Inside The Hanoi Hilton - Place to imprison American pilots in Vietnam War

Hoa Lo Prison (now it is called historic relic Hoa Lo Prison) is located at address 1 Hoa Lo Street, Hanoi. In the past, this land was a village specializing in making all kinds of casserole, portable earthen stove,…. so this place is called Hoa Lo village (Hoa Lo means “ fire earthen stove” in Vietnamese). When the French occupied Hanoi, this was moved to another place to get land to build courts and prisons. Because this prison was landed on Hoa Lo village, people called this place “Hoa Lo Prison”.

Hoa Lo prison was built by the French in 1896 and was named “Central Prison”. The location of the prison was located on the full land of Phu Khanh village. The total area of Central Prison and the neighboring roads leading to the prison is 12.908m2.

Hoa Lo Prison has an important role in French colonists in suppressing the antagonist of the colonial system. So they built this prison in a large area with strong and complex defense systems. The building process was not completed, but in 1899 the French had to use it immediately because they wanted to capture people fighting against them. Many years later, the prison regularly was renovated, repaired, increased the cell area, etc. In 1912, the prison repaired the warehouse into a children’s capture place. In 1917, they rebuilt toilets and filtering holes. In 1945, they raised the wall surrounding the prison up to 1.5m high. The original design of the French only contains 450 prisoners, but in fact, they had up to 2,000 people.

After 1954, the prison was renamed the “Hanoi prisoners detention center” and assigned to Hanoi Military Administration, under the management of the city’s authority. From 1964 to 1973, this was also a place to arrest American pilots and they called it “Hanoi Hilton”.

In 1993, to satisfy the development of the capital, the Vietnam government decided: a part of Hoa Lo Prison was used to build “Tower center” used as a hotel, office; a part of prison next to Hoa Lo Street is preserved and embellished the memorial Hoa Lo Prison.

Hoa Lo Prison has been recognized as a historical monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism since 1997. Currently, Hoa Lo Prison has become a “red address” where traditional education of patriotism, the revolution was spread to all people, especially the younger generation of the capital; this also attracts domestic and international visitors to visit, study and learn every year.