VietNamNet Bridge – Hellmut Kapfenberger, a German journalist who wrote a book about President Ho Chi Minh, arrived in the country yesterday, April 13, for a two-week visit.


Eyewitness: German journalist Hellmut Kapfenberger, who wrote a book about President Ho Chi Minh, started his two-week visit to Viet Nam on April 13. (Photo: VNS)
During the visit, he will talk to local readers and meet witnesses of the American war, including General Dong Sy Nguyen, who commanded logistics transport from the north to the south through mountains and jungles during the war, and drivers on that legendary route.


He also plans to take a field trip on some parts of the route, known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, to collect information for his next book.


As a reporter for ADN, the official news agency of the former German Democratic Republic, Kapfenberger spent seven years in the country to report on the war.


He witnessed fierce battles, American atrocities and the heroic resistance of the Vietnamese.


He started researching and collecting data on President Ho Chi Minh following his visit to the President's home in central Nghe An Province's Sen Village around 40 years ago.


Titled Ho Chi Minh, the book was translated into Vietnamese and published in Viet Nam last year on the occasion of President Ho's 120th birthday and the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Germany and Viet Nam.


The 300-page book chronicles President Ho's revolutionary life from his youth, his travels around the world, and his adoption of Marxism and Leninism to his political activities in France and the former Soviet Union.


He compiled the book based on documents of politicians, scholars and researchers in Viet Nam, France, China and the US.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News