Hanoi Hilton
|
|
The Hanoi Hilton (Vietnamese: Hoa Lo) was a prison used by the North Vietnamese for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Captured POWs reported that the conditions there were miserable, and the food so bad, that the prison was ironically nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by the inmates, in reference to the well-known and upscale Hilton Hotel chain.
American authoirites stated that the Hanoi Hilton was used as a place for the North Vietnamese Army to torture and interrogate captured soldiers, mostly Americans. Others countered by stating that prisoners were treated with decency and that the prison was no worse than prisons for POWs and political prisoners in South Vietnam such as the one on Con Son Island.
The Hanoi Hilton was depicted in the Hollywood movie, Hanoi Hilton of the same name. Vice Presidential candidate James Stockdale was as a prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton as well as Senator John McCain who spent five and a half years there. Actress Jane Fonda reportedly visited the Hanoi Hilton as part of an anti-war demonstration. Many years later, Jane Fonda publically apologized to all Vietnam War veterans for conduct she regretted, such as sitting on a Vietnamese anti-aircraft vehicle.
Neither the United States, or its allies, ever formally charged North Vietnam with war crimes or demanded extradition of Vietnamese officals who had reportedly violated the Geneva Convention at the Hanoi Hilton. The present government of Vietnam firmly holds to the view that the Hanoi Hilton was a prison for criminals, not POWs, and that those held in the Hanoi Hilton were "pirates" and "bandits" who had attacked Vietnam without authority.
In 1999, Hilton International and the Vietnamese government jointly built the Hilton Hanoi Opera, a $64 million dollar luxury hotel in Hanoi.he:הנוי הילטון zh:河內希爾頓