vietnamese people and unashamedly describe an opposition to the unjust war against Vietnam. Situated alongside the anti-war posters are enlarged newspaper clippings from the era that describe the war and its effects.

The two levels above each host two large display rooms. A topical research area has been nominated for each of the four rooms. These are identified as War Crimes, Agent Orange Effects, Historical Truths, and Requiem. Each room hosts an extensive photographic gallery, large wall maps and diagrams, glass vitrines filled with various related small items, and the odd sculpture. Every aspect is explained in plainly written English and tour guides are also available.

What to look out for…

• The extensive photographic chronicle of the effects of Agent Orange upon the people of Vietnam. Which is accompanied by information (see image below) describing Agent Orange as the final product in a long list of intrusive and destructive chemicals rained down upon Vietnam by US pilots flying US aircraft.

• The photographic catalogue (a wall display) that encompasses the headshots of journalists missing and killed. Many of these reporters were foreigners who had travelled to Vietnam to seek the truth about the war.