Persecution of Buddhist Dignitaries
Buddhist monks who had not cooperated with the Viet Minh were the target for elimination. The Venerable Thich Tue Quang and the Venerable Thich Tue Chieu of the Interfaith Front, for instance, were arrested and murdered in 1947. The persecution of the Buddhist clergy by the Viet Minh began immediately after the uprisings in August 1945. It can be summed up in the words of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do in his letter to Communist Party Secretary-general Do Muoi of August 19, 1994 as follows:
"I, the undersigned, Thich Quang Do, Buddhist monk, desire to present to you the following facts. On August 19, 1945 or the seventh month of the Year of the Rooster, exactly 40 years ago today, my religious master, the Venerable Thich Duc Hai, the guardian monk in charge of Linh Quang Pagoda in the village of Thanh Sam, Ung Hoa District, Ha Dong Province, was assassinated by the Communists in a meadow adjoining the communal house of the village, two kilometers from his pagoda, under the pretext that he had betrayed his country.
The monk I called "Su Ba" in religion, which means the elder of my master, the Venerable Thich Duc Hai, who was in charge of Phap Van Pagoda, Bac Ninh Province, was arrested by the Communists in 1946. He died as a consequence of his arrest. He was accused of belonging to a national party.
My religious ancestor, in a way my grandfather, the Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet, in charge of Tra Lu Trung Pagoda, Xuan Truong District, Nam Dinh Province, was classified in the category of the infamous elements. He was brought to a people’s trial when the Communists penetrated his worship place and declared that he had been using the opium of religion to lure people into sleep. Terrified, my religious ancestor hung himself to be spared from the humiliation of a people’s trial.
... I apologize to my master and denounce the greatest error of the Vietnamese Communist Party toward our people, in general, and toward Buddhism, in particular. I assume total responsibility for what I am saying. I am ready to endure the consequences including the tragic death like those of my ancestor, of Su Ba, and of my religious master in the manner of Ky Quan Tu, who died in the hands of Trinh Vuong.
Should I die, nobody could prevent me from expressing my own profound conviction, that is, the Communist will not survive very much longer. This conviction has not just been born in me today. It appeared in me at the age of 18, precisely on August 19, 1945, at ten in the morning, when I saw my master with his hands tied behind his back with steel wire and two signs hanging over his neck, one on his chest and the other on his back, carrying the inscription "Traitor to the Fatherland."
He was at the center of the communal house yard. On each side of him, men carrying batons, knives, sickles, and rakes. In front of him, on the porch of the communal house was a group of people, the presumed ‘judges of People’s Court.’ They ordered my master to kneel down on the ground and to bow his head while the court declared him guilty. My master refused. Then one of the judges descended from the porch and came so close as to almost touch him and said: ’You are a traitor to our Fatherland, and you are still obstinate in your attitude!’ He punched him in the jaws. A silver of blood oozed out from his mouth and trickled down from his chin to his chest, reddening the sign hanging over his chest.
As soon as the sentence was pronounced, they took him to the meadow which was located in front of the communal house. Blood continued to drip down his chin, reddening his tunic and dripping on the courtyard soil. When the group arrived at the meadow, my master was forced to lie down on his side. A man shot him three times in the temple of his head, and red blood surged out and gushed from the wound. My master died instantly. The blood, the image of my master dying with his hands bound, the two bloody signs with the inscription ‘traitor to the fatherland,’ the tunic soiled with blood, the two feet smeared with blood, the blood scattered all over the green meadow, so many images which now 49 years later, are still imprinted as clearly as the images of yesterday’s nightmare." (Thich Quang Do. Letter to Secretary-general Do Muoi. 1995:4-5)
THE CAO DAI CHURCH
In 1946 and the years that followed ii, almost all sectarian leaders of the Cao Dai Church fought a strenuous battle against the French and the Viet Minh as well. After the Geneva Agreements of July 1954, many of them sided with the Republic of Vietnam. A prolonged disagreement between anti- and pro- Viet Minh leaders and those figures who took the neutral position. The most fervent anti- Viet Minh elements under the command of Trinh Minh took side with the Ngo Dinh Diem government. Most of the leaders, except those who sided with the Viet Minh, maintained cooperation with the republic regime until the fall of Saigon in April 1954. The internal division among the Church leaders was apparent when the Communists came back to power in Tay Ninh. The Church gradually came under the control of Communist-affiliated personalities thereafter.
Historically, the conflict between the Cao Dai and the Viet Minh took place right after the August Uprisings in 1945 when the Viet Minh politics commissioner Tran Van Giau who, under the pretext of national union, outwitted Nationalist military leaders and brought all the resistance forces of national parties including the Hoa Gao and Cao Dai militia under his control. The then Cao Dai commander Tran Quang Vinh was eliminated from his position and escaped death. Uncommitted to the Viet Ninh bad faith, Commander Trinh Minh The and his troops withdrew to That Son (Seven Mountains) and operated activities in this mountainous region. Commander Nguyen Van Thanh and a number of Cao Dai troopers alongside with the Viet Minh guerrillas withdrew to the rear areas and sought shelter in the North after their defeat in the battles against the French Expeditionary Corps in the eastern region of the South. The Cao Dai militia became later a formidable legion to both the Viett Minh and the French Expeditionary Corps. To flatten out the Viet Minh in the South, the French sought collaboration beside the Cao Dai leadership.
The collaboration of the Cao Dai leadership and the French was mainly hastened by various attempts of the Viet Minh to eliminate noncommunist Cao Dai leaders.
"At one point, the Cao Dai military chief Tran Quang Vinh was held prisoner by the Viet Minh commander hNguyrn Binh, who pressured him into submission. Tran Quang Vinh escaped. Having lost all illusion about the chance for sincere collaboration with the Viet Minh, he assured his fellow leaders and followers of the necessity of coming to terms with the French. A small group of Cao Dai leaders rallied to the French in June 1946, and a larger one, in November, after the French had allowed Pope, Pham Cong Tac, to return from his exile in the Comodores. As a consequence, it took the Viet Minh attack on the Holy See of the Cao Dai to turn most of them into allies of the French. From January 1947 on, the Cao Dai troops began to drive the Viet Minh out of their territory which the French by treaty had given the Church to administer and exploit." (Buttinger, op. cit. p. 246)
Facing Terrorism
To retaliate, the Viet Manh showed harsh stance, establishing plans and using all means possible to eliminate the Cao Dai. As a consequence, the persecution against the Cao Dai followers became increasingly violent. It intensified to a greater extent in 1947. Over ten thousand (10,000) priests and followers were murdered by the fanatic Viet Minh. Proofs of these killings were verified by physical evidences. Four thousand (4,000) remains were uncovered from the mass graves near the Tra Khuc River in Quang Ngai Province, Central Vietnam. Remains of the victims of persecution were also found in the Tra Cao area, Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam. Witnesses in Tay Ninh Province related that on the eve of the New Year's Day of Dinh Hoi (1947), the Communist troops burned down all the houses and killed an uncounted number of innocent Cao Dai followers of the 50 hamlets in the Long Thanh area. The incident took place when the Communists were on their way of retreat to San Cu Bau De and Nui Ba Den (the Dame Clad in Black) Mountains after their failure to attack the Tay Ninh Holy See. A bloody sight that still imprints on the memory of the survivors was the Communists' slaughtering of the Cao Dai followers Nguyen Van Dien, Do Hoang Gian and his wife and two young children, and Thi Van Loc. After they had executed Dien, the murderers searched through his body, found some precious metal, and then threw it in a ditch nearby. Then, they cut off Do's and his wife's head with a machete. Angered by loud cries, they threw the 4- and 2-year old children into the burning flame. Thi Van Loc was found lying disemboweled in a forest nearby several days later. (Vo Ha Quyen, 1985: 11-12).
Atrocious crimes against bovine Caodaits is still a nightmare to the faithful. Speaking of Cao Dai Faith and the Caodaits' moral and spiritual conduct, the Reverend Le Van Mang (1991) expressed his views as follows:
"The love for Life and Belief in Goodness are manifest in the Cao Dai Holy Writ and the Holy Messages from Almighty Cao Dai. Cao Dai believers treat themselves and others as family members. We preach peace for everyone, and for the Viet Minh. In the years of French-Vietnamese War, His Holiness Pham Cong Tac and Cao Dai dignitaries throughout the South had saved hundreds of thousands of Communist cadres from persecution by the French. We hardly distinguished goodness from evil. Atheism prevailed, and the devils were victorious. Only Ho Chi Minh himself knew he was a Communist. His ultimate goal was to transform Vietnam into a Communist country. Anyone in Vietnam who disagreed with him was regarded an anti-Viet Minh element, and, consequently, a reactionary. Cao Dai believers were thus the target for elimination. No one ever knows how many of our brothers and sisters were abducted or killed. In the archives prepared for the canonization of Cao Dai followers who died for their faith during the first years of the war of resistance, we have a list of 1,273 martyrs.
During the French-Vietnamese War, millions of Caodaists lived under constant threat. To protect the lives of Cao Dai followers and those of our poor countrymen who had only their bare hands to fight against atrocity and oppression. With approval from His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, His Excellency Tran Quang Vinh signed an peace agreement with the French authorities in the South. This agreement served a twofold purpose. One, it would help the Vietnamese from arrest without reason during French military operations. Two, it also served as a means for self-defense in face of the Viet Minh aggressors. It was not an easy task to do, however. The French authorities had doubts about whether Cao Dai leaders were really truthful to them since they themselves were patriots and revolutionaries. As a result, for every twenty Cao Dai militiamen, only one was equipped with a rifle. In Long An Province, several thousand men had only one rifle. Nevertheless, with determination we stood firm." (Van Chuong, Interview with The Reverand Thuong Mang Thanh. VNHR. 1 (September, 1991)."
According to unofficial statistics, ten thousands of Caodaists had been executed by the Communists since 1945. Vo Dinh Tan, the former Chief of the Administration Office of Quang Ngai Province, recalled as an eyewitness the tragedy the Cao Dai followers suffered during the months following the August uprisings in 1945: The Vietnamese Communists massacred thousands of Caodaists in Quang Ngai Province because of their refusal to renounce their faith. Hundreds of them were buried alive in collective graves along the bank of the Ve River and at the foot of the Ve Bridge in the District of Tu Nghia, Quang Ngai Province. Witnesses reported a total of about 6,000 Caodaists were murdered in the Cu Chi, Long An Province, and Trang Bang, Tay Ninh Province. Collective graves with thousands of remains were also found at the Tra Cao area in Tay Ninh Province.
THE HOA HAO BUDDHIST CHURCH
A Historical Note
Since 1945, Hoa Hao Buddhists have been a target for elimination. Ardent Hoa Hao followers are considered the most fearful enemies, although they are bovine, religious, and generous believers. Under communism, any religion is subject to the control of the State. Beside this, for Hoa Hao Buddhism, there is an exceptional history. It goes back to the years of 1944-45 when the Hoa Hao Buddhists, like any other Vietnamese patriots, engaged in the struggle against French colonialism for national independence.
In October 1944, General Mc Arthur returned to the Philippines Islands. The months that followed the Japanese lost on almost all battlefronts in the Southeast Asia but stood firm in Indochina. On March 9, 1945, the Japanese staged a "coup d' etat," overthrowing the French colonialist rule. The "coup" did not affect the stagnant political, social, and economic life. of the country, however. In many provinces in the South where Hoa Hao Buddhist congregations were the largest groups of population and Hoa Hao believers observed, their faith keenly, pillages and killings occurred every day. His Holiness Huynh Phu So then instructed his close disciples to organize Hoa Hao Buddhists into security guards groups to maintain order and protect Hoa Hao believers and fellow compatriots. Several days later, Emperor his Bao Dai formed a new cabinet. From April to August 1945, the royal national administration in the South was in good terms with the Hoa Hao and ruled the country peacefully. Hoa Hao followers dutifully served their faith.
A False Compromise
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. By mid-August, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies. On September 13, British General Gracey, Commander of the Allied Forces in Asia, arrived in Saigon to take the Japanese Army ‘s surrender south of the 16th Parallel of Vietnam. Upon his arrival, the British commander abetted the French in reclaiming and retaking power in Vietnam. The French residents in Saigon rose up against the city administration. They made every effort to help reestablish French colonialism in Indochina. French Colonel Jean Cedille, with Gracey 's aid, launched attacks on Saigon City Hall and took over the newly-established administration. On the other side, the National Movement for Resistance under the leadership of national forces. The forces under its command launched counterattacks against the French to defend the newly acquired administration. Armed with whatever they had on hand, they went into the war with the enemy forces that were far superior in arms and warfare tactics, but they stood firm to fight.
In mid-September 1945, the Viet Minh government in the North sent a delegation led by Tran Van Giau to the South. During their contact with the leadership of the National Movement for Resistance in the South, the Communists successfully convinced the Nationalists to dissolve the political and military forces under their command to join the Communists to fight for national resistance. Still, the leaders of the Movement placed the national cause above their own and willingly accepted Tran' s proposal. They and the Viet Minh delegation then cosponsored a joint-meeting at the Gia Dinh School of Arts. His Holiness Huynh Phu So of Hoa Hao, who was at that time the Supreme Advisor to the Committee for National Resistance in the South, was elected the chair, and his close disciple, Hong Van Hoanh, the secretary. Ung Van Khiem (Communist), Nguyen Van Thieu (Communist), Nguyen Dinh Thiep (Communist), Ho Van Nga (Nationalist), and Huynh Thanh Mau --His Holiness Huynh 's brother-- were also present. The participants discussed plans for action to fight against the French Expeditionary Corps in Saigon.
Almost everyone agreed to execute a defensive plan with which the resistance could abort all attempts of violent contacts with the French nationals as they were the potential military force that would be ready to join the French Expeditionary Army to reoccupy Indochina. Under the plan, the French residents in Saigon were then gathered into two large groups. One of them would be transported to Can Tho, and the other, to Vung Tau. Only in this way could the Vietnamese administration paralyze the French nationals’ action, control the situation, and maintain the security. Nevertheless, the two Viet Minh representatives in the meeting, Ung Van Khiem and Nguyen Van Thieu resisted, saying that they had to consult with Tran Van Giau, the Viet Minh politics commissioner in the South. They promised to convince the latter to adopt the plan. That was only a pretext as the leadership of the Movement knew from intelligence sources that Tran Van Giau had received orders from Marius Thorez, the then French Communist Party Secretary-general, not to "touch" the French residents in Saigon. Tran Van Giau certainly would refuse to adopt the plan." (Thien Chuong, Interview with Hong Van Hoanh :October 20, 1991)
The Can Tho Incident
The quarrel between the Viet Minh and Hoa Hao grew worse as the former forces earnestly strove to seize total power in the provinces of the South. In the Western provinces where the Hoa Hao enjoyed great popularity, the Viet Minh had a scheme, to exterminate Hoa Hao Buddhism by violence. Immediately after the takeover of Can Tho on September 2, 1945, with power at hand, the clique of Viet Minh in the city administration quickly consolidated their political and military forces, accelerating the recruit of local cadres and servicemen, reinforcing the militia, and implementing the organization of affiliated groups in the Viet Minh Front. With their well-organized forces, the Viet Minh played an upper hand over the Hoa Hao, who keenly supported the Movement for National Resistance.
On September 8, Hoa Hao followers came in lage groups by boat, in vehicle or o foot in all directions. They all strode towards Can Tho. There were also the militiamen who were instructed to get to Can Tho to join the local groups to support the National Resistance Committee in the fight for national independence. The roads from Cai Rang, Binh Thuy, and Vinh Long were jammed with Hoa Hao Buddhists clad in black clothes. River boats sailed downstream from the Bassac River, Cai Rang Canal, and Cai Khe Canal and, sampans rowed upstream river-lets from Cai Con. Boats of all sizes were used for transportation of large groups. They got the password through verbal communication from the Central Organizing Committee to wait outside Can Tho City for order. The demonstrators carried no weapon. They only had food and drinking water with them. A number of followers brought banners with slogans. They were not so frantic as those people that joined in the demonstration in Saigon on September 9, 1945. They were calm, and none of them thought that there would be a downpour of bullets befalling on them several hours later. They only knew that what they would do was to carry out their Holy Master's order. They would join in the demonstration to demand for national independence. And, they were joyful to do this.
Inside Can Tho, a city of approximately 20,000 dwellers situated on the right bank of the Can Tho River, the political situation ever grew tense. For many days, people in the city were apprehensive of an unusual event. Outside the city, tens of thousands of Hoa Hao followers gathered while inside the city, large squads of the Viet Minh Vanguard Youth were moving about while Viet Minh security agents, policemen, self-defense militiamen, and units of guerrilla prepared fortifications as if they were going to engage the enemy.
Within a day, the Can Tho People's Council of Administration imposed a curfew. The city-dwellers had to stay inside their houses, and movement in the street was strictly prohibited. Rumors spread throughout the city, saying that 'the Hoa Hao rebels were going to stage a demonstration. Thy would rebel against the Viet Minh to take back Can Tho. The atmosphere was suffocating.
To apply their dilatory tactics, the People’s Council prepared a meeting where the administration and Hoa Hao representatives were invited to discuss the situation. The meeting was then held at the old palace of the Chairman of the People’s Council. It was presided over by the city council’s Chairman Tran Van Kheo. The Hoa Hao delegation consisted of Nguyen Xuan Thieu, Tran Van Hoanh, and Huynh Thanh Mau. No real discussion took place, however. The Hoa Hao were coerced to submit themselves to the council’s authority. The council then insisted on a withdrawal from the city of all groups of demonstrators, which condition the representatives of Hoa Hao strongly rejected. The Hoa Hao representatives firmly attested that the presence of Hoa Hao followers in Can Tho was legal, that the council had previously been informed of the event, and that the council itself had given its consent. Moreover, the demonstration was only a show of will of the Hoa Hao to support the revolutionary government. There was no reason for which the demonstration was to be disbanded. At the end of the meeting, the two parties decided they should wait for a directive from Saigon.
The Developments
On the morning of September 8, 1945, when it was still dark. gunshots echoed from the Can Tho ferry wharf and the road to Cai Rang. Announcements through the street loudspeakers repeatedly warned the city-dwellers of a possible danger. The Hoa Hao had used boats to cross the Can Tho river to land on the city. Squads of vanguard youths made preparations for ambush attacks along the bank south of the river to prevent the Hao Hao from penetrating the city. No landing took place, nevertheless. Several bursts of gunshots were heard, but the tension was then cooling down. In the evening, people were informed that the Hoa Hao had been driven back.
In reality, the Viet Minh had fired at the demonstrators that assembled in the city. Many of them died; others were wounded. The Hoa Hao followers were unarmed and withdrew in confusion. Only several hours after that, tension was subdued. The following morning, the Can Tho Council of Administration gathered a meeting within the walls of the city headquarters. The chairman of the Council of Administration proclaimed ‘the victory of the city administration over the Hoa Hao." It had attacks on the Hoa Hao and driven them back. He even charged Hoa Hao Buddhism with carrying out a plot to occupy Can Tho and seize power by force. A string of arrests of Hoa Hao cadres followed. The Can Tho prison was not spacious enough to hold the demonstrators.
An uncounted number of Hoa Hao cadres and followers were taken into prison. That was the first wave of terror that befell the Church. The Viet Minh’s aim was to destroy the Hoa Hao organization and dismantle the Church’s leadership. Huynh Thanh Mau, His Holiness Huynh 's brother, Tran Van Hoanh, a Hoa Hao dignitary and General Tran Van Soai 's eldest son, and Nguyen Xuan Thiep, the Hoa Hao personality designated as Hoa Hao representative to meet with the Viet Minh Politburo in Hanoi, were also arrested. They were the first victims of repression. They were incarcerated at Can Tho prison. They were all executed at the stadium of Can Tho a month later, on October 7, 1945r.
The bloody conflict between the Viet Minh and Hoa Hao began after that. Hoa Hao personalities and cadres in the other provinces were arrested and killed. In Tra Vinh, in particular, Chung Ba Khanh, Do Huu Thieu, Vo Van Thoi, Lam Thanh Nguyen, and many other Hoa Hao cadres were entrapped. They were bound up at the poles in the river to be drowned. Only Lam Thanh Nguyen survived the tragic death. By sheer luck, he could break loose the rope, swam to the bank, and escaped (Nguyen Long Thanh Nam, 1991:370-372).
The Aftermath
Abductions and killings of national leaders by the Viet Minh throughout the South increased. Many of them simply disappeared., and others suffered tragic deaths. Violence took place everywhere. The Prophet Huynh Phu So of Hoa Hao was not an exception. Tran Van Giau ordered the Viet Minh police in Saigon to pursue and capture the supreme leader of the faith. His residence and the headquarters of Hoa Hao in Saigon were under siege. On September 9, 1945, only one day after the Viet Minh cracked down on the Hoa Hao followers in Can Tho, the Viet Minh security police tightened control on the area where the founder of Hoa Hao was in residence. With resilience and determination, his follower Lam Ngoc Thach and other fellow followers successfully raised the siege. The Prophet evaded from his office on Miche Street in plain sight of Ly Hue Vinh, the then Viet Minh security police chief in Saigon, and his men.
Hoa Hao followers were extremely furious at the Viet Minh's tyrannical misconduct against the founder of the Church. News of all kinds about Viet Minh’s atrocities circulated from one Hoa Hao village to another. Aware of the great prestige of His Holiness Huynh and fearful of a popular uprising, the Viet Minh staged campaigns of propaganda to distort the truth. On the other hand, they ruthlessly stifled public opinion and executed plans of terror, pitilessly suppressing all their potential adversaries and flattening out all sources of opposition. Hoa Hao dignitaries, members of Hoa Hao-affiliated organizations, and the militia were targeted with elimination.
In their instructions to Viet Minh file and rank cadres on April 21, 1947, the Politics Commissioner Tran Van Nguyen and the Director of Security Police Kieu Tan Lap specified the following measures:
"1. In the localities where the Dan Xa (Social Democrats) rebels are active, arrest all leaders of the military and executive board members of the Dan Xa and the Bao An (Security Guards) of all levels. In other localities, arrest all members of the executive committees and military leaders of the Bao An (Security Guards) of the province and district levels. Arrest other dangerous elements and the elements suspected of opposition.
2. Specifically, mobilize and arm all members in the association of the Viet Minh Front in the provinces of Long Xuyen, Chau Doc, Can Tho , and Sa Dec to carry out the plans.
3. Order all party members of the Dan Xa to hand in their weapons. Punish with strict measures those who hide or keep weapons.
4. Establish courts martial to punish the violators of the orders, there is no need of trial before the court
5. Force members of the Dan Xa to declare their support for the government and the army. Punish severely those who refuse to obey the commandment. In localities where people are all the members of the Dan Xa, select those elements that do not join the Dan Xa rebels and force them to join our organization.
6. Move armed units to the localities where the Dan Xa rebels are in control to protect the government organs."
"Bloody clashes between the Viet Minh and Hoa Hao followers intensified during the Indochina War. Hoa Hao fought against both the French and the Viet Minh in the utmost difficult circumstances. The entire Cochinchina West was the theater of massacre therefrom resulted a triangle of killing, a war on three fronts, among the Hoa Hao, the French, and the Viet Minh. It was a strange setup. The Hoa Hao ambushed French convoys to obtain their weapons; and with machine guns and rifles thus obtained they attacked the Viet Minh. (Lucien Bodard, La Guerre D’Indochine, Paris: 1963, p.p. 42-43)."
"The conflict between the Viet Minh and Hoa Hao was riddled with quarrels and fights, and there appeared to be no solution to the problem. The Hoa Hao militia relentlessly pursued isolated Viet Minh groups. They took fierce revenge on the Viet Minh whenever they gained the upper hand. In such clashes, religious and political, fanatic elements of both sides laid heavy hand on the enemy. Sheer brutality went hand in hand with bloody clashes. The Viet Minh propaganda hissed the rumors that torture was common and the killing of prisoners was a matter of revenge in the Hoa Hao camp. Nevertheless, expert cutthroats on both sides also knew how to kill without spilling blood. The favored method was to bind small groups of Viet Minh into bundles and throw them into rivers and canals while still alive, very much in the dame way the Viet Minh did to the nationalist enemies. during the first year of the war of resistance-- dumping their bodies into the Long Tao River. Such packages of human bodies were often seen floating by the dozen down the Mekong River toward the coast, and "certain canals were literally obstructed by Viet Minh corpses. The fate of these men was one of the many bitter fruits of Communist terror. (Buttinger, tVietnam: The Embattled Dragon, pp. 412-413)
The Viet Minh and Hoa Hao militants were deadly enemies to each other.
The Disappearance of the Prophet Huynh Phu So
Viet Minh’s animosity towards the Hoa Hao turned sour. A cease-fire was agreed upon by the two sides, however. On April 16, 1947, the Communists organized a summit meeting with the supreme leader of Hoa Hao, which was apparently aimed to solve the conflict between the two opposing forces The Hoa Hao party was entrapped. outside the "render vous." One bodyguard of His Holiness Huynh Phu So got off the danger. Two others were stabbed to death. The Supreme leader of Hoa Hao reportedly got away unscathed but no news about his whereabouts had been heard. Thereafter, the Viet Minh launched a campaign of elimination against the Hoa Hao, using the most dreadful means to kill them. They stabbed the victims then shoved them into ditches, regardless of whether they were dead or alive.
The break between the Viet Minh and Hoa Hao declined .in the years that followed, particularly when one of the military leaders, Tran Van Soai, signed a peace agreement with the French, to side with the French, although the Hoa Hao were all true believers and fervent Nationalists.
"Only the strength of the anti-French sentiments in the ranks of the Hoa Hao could explain why it took the Church so long to turn all their bridges to the Viet Minh-held resistance zone to the French in the South. Hoa Hao followers have ever been the victims of hatred, of violence, of furtive propaganda, of vile political ambitions, and of totalitarian dictatorship.
They profess to live their faith in goodness. They practice filial piety, benevolence, and charity. They attend to virtue and religious faith. They follow the Path of Enlightenment of Supreme Buddha. Are they anti-Communist? They have been defenseless under the oppression and repression of the Communists. Campaigns of terror of the Viet Minh in the western provinces in the South (1946-47) were merciless. After the Communist military units' withdrawal from Phu An and Phu Lam, the villagers in the local areas found out several dugouts, each excavation of which exhibits more than 3,000 remains. The total number was approximately 10,000. People in the neighboring areas disclosed that many of victims were buried alive.
During the first years of war of resistance, tens of thousands of Hoa Hao followers were abducted and killed. Along the boundaries of the villages of Phu Thuan and Long Thanh, there still lie three collective graveyards each of which holds more than 200 Hoa Hao Buddhists. They were stabbed, hand-tied and eye-folded, then dumped into ditches. Passersby, two or three days later, still heard the groaning and moaning of the dying: they were only half buried! A temple was raised in memory of the martyrs. After the fall of South Vietnam, the local Communist authorities destroyed it. Tran Kieu, who was the secretary of General Tran Van Soai and who is now living in Germany, still possesses full documents of more than 11,000 Hoa Hao martyrs who were killed before and after the Tay An Co Tu (Tay An Old Temple) massacre on April 16, 1947." (Van Chuong, Interview with Hong Van Hoanh (VHRW, 2 October 1991): 3-6))
