Culture - Sports

German author eager for next HCM book

A former war reporter from Germany has flown into Vietnam to collect documents for a new book on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
A former war reporter from Germany has flown into Vietnam to collect documents for a new book on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The book “Ho Chi Minh - A Chronicle” made Hellmut Kapfenberger famousin Vietnam and the 77-year-old told Vietnamese audiences in Hanoion April 14 that Ho Chi Minh was singled out among leaders fromsocialist countries as the greatest leader.

“Heled a simple life and refused all orders and awards conferred on him,”said Hellmut, recalling his long-term experiences in the anti-Americanwar movement and his career of a war reporter in Vietnam .

Not only of the German generation to take to the street and shout theslogan “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh” or “Viet Nam - Ho Chi Minh” during the1965-70 period, Hellmut also experienced a three-year term as a reporterof the ADN news agency and New Germany newspaper of the DemocraticRepublic of Germany in Vietnam from 1970-73.

He was head of the ADN Indochinese bureau in Hanoi from 1980-1984.

“Good experiences and love for the Vietnamese country and people havecreated a momentum for me to continue research and writing on Vietnamfor German media since I retired in 1992,” Hellmut said.

He spent two years in writing “Ho Chi Minh - A chronicle” which waspublished by Verlag Neues Leben publishing house in Berlin in 2009.It was translated into Vietnamese and published in Vietnam by theThe Gioi (World) Publishing House in May, 2010.

The German author added that he discovered gaps in the documentaryrecord on the life of Ho Chi Minh, such as during his revolutionaryperiod abroad from 1911-41.

Vietnamese historians should conduct further research to fill the missing links, he recommended.

During this visit to Vietnam, Hellmut presented the Ho Chi MinhMuseum with a relief of the Vietnamese leader designed by one of hisfriends in 1981, and made efforts to collect more materials for hiscoming book on the historic logistics supply road, the Ho Chi MinhTrail, named after the great President of the Vietnamese revolutionduring the war against US aggression./.
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