April 1975
Phnom Pehn - Saigon
Foundation theviifoundation.org / @viifoundation
ENG: A man trying to board an overloaded evacuation plane is stopped by an American official at Nha Trang Air Base in South Vietnam. Nha Trang was captured by North Vietnamese forces on 2 April 1975. On 14 March 1974, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered a general withdrawal of ARVN forces from Vietnam’s central highlands region. This turned into an chaotic situation with masses of military and civilians fleeing southwards. Thousands of refugees believed Nha Trang to be a safe haven, but by 1 April 1975 the general panic of retreat reached Nha Trang, which was abandoned by the South Vietnamese Army one day later, yielding the entire northern half of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese. April 2, 1975.
FR: Sur la base aérienne de Nha Trang, au Sud-Vietnam, un homme qui tente de monter à bord d’un avion d’évacuation surchargé en est empêché par un responsable américain. Nha Trang a été capturée par les forces nord-vietnamiennes le 2 avril 1975. Le 14 mars 1974, le président sud-vietnamien Nguyen Van Thieu avait ordonné le retrait général des forces de l’ARVN de la région des hauts plateaux du centre du Vietnam. Cette décision entraîna une situation chaotique avec des masses de militaires et de civils fuyant vers le sud. Des milliers de réfugiés pensaient que Nha Trang était un refuge sûr, mais, le 1er avril 1975, la panique générale atteignit Nha Trang, qui fut abandonnée par l’armée sud-vietnamienne un jour plus tard, cédant ainsi toute la moitié nord du Sud-Vietnam aux Nord-Vietnamiens. 2 avril 1975.
April 1975
Phnom Penh - Saigon
Opening on Oct. 7 at Prix Bayeux Calvados-Normandie, April 1975, Phnom Penh - Saigon is an exhibition that examines the lives and work of the journalists who covered the end of the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam in April 1975. After more than a decade of conflict, the Second Indochina War ended rapidly and caught many by surprise, even the victorious Khmer Rouge and North Vietnamese Army. Few could divine the undercurrents of war better than the journalists reporting from the frontlines for years. Yet, when the decades-long war came to an end, it happened so fast that life-changing decisions about whether to stay or evacuate had to be made in a matter of hours. While some scrambled to board the last helicopter out, others raced to airports in neighboring countries to board the last plane in. Some were able to rescue loved ones as they fled; some had to leave everything and everyone behind. Others, including 31 Cambodian journalists killed by the Khmer Rouge, died bearing witness to the most remarkable story of the age.
|
theviifoundation.org / @viifoundation
ENG: A Willys Jeep carrying members of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam traverses Saigon, Vietnam, on April 30, 1975 to announce the arrival of North Vietnamese tanks during the fall of Saigon.
FR: Un Une Jeep Willys transportant des membres du Gouvernement Révolutionnaire Provisoire du Sud-Vietnam traverse Saigon, au Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975, pour annoncer l’arrivée de chars nordvietnamiens lors de la chute de Saigon.
Curated by The VII Foundation’s Executive Director Gary Knight and reporter and author Jon Swain, the exhibition features photographs, written accounts, and ephemera belonging to the reporters who covered the victory of communist forces. Producer Ziyah Gafic includes images printed on fabric banners, newspaper clippings, and objects such as Françoise Demulder’s camera and Jon Swain’s defaced passport to create an immersive experience of those tumultuous final days of the wars.
Over one hundred photographs taken by dozens of photographers are included. Images widely published in western media — like Hugh van Es’ U.S. helicopter evacuation from the top of a building in Saigon, and Thai Khac Chuong’s American official punching a man trying to board an aircraft out of the city — contrast with the 16-page spread that Japanese magazine Asahi Graph published of their reporter Naoki Mabuchi’s work, “20 Days in Phnom Penh”, and copies of archival pages of the Vietnam News Agency.
ENG: Captured South Vietnamese soldiers sit on the lawn after North Vietnamese troops seized the presidential palace in Saigon, South Vietnam, on April 30, 1975.
FR: Des soldats sudvietnamiens prisonniers sont assis sur la pelouse après que les troupes nordvietnamiennes se sont emparées du palais présidentiel de Saigon, au Sud-Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975.
“Inevitably, the job of war reporting entails the sacrifice of journalists’ lives. So it was in Cambodia and Vietnam,” says Jon Swain. “I see this exhibition as a way of honouring all those journalists who were killed in the war, hailing from across the world, young, old, men and women whose names are inscribed on the wall at the entrance of the exhibition.
“It is appropriate, too, that the exhibition is being held in Bayeux, for this historic city is unique in the world in having a memorial park honouring every journalist killed since 1944 in the course of their work. More than nearly 2,000 names are engraved on its tall pillars of stone. Every year the list grows longer — a reminder of the price journalists pay for doing their job.”
“From my perspective this is a story about how journalism is made by a legendary — almost mythical — generation of journalists who were working in the heyday of the press,” says Gary Knight. “At few times in history has the press had such a powerful impact on policy, or such a strong relationship with the public than they did by the time the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam came to an end. This generation of journalists established the benchmark for those that followed. In this exhibition, we seek to humanize the people who reported from the field; we champion their strengths and reveal their humanity and their fragility. In so doing, we also seek to celebrate with parity the Vietnamese and Cambodian journalists who were often overlooked, many of whom lost their lives.”
|
theviifoundation.org / @viifoundation
ENG: North Vietnamese “Bo Doi” soldiers — regular troops of the Viet Minh and later the People’s Army of Vietnam — in the halls of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, Vietnam, on April 30, 1975.
FR: Soldats nordvietnamiens « Bo Doi » – troupes régulières du Viet Minh et plus tard de l’Armée populaire du Vietnam – dans les couloirs du palais présidentiel à Saigon, Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975.
Information
Curation by Gary Knight and Jon Swain
October 7 to November 11, 2024
Free admission
Location: Hôtel du Doyen
Rue Lambert-Leforestier
Opening hours:
Open every day from Oct. 7 to Oct. 13: 10 AM to 12:30 PM and 2 PM to 6 PM.
Open Wednesday to Sunday from Oct. 14 to Nov. 11: 2 PM to 7 PM.
Exceptions:
Friday, Oct. 11: Open until 7 PM.
Saturday, Oct. 12: From 10 AM to 6 PM. Monday, Nov. 11:
From 2 PM to 7 PM.
Press Contact: Amber Maitland, Director of Communications
The VII Foundation amber@theviifoundation.org
by Roland Neveu
ENG: Contact sheet of black and white photographs taken by Roland Neveu in Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, as Khmer Rouge forces enter the city. The two circled frames show: 1) Inside the French Embassy, a high-ranking French diplomat in shorts speaks with foreign residents at the gate after Khmer Rouge ordered foreigners to seek shelter there. 2) On the boulevard across from the embassy, people — likely staff from the nearby Calmette hospital — pull a cart loaded with patients to evacuate the city as ordered by Khmer Rouge.
FR: Planche contact de photographies en noir et blanc prises par Roland Neveu à Phnom Penh le 17 avril 1975, alors que les forces khmères rouges entrent dans la ville. Détail des deux encadrés : 1) À l’intérieur de l’ambassade de France, un diplomate français de haut rang, en short, s’entretient à travers la porte d’entrée avec des résidents étrangers, après que les Khmers rouges ont ordonné aux étrangers de s’y réfugier ; 2) Sur le boulevard en face de l’ambassade, des personnes – probablement du personnel de l’hôpital Calmette voisin – tirent une charrette chargée de patients pour évacuer la ville comme l’ont ordonné les Khmers rouges.
by Françoise Demulder/Succession Demulder/RogerViollet
ENG: North Vietnamese soldiers enter Saigon in 1975 as the city falls.
FR: Les soldats nord-vietnamiens entrent à Saigon en 1975 alors que la ville tombe.
ENG: Captured South Vietnamese soldiers sit on the lawn after North Vietnamese troops seized the presidential palace in Saigon, South Vietnam, on April 30, 1975.
FR: Des soldats sud-vietnamiens prisonniers sont assis sur la pelouse après que les troupes nord-vietnamiennes se sont emparées du palais présidentiel de Saigon, au Sud-Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975.
by Hervé Gloaguen/Gamma Rapho
ENG: North Vietnamese “Bo Doi” soldiers — regular troops of the Viet Minh and later the People’s Army of Vietnam — in the halls of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, Vietnam, on April 30, 1975.
FR: Soldats nord-vietnamiens « Bo Doi » – troupes régulières du Viet Minh et plus tard de l’Armée populaire du Vietnam – dans les couloirs du palais présidentiel à Saigon, Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975.
Photo by Hervé Gloaguen/Gamma Rapho
ENG: A Willys Jeep carrying members of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam traverses Saigon, Vietnam, on April 30, 1975 to announce the arrival of North Vietnamese tanks during the fall of Saigon.
FR: Une Jeep Willys transportant des membres du Gouvernement Révolutionnaire Provisoire du Sud-Vietnam traverse Saigon, au Vietnam, le 30 avril 1975, pour annoncer l’arrivée de chars nord-vietnamiens lors de la chute de Saigon.
ENG: A man trying to board an overloaded evacuation plane is stopped by an American official at Nha Trang Air Base in South Vietnam. Nha Trang was captured by North Vietnamese forces on 2 April 1975. On 14 March 1974, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered a general withdrawal of ARVN forces from Vietnam’s central highlands region. This turned into an chaotic situation with masses of military and civilians fleeing southwards. Thousands of refugees believed Nha Trang to be a safe haven, but by 1 April 1975 the general panic of retreat reached Nha Trang, which was abandoned by the South Vietnamese Army one day later, yielding the entire northern half of South Vietnam to the North Vietnamese. April 2, 1975.
FR: Sur la base aérienne de Nha Trang, au Sud-Vietnam, un homme qui tente de monter à bord d’un avion d’évacuation surchargé en est empêché par un responsable américain. Nha Trang a été capturée par les forces nord-vietnamiennes le 2 avril 1975. Le 14 mars 1974, le président sud-vietnamien Nguyen Van Thieu avait ordonné le retrait général des forces de l’ARVN de la région des hauts plateaux du centre du Vietnam. Cette décision entraîna une situation chaotique avec des masses de militaires et de civils fuyant vers le sud. Des milliers de réfugiés pensaient que Nha Trang était un refuge sûr, mais, le 1er avril 1975, la panique générale atteignit Nha Trang, qui fut abandonnée par l’armée sudvietnamienne un jour plus tard, cédant ainsi toute la moitié nord du Sud-Vietnam aux Nord-Vietnamiens. 2 avril 1975.
WWW.THEVIIFOUNDATION.ORG INFO@THEVIIFOUNDATION.ORG @viifoundation