In France, the raising of the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of the South (National Liberation Front, or NLF) on top of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in early 1969, whose flag-raisers’ names remained a mystery, was a source of great motivation for peace-lovers in general and for progressive Americans engaging in the anti-war-in-Vietnam movement in particular.
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From right: Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang receives three Swiss nationals, namely Bernard Bachelard, Noé Graff, and Olivier Parriaux, in Paris on March 25, 2023. |
In late November this year, Vietnamese media reported on the visit to Ho Chi Minh City of two Swiss nationals at the invitation of Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen. Both are believed to be the flag-raisers. We, reporters of the Vietnam People’s Army, have looked up numerous historical documents, met and interviewed a number of researchers, intellectuals, overseas Vietnamese, and diplomats who were active in wartime and peacetime.
Questions without answers
We have contacted several researchers of the Institute of History under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the Vietnam Military History Institute under the General Staff; searched for publications of the People’s Army Publishing House on negotiations to the signing of the Paris Peace Accords 1973, and looked up information at some libraries for historical documents related to the aforementioned flag, but we haven’t found much evidence.
The only information we have is the meeting on March 25, 2023 in Paris between Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang and three Swiss citizens, namely Bernard Bachelard, born in 1943, a teacher of physical education; Olivier Parriaux, born in 1944, a former Physics Professor at the University of Lyon, France; and Noé Graff, born in 1945, a grape grower. The ambassador heard the story of 30 hours of courage of the Switzerland’s Lausanne youngsters who tried to reach the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on January 18 night and early morning of January 19, 1969 to plant the flag. Though the event took place over 50 years ago, the names of the flag-raisers were only announced in 2019 after the cathedral spire collapsed due to a fire.
We also found some writings about the book “Le Vietcong au sommet de Notre-Dame” (The flag of Viet Cong on top of Notre Dame Cathedral) issued by Lausanne-based Favre Publisher in Switzerland on January 19, 2023, in which the three Swiss recalled in detail the flag-planting process.
Questions still remained about the reality of the event, the three flag-raisers and possible persons engaged, and the reason why their names were publicized so late.
If the collected documents can answer the questions and be verified to be correct, that flag-raising is truly of great significance. First, for Vietnam, it would be an event closely associated with the resistance war against foreign invaders, for national independence and freedom under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, especially in the 1945-1975 period. It was among the evidence about the strong support of the world’s progressive people for the just struggle of the Vietnamese nation. Second, it would be an inseparable part of the popular culture and of the nearly 800-year history of the Notre Dame Cathedral Paris, a special structure symbolizing France and a cultural heritage of humanity.
Before arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the two Swiss guests contacted and asked for an exclusive interview with the People’s Army Newspaper. Former Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Ton Nu Thi Ninh accepted a 15-minute interview with the newspaper, but the interview lasted more than an hour.
“Sharing common aspiration for peace” exchange
Taking part in the exchange was the first activities of the two Swiss guests, Olivier Parriaux and Bernard Bachelard, in Ho Chi Minh City. The exchange, held by the Ho Chi Minh City’s Youth Union Organization, aimed to recapture part of the struggle for peace of the nation via clips and stories.
Two other special guests of the exchange were diplomat Ton Nu Thi Ninh and Vietnamese French Tran To Nga who connected Ho Chi Minh City and the Swiss side for the visit of the two Swiss and who has pursued the civil lawsuit against U.S. chemical companies for supplying Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin to the U.S. military during the war in Vietnam to ask for compensation for Vietnamese AO victims.
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Invited guests in the exchange on November 15, 2024 |
A video clip screened in the exchange took the audience back to the 1960s when progressive people worldwide struggled, showing their support for the Vietnamese people in their resistance war against the U.S. imperialists for national salvation. Black and white footage featured the four-side negotiations on ending the war and restoring peace in South Vietnam. Then on the big screen appeared a large flag, half red, half blue, with a yellow star in the middle, flying atop of the Notre Dame Cathedral Paris. The French people were in an uproar. The world media was too. No one knew how the Vietnamese flag suddenly appeared there. A French firefighter hanging on a rope dropped from a helicopter, suspended in the sky, tried to remove the flag. The footage continued with protests in the U.S., France and many other countries, during which protestors held the front page of The New York Times’ January 20, 1969 issue with a photo of the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of the South flying on top of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
This precious footage and vivid stories told by the two Swiss guests are so valuable that we cannot miss during the information collection and verification.
(to be continued)
By Phuong Thao - Linh Oanh
Translated by Mai Huong