War Remnants Museum Saigon

It was no accident that after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Communist government of the newly united nation chose the former US Information Service office in Saigon as the location for the museum that would provide the victor’s version of the conflict.  In its original incarnation, it was known as the Museum of Imperialist Aggression and American War Crimes and included twentieth century battles with the French and the Chinese in its collection.

As relations with the Chinese and French improved, so, they were absolved of their museum appearances. It became the American War Crimes Museum. Then the normalisation of relations with the US resulted in the selection of a less provocative name, The War Remnants Museum. The name may have taken a softer diplomatic tone but the museum remains a partisan and disturbing account of the horrors of the US engagement in Vietnam.

The outside area exhibits freshly painted hardware from the US war including tanks, planes, the remains of chemical weapons and other armaments. The galleries inside catalogue the horror of the conflict with graphic images of atrocities and civilian casualties.  The section on defoliant effects is especially troubling and includes deformed foetuses in formalin jars.

Former US Air Force plane. War Remnants Museum Ho Chi Minh City.

War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City

War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City

War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City

Perhaps the most profound exhibit at the museum is “Requiem”. Created by war era photojournalists Tim Page and Horst Faas, Requiem exhibits images taken by photographers killed in action from both sides of the conflict.

Requiem depicts the agony of both the civilian casualties of war and the soldiers in the front line. It’s a profound anti war statement and draws attention to the seeming invisibility of iconic photography from the current Iraq conflict.