Quang Duc Homepage - George Krejci



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|The Fall of Vung Tau (1975) |

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|Around eight in the morning of 30 April, I heard a rocket coming from the direction of Long Thanh. I was |

|standing in the kitchen making my breakfast. I thought: "Here it comes, the beginning of the end for Vung Tau, |

|and perhaps for me also." The thought was scarcely finished when the rocket slammed into the road at the base |

|of the mountain, sending up a geyser of dirt, smoke and stones. I stood in the kitchen looking out the front |

|door, for an instant speechless. Luckily there was little damage done, the only casualty being an empty house |

|at the bottom of the hill. Most of the people in the area had fled for fear of what was to come. More rockets |

|were launched, and more explosions came one after another; things were getting serious, I thought. I closed all|

|the doors and windows of the Institute, and lie on the floor, covering myself with a mattress as precaution |

|against flying debris. The bombardment continued for the rest of the morning, many of the missiles striking so |

|close that the entire Vihara shuddered. Stones and shell fragments ricocheted from the roof of the Vihara, and |

|clattered on the walls. I was in a perilous situation indeed! The lightly built roof fell down at one corner, |

|right where I was sitting, but I was not harmed. Dirt and wood splinters fell all around me. I felt the |

|Protective Deities all around me, and I had no fear. Also, I had long since given up all clinging for life. |

|Suddenly I heard a terrific metallic clang on the front door; that was close! |

|The bombardment lasted the entire morning, then, about noon, everything ceased and all was quiet; lunch time. |

|I went into the kitchen and made my lunch. The Vihara was a shambles; all the pots and pans had fallen to the |

|floor, all the cups and glasses were broken, and everything was covered with a thick coat of dust. All of the |

|pictures had fallen from the walls, and the windows had all opened from the pressure of the blasts. I looked |

|outside; the Tibetan Chorten was undamaged - so far. |

|At four that afternoon it all started again. From the radio I knew that Vung Tau harbor had fallen, therefore |

|the reds were just outside the city. I had noticed that no one was returning the fire from the Vung Tau side; |

|all of the firing was being done by the Vietcong. The Vietnamese had lost all will to fight. |

|That evening I heard on Radio Hanoi that Saigon and Vung Tau had fallen. It was suddenly very still around me. |

|What would happen now? Vung Tau was in the hands of the enemy; would they arrest me? Or would they shoot me in |

|the confusion of the first hours of the defeat? They would certainly be bitter toward the Americans and |

|Europeans, so anything was possible. I was in a perilous situation. |

|I listened to the radio during the entire time. Radio Hanoi, and BBC and the Voice of America. The latter said |

|nothing about the fall of Saigon and Vung Tau. With the fall of these two cities, the war was as good as over. |

|The reds had won! Thirty years of war was over. |

|That evening Radio Hanoi said that there were only a few pockets of resistance left in the Mekong Delta. |

|The President and his family, along with hundreds of his cabinet ministers and officials had fled the country |

|to Taiwan. Nguyen Cao Key, the former General of the Air Force was one of the last to leave; I believe he went |

|to the US. "Big Minh," the old General who overthrew Diem in 1963 took over the Government, but capitulated a |

|few days later to avoid a blood bath in Saigon. Some "Hard Line" Catholic troop units, mostly in the Mekong |

|Delta, held out for a time; they preferred death to imprisonment. |

|An old lady came to the Vihara one morning, and said that it would be better for me if I flew the Vietcong and |

|North Vietnamese flags; she had brought both with her. Unwillingly I hoisted the Vietcong flag on the mast by |

|the Buddhist flag, and the North Vietnamese flag over my office. Would these flags protect me? I doubted it. |

|That afternoon two Vietcong appeared at the garden gate; both wore green uniforms and pith helmets, and carried|

|Russian assault rifles. One of the VC smiled. I went out to open the gate for them, and invited them in for |

|tea. They stood outside the gate and wouldn't come into the Institute. They looked nervously to the |

|mountainside behind the Vihara. They had good reason to be nervous; I had watched a long column of Vietnamese |

|troops and vehicles go up the mountain on the 29th. Also the soldiers of the Military Police compound at the |

|bottom of the hill had moved up the mountain. They had probably not given up yet which was a dangerous |

|situation for me; I might possibly be caught in the middle of a fire fight. The night before I had heard |

|footsteps behind the Vihara. The Vietcong all wear rubber sandals that are practically noiseless, it must have |

|been Vietnamese soldiers, probably looking for water. |

|The two Bo-Dois (jungle fighters, as the Vietcong call themselves) were apparently young, one about twenty- |

|five, and the other not older than 18. The first had already served ten years, and the younger two. The older |

|man asked me if I was an American; I told him that I was German, and he grinned wider. They turned to go, |

|saying that they would return the next morning unarmed. |

|Well, my first encounter with the VC had gone well; I was neither shot nor arrested. Unbelievable! Later I |

|heard on Radio Hanoi that an order had been given that no temples or churches were to be entered, nor any |

|foreigner molested. Would all the North Vietnamese and Vietcong obey this order? |

|The Cambodian nurse came and brought medicine and news. Few houses had been destroyed in Vung Tau. A few |

|soldiers and police who had not surrendered fast enough had been shot immediately, and the bodies dragged to |

|the marketplace. A pair of policemen had been burned in their jeep. The VC had committed no acts of terrorism. |

|The Cambodian nurse was very impressed with them. I thought: "Just wait; they know that the entire world is |

|watching them, and want to make liars of the Americans, who had been saying for years that there would be a |

|blood bath if ever the Vietcong won the war." Nothing of the sort happened - it would all take place later, and|

|secretly. |

|The Vietcong did clear the streets of prostitutes, pimps, thieves and other criminals. Those that were caught |

|were often shot on the spot. A cardboard sign with the words "I am a thief, therefore I must die" was tied |

|around their necks, and the corpses left for all to see as a warning, so that passers-by could see that the |

|reds were cleaning up the city. No honest citizen was molested, and the streets of Vung Tau were safe for all |

|citizens. |

|A North Vietnamese officer, recognizable by his holstered pistol and insignia on his green pith helmet, visited|

|me. He was the new commander of the Military Police Station. We conversed for a time. He noticed my swollen |

|foot, and declared that I needed immediate medical attention, which he would arrange; but no one ever came, and|

|the officer never returned. I began to receive visits from many VC and North Vietnamese, both in and out of |

|uniform. Once a heavily armed officer came accompanied by a civilian, I recognized the type immediately; he |

|looked like a Gestapo! Why is it that One can recognize that type of ruffian, even in another time and another |

|country? |

|The Officer was young and good looking, probably having a good portion of French blood. He came into the |

|Institute, the civilian stayed outside and watched me mistrustingly. I invited him in, but he declined, and |

|strolled around the Vihara, probably looking for a radio antenna. The officer asked me politely if I had a |

|radio. I had only a small transistor radio, and showed it to him. He said: "That's number ten," and laughed. |

|Shortly they both left. "They don't trust me, why?" I thought; probably because I had not fled the country. The|

|uneducated Vietcong could not comprehend why someone would stay in such a poor country, when he could live in |

|comfort in his own. There must be something wrong. I saw black; they would not let me live here long. I would |

|either be deported or imprisoned. |

|The weeks crept by. A few friends from Saigon visited me, most of them had fled. A Chinese Buddhist from Cholon|

|came with his family one day, and tearfully said goodbye. He wanted to go to America, as things were going to |

|be rough for him, as he had dealings with the Americans. I wondered, how could he leave the country now? He |

|said that with money all things were possible, even the Vietcong could be bribed, and there were still many |

|seaworthy boats available. A boat was to bring them far out to sea, where they hoped to meet an American ship. |

|The trip would cost them a half million Piastres. As he was leaving, he turned and gave me a package containing|

|another half million Piastres, saying that the money would be worthless in a foreign country. That was true; |

|even the banks in Singapore and Hong Kong were refusing to accept Piastres, and the rumor was that the new |

|regime was going to change the currency, replacing it with North Vietnamese money. There was a healthy black |

|market in Piastres, the Viet Cong were even taking part in it. I hid the money behind the kitchen cabinet; |

|perhaps it is still there today. |

|I went into the city every week to go to the market and the post office, riding my old bicycle which I kept at |

|a friends house at the base of the mountain. Many Vietcong looked at me in shock and surprise, but never said |

|anything. One day I went to the city administration to register myself. I showed them my German passport and my|

|Vietnamese "brown book," a form of identity document. After a half hour they gave me my papers back and said |

|that everything was in order, and that I could stay in my Institute, but could not leave Vung Tau without |

|permission of the Police. This policy included everyone, both foreigner and Vietnamese. No one was free to go |

|from one city to another without permission of the Vietcong secret police. They feared the formation of new |

|partisan groups, which had actually been happening. The fight went on, but on a smaller scale. The rumor was |

|that Nguyen Cao Ky had secretly returned to Vietnam to lead the revolt against the Communists. He was |

|supposedly in the mountains between Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Without the active support of the USA such a |

|revolt would be impossible, and only lead to more bloodshed and misery. |

|All of the banks were now closed, so it was impossible to withdraw my money. The half million Piastres that I |

|had on deposit in the Dai-nam bank were evidently a total loss. |

|After a time, I don't remember the date, the postal service was restored. I had a post office box (Nr. 34); one|

|day as I took a letter out, a Vietcong policeman snatched it from my hand, and scrutinized the return address. |

|He showed it to the girl at the counter, who only laughed and handed it back without comment. 99% of the |

|Vietcong understand no other language than Vietnamese. |

|One of my Vietnamese friends told me that shortly before the fall, the Mayor of Vung Tau, a former Army |

|officer, had been shot on the street by a Marine, after he had himself shot another marine that was robbing a |

|store. Another version was that the Marines had stormed his office and taken him to one of their ships and |

|murdered him there. The South Vietnamese Marines were known as ruffians, and widely feared. They and other |

|soldiers plundered for days before the fall, throwing grenades into shops and stealing watches, gold and |

|diamonds. They acted like vandals. When the Vietcong took Vung Tau, they did not do the same. Hanoi had given |

|strict orders for them not to smirch the name of the "revolution." Then more and more of the prominent people |

|began to disappear; arrested by the Communist secret police. They did their work between 9PM and 6AM when no |

|one could see what was happening. Their favorite time was from 11PM to midnight. It was certain that the VC |

|police and soldiers were breaking into the houses of those who had been arrested or flown the country, and |

|stealing everything in sight, but always secretly. Burned out autos and jeeps lined the streets; I saw one side|

|street that contained a mountain of wrecked and burned autos, mostly of American make. |

|Buddhist monks and hermits were banned from the mountains; the entire area was being classified as a Military |

|Zone, as it was suspected that there were many South Vietnamese soldiers hiding there. I saw a group come down |

|with their arms in the air, followed by several Vietcong with assault rifles. Once I heard a salvo of rifle |

|fire from the top of the mountain, and thought it was probably some Vietnamese soldiers that refused to |

|surrender and had been shot. |

|A group of soldiers visited me. They drank tea with me and showed me pictures of their wives and families. All |

|of them had hard eyes and cruel lips. A young officer told me that most of them had killed at least one "number|

|ten yankee." I must say, however, that all of the VC that visited me were correct and courteous, but I was not |

|fooled; when I was arrested the mask would fall, of this I was sure. |

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|Arrested! |

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|My left foot was still hurting, and my left leg was still swollen. I decided to travel to Saigon and see the |

|French doctors at the Grall hospital. Would the Vietcong Security Police give me permission to travel? I had |

|misgivings. However, I rode into town on my bicycle, and stopped at the police station. When I asked permission|

|to go to Saigon, they immediately became very angry, and arrested me on the spot without even an explanation. |

|They threw me into a jeep, several heavily armed policemen jumped aboard, and we raced back to my Vihara. When |

|we arrived I had to give them the key to the door. The Policemen entered without even taking off their shoes or|

|hats (It is gross disrespect to enter a temple like this). One of the cops went into the shrine room and |

|immediately broke open the offering box; much to his disappointment he found only spider webs inside. Other |

|overeager cops ransacked my desk, closet and dresser. They took my stamp collection, and all of my precious |

|manuscripts. One sallow faced character with eyes like a frog asked where my weapons were; as if Buddhist monks|

|were in the habit of keeping weapons. He looked under the table, and in all corners, but was unable to find |

|anything. Next he asked for my money. I showed him my wallet, which he grabbed out of my hands. It contained |

|fifty thousand Vietnamese Piasters, 275 German Marks, 15 American Dollars, 10 Swedish Krone, and 50 Portuguese |

|Escudos (and perhaps a few Indian Rupees) all in all, no great fortune. The cop grinned and put the money in |

|his pocket. A civilian was with them, I found out later that he was the warden of the prison. After the cops |

|had finished digging around the Vihara, we went outside and they locked the door. The civilian gave me my |

|Buddhist Rosary, which I had left on the table, saying: "You are allowed to take this." I thought: "In spite of|

|all the evil, there is, after all, a tiny spark of goodness in them." I was taken back to the jeep, this time |

|without being handcuffed. Some of the workers on the mountain had seen my arrest, and that was good. Soon all |

|Vung Tau would know of my arrest by the communists. Before the trip to the Vihara they had given me a blue |

|American shirt, ordering me to take off my yellow robe. I understood that they didn't want anyone to know that |

|they had arrested a Buddhist monk. On the way to the Vihara I saw a Theravada monk whom I knew very well, going|

|on his alms round. As the jeep neared him, he glanced at us, but I was not sure that he had recognized. I was |

|happy to see this monk once more, perhaps a good omen. Back at the police station I saw my bicycle still |

|leaning against the wall. They took me inside, and into a small room, finally allowing me to sit down. The |

|Policeman with the "frog" eyes placed a list of all confiscated items in front of me, and ordered me to sign |

|it. I refused, as he had given me no time to read it. Then he allowed me to read the document, but I was not |

|able to decipher his script, so I refused once more to sign it. He glared angrily at me, and commenced scolding|

|me in Vietnamese. Next I was taken outside, and again got into the jeep. This time the driver made a great |

|detour around the area. I thought: "They are trying to confuse me; they do not want me to know where I am to be|

|imprisoned." I knew, however, that the prison was only a few yards from the police station. The prison had been|

|built by the French, and was surrounded by huge Tamarind trees, thus being practically invisible from the |

|street. The facility consisted of many single story barracks-like buildings made of concrete. High stone walls |

|topped by barbed wire surrounded the complex. We passed by many cell blocks, all closed by steel grilled doors.|

|There was no sign of any other prisoners. My jailers opened a cell door which had the designation "P-2" on the |

|door. The door was made of corrugated iron, and was secured by two iron rods to which two pair of handcuffs |

|were fastened as a lock. The windows were barred, and closed by wooden shutters on the inside. In the large |

|cell there were two rows of wooden planks standing on wooden supports, raised about ten centimeters above the |

|cement floor. The boards were rough and unfinished. At the foot of each row was a long steel bar which was |

|anchored into the cement floor. On the right side of the cell was a prisoner who had been shackled to the iron |

|bar with handcuffs, and to the bar on the other side with leg irons. I was made to lie down next to this |

|prisoner, and was handcuffed to the iron bar. They could not get the leg iron around my swollen left ankle, so |

|the heretofore friendly Director lost his temper and commenced to beat me in the face and ribs. The VC Warden |

|calmed him, telling him that the iron would not fit, so they contented themselves with shackling me by the |

|right foot. There I lay; a prisoner of the Vietcong. I did not complain, and showed no fear. Rather I was very |

|curious as to what would happen to me. A new phase of my life had begun, and the question was whether this was |

|to be the last phase or not. I could not believe that the end had come, and that evil would triumph over me. I |

|had remained in Vietnam through my own free will, although hundreds of thousands had fled. I wanted to see for |

|myself, and experience in my own life, how people were treated under a Communist dictatorship, and I was |

|therefore ready to face all dangers. There was a barred skylight overhead which let fresh air into the cell, |

|but through which rain also came in. It was cool in the cell, and I was cold, and had a fever due to my swollen|

|foot. There was a ventilator in the wall, but it had been boarded up. The other prisoner was a Filipino, and |

|spoke perfect English. He said that he had been arrested three days before I had come into the cell. He and his|

|wife had lived in Vung Tau, where they had a large villa. His name was Marcel Rigolo, and he had worked as a |

|night club singer in Saigon. He went to Vung Tau on his days off to see his family. The Security Police had |

|given him permission many times to make the trip, but three days ago they had stormed into his house in the |

|middle of the night, and arrested both him and his wife. His wife was being held in another cell together with |

|many more female prisoners. The VC claimed that they were agents of the CIA. Rigolo laughed, and said that they|

|had also claimed that I was working for the CIA. I had known nothing of this, as I had not been charged with |

|anything when they arrested me, only locked me up without comment. Mr. Rigolo was a Catholic, as was his wife; |

|as a fact, most of the prisoners were Catholic, as the Vietcong had a special antipathy for the Catholics, even|

|though some of them were members of that faith. The Chief of the watch was a Catholic, and, as I was soon to |

|discover, treated the Catholic prisoners with preference. I didn't get anything to eat that afternoon, and had |

|to wait until five for dinner. We each then received a bowl of dry rice with boiled vegetable matter on top. It|

|appeared to be a sort of creeper that grew wild on the mountain, I had thought it to be inedible. Rigolo said |

|that it was the cheapest vegetable available, and very unhealthful; everyone that ate it daily contracted a bad|

|case of dysentery They removed our handcuffs while we ate, and put back on when we had finished. We were given |

|rain water to drink; the monsoon season, which runs from June to November in this area, so we had enough water |

|to drink. Also, the roof of the cell block was full of holes, evidently from shrapnel, which meant that a solid|

|stream of rainwater fell right onto my sleeping place whenever it rained. I tried to scoot to another plank |

|bed, and at least managed to stay out of the rain. Hopefully, I thought, they won't put any more prisoners into|

|the cell. We remained in handcuffs and leg irons for over a week, then I was finally freed from the chains. |

|When I had been in prison for three or four days I was suddenly taken to an interrogation room. My hands were |

|cuffed behind my back, and, with a guard following me, I was conducted to a small interrogation room near our |

|cell. The interrogator was not there when we entered; I was told to sit down on a small stool and wait. Soon a |

|young man appeared. He appeared to be around 25 or 30 years old. He wore civilian clothes; long pants and a |

|flowered shirt. He looked like a Hawaiian tourist, but still wore the typical Vietcong rubber sandals. He |

|smiled amicably, and told me to remain seated. The guard removed my handcuffs and sat down on a metal stool a |

|few feet away, with his weapon resting on his knees. The interrogator began by stating that we could converse |

|in English, as he was fluent in this language, He stated with an ironic grin that he had learned English in |

|Saigon. I suspected that he had probably worked for the Americans, or learned English at the American- |

|Vietnamese Association. Most likely he had been a Vietcong spy. As he talked he made rapid notes on a yellow |

|pad. The interrogation went something like this: Question: "What is your name?" Answer: "Rudolf Petri." Q: |

|"Nationality?" A: "German." Q: "West or East?" A: "West." I answered many other questions as to my background, |

|etc. It seems that they had prepared a questionnaire previously in the Police station. Then the interrogator |

|asked: "Do you know why you were arrested?" I answered: "No." "It was because you were not properly registered |

|in Vung Tau," he said. I protested, saying that I was registered in Vung Tau for the past six years, as my |

|"Brown Book" would show. The interrogator laughed nervously, and said: "This is no longer valid; all foreigners|

|must register anew or be penalized." I said: "Radio Hanoi had ordered all foreigners in Saigon and Gia Dinh to |

|register, nothing was said about other cities." He did not answer, but started shuffling his papers. Suddenly |

|he said: "You are an American, and no German! I can prove it!" I laughed and said: "I am no American, but |

|German. I have never even been to America." "You have evidently stayed behind to spy on us!" In spite of the |

|perilous situation, I could not help but laugh, and answered: "I don't believe that the Americans have any |

|cause to spy on South Vietnam anymore, they were in this country long enough." He shrugged his shoulders in |

|irritation. Perhaps this was his first interrogation; he gave the impression of unsurety, and asked more dumb |

|questions. Altogether we conversed for about an hour, until noon. Then, as I was leaving, he said: "This is a |

|mistake. I will speak to my chief and ask him to let you go free, perhaps in the morning." He shook my hand |

|amicably, and I was again conducted back to my cell. Was it true? Was I to be released in the morning? Or was |

|it only a bluff? Rigolo was very interested in my experience at the interrogation, and asked if I had been |

|beaten. I said no, and described what had taken place. Rigolo was not interrogated, but was left alone for the |

|entire week. Three days later I was again taken to the interrogation room. This time it was a different |

|interrogator. I thought ironically: "They want to cross examine me and try to trap me. Trap ME? These boys are |

|to young and inexperienced to trap me!" This interrogator wore a European suit, black shoes, and a tie. His |

|face was brown and very ordinary. He greeted me in German, and shook my hand; then we sat down. Everything |

|seemed to be in good order. Then the English speaking interrogator said that his chief wanted to know more |

|about me, actually, my life story from birth to now. The interrogation was conducted in both German and |

|English. As I am hard of hearing and have to wear a hearing aid, I had difficulty understanding the |

|interrogator, who spoke German with a terrible accent. I had no trouble understanding the English speaking |

|interrogator, whose English was perfect. I had to continuously ask him to repeat what he had said. He stopped |

|suddenly, and said: " Hah! You understand English better than German. You are an American, First Lieutenant |

|Petri, and you were in Hanoi!" What is this for stupidity? I understood that now the situation was very |

|serious, and getting worse. They were trying to justify my arrest, which was a mistake in the first place. I |

|answered: "I am not Lt. Petri, and am not an American. All Vung Tau knows me; I have lived here for six years, |

|and have seldom left the city, and then only to go to Saigon." They did not answer me, but continued to ask me |

|questions. Even though they had many articles about me from Indian and Ceylonese newspapers dating from 1963, I|

|had to relate the circumstances of my visits to Prime Minister Nehru and Madame Bandaranaike over again. I |

|think that, in spite of the evidence, they had already tried and convicted me of being an American agent. |

|Someone brought tea, and I was given a cup; then the interrogation continued. The German speaking interrogator |

|said that he had studied in Frankfurt, and attended the German Police Academy there. The interrogation lasted |

|the entire afternoon. Both of the men were friendly, and laughed a lot. The German speaking interrogator |

|commenced to refer to me as "Du." I told him that this was only permissible among close friends. He laughed, |

|and said: "Well, aren't we friends?" I said: "You must prove that." "How", he answered. I said: "First, give |

|the guards orders not to handcuff me, you know that I am no criminal." He looked at me in amazement, and then |

|to his colleague, who laughed. He called to the guard, and gave him orders not to handcuff me anymore, to give |

|me medicine for my stomach trouble, and even to give me a blanket. The guard said that there were no more |

|blankets, and that the medicine had run out. The two interrogators shook my hand as if we were the best of |

|friends, and left the room. The guard, a very mean person, appeared amazed. When we went back to the cell he no|

|longer carried his rifle at the ready, but under his arm like a broomstick. I told my fellow prisoner what had |

|taken place; he was astounded at the humane treatment, and couldn't believe it. The Vietcong were world famous |

|for their brutality, and rightly so. I was not blinded; I would not let myself be influenced by their apparent |

|good nature, rather I was alert. I had my opinion about the seeming friendliness of the interrogators. They |

|probably wanted to get as much information as possible out of me, as easily as possible. When this course |

|failed to produce results, they would use harsher measures, as once the Gestapo had tried to do to me in |

|Cologne. At the next interrogation only the English speaking interrogator took part. He once again went over my|

|whole story, trying to entrap me by asking different questions, which I parried without effort. The result was |

|that his interrogation was completely negative, and caused him embarrassment. He asked more questions, probably|

|trying to make a good impression on his superiors. He didn't laugh anymore, but was still courteous. He had |

|evidently lost his enthusiasm. When he left he didn't shake my hand as before. New prisoners were brought into |

|our cell: three Vietnamese soldiers from different units. One was pure Vietnamese, the other two mixed with |

|American Negro. All were very muscular, and, as we discovered, had belonged to the Special Forces which had not|

|yet surrendered. They had hidden in the Jungle around Dalat, and hitch hiked to Vung Tau, where they and four |

|others in another cell had been captured by the Vietcong. None of us had blankets, although it was now very |

|cold in the cell. I did not receive any medicine for my stomach or foot. We were not allowed to wash or bathe |

|for an entire month. I found that our cell was reserved for the most serious cases. The people in the other |

|cells received better treatment, had blankets and mosquito nets, and most of them were not chained. During my |

|morning trips to the toilet I could see that most of them were not even handcuffed, and were able to walk |

|around the cell at will, or converse with each other. Some were even playing cards and other games. Others were|

|handcuffed like in our cell. The handcuffs were "Made in USA," as were the chamber pots, which were actually |

|American steel helmets. The cell housed more than sixty prisoners; the walls were filthy, the cell had no |

|windows, only a skylight. The toilet, which was outside, had only a steel screen door. Mice and rats infested |

|the space under the wooden sleeping rack, and raced back and forth over the dirty concrete floor. Many of the |

|prisoners had been starved until they were walking skeletons, and had terrible sores all over their bodies. I |

|heard that sooner or later everyone gets these sores, as they are caused by lack of vitamins and malnutrition. |

|I also saw some young boys in this cell, and later discovered that they had been arrested because the |

|authorities had found copies of American magazines, "Time" and "Life" in their homes. The possession of any |

|American book or Newspaper was strictly forbidden by the conquerors, and anyone caught with one was arrested |

|and imprisoned. The boys knew no English, and certainly could not read the magazines, but this fact did not |

|help them, and now they sat in prison. The guards were careless now, and let me go to the toilet alone; |

|therefore I had the opportunity to talk to the other prisoners. I discovered that the largest part of the |

|prison population was made up of former soldiers; officers and NCO's of the South Vietnamese Army. There were |

|supposedly some high ranking officers in another cell. The oldest prisoner in P-1 was over seventy-five, a |

|white haired gentleman whose only crime was that he had been a minor official in the Thieu regime. There were |

|other types in the cell, such as thieves, pimps and homosexuals, black marketeers, and so forth. There were |

|also three millionaires who had attempted to flee the country and been caught. There was little hope for them. |

|Some of the prisoners, mostly these who had money or rich relatives, were allowed to receive packages from the |

|outside twice a week, usually on Monday and Thursday. They didn't get much, most got only a plastic bag |

|containing a couple of bananas, or some dried fish. The people on the outside were almost a bad off as the |

|prisoners; food was getting scarce. Most of the time the prisoners divided the packages among their friends. |

|Those who were unable to supplement their diet like this (myself included) were soon reduced to walking |

|skeletons. In P-2 (my cellblock) we did not have permission to receive packages, or even to send or receive |

|mail, although letters were often smuggled out, as the guards were not above accepting bribes; they were making|

|a good profit from the rich prisoners in P-1. A guard received 125 Piasters a day for food, 1,000 Piasters |

|being the equivalent of one dollar at the time. The prisoners received only 50 Piasters a day for food. So, we |

|only got weeds and rice twice a day, and rarely a few slices of carrot or a microscopic fish. The lack of |

|vitamins was becoming apparent; I felt very weak, and could not walk without my cane. My hair turned all white,|

|and my beard grew wild. I looked like a walking scarecrow. In Asia there is a great deal of respect paid to the|

|aged, much more so than in the west. This, I thought, was probably the reason I had not been beaten, although |

|this did not prevent some of the guards from waving their pistols under my nose and threatening to shoot me. |

|They were probably trying to frighten me as they were now doing to Rigolo, who was showing signs of a |

|breakdown. A month after his incarceration he began to act strangely; I, as stated before, had been allowed to |

|keep my rosary when I had been arrested. To concentrate my thoughts, I continuously passed the rosary through |

|my fingers and recited Buddhist mantras in Sanskrit and Pali. I prayed for my fellow prisoners. Suddenly Rigolo|

|started praying; he made the sign of the cross before and after eating, and said the Paternoster, trying to |

|convince the guards that he was also religious. An Attorney that had lived on my street was placed in our cell.|

|He and his entire family had been arrested one night, for no apparent reason. (Actually, most of the prisoners |

|had no idea why they had been arrested, most being grabbed in the middle of the night.) Mr. Muoi, the Lawyer, |

|was also a Catholic. He commenced to pray along with Rigolo. Now we had the three soldiers in another corner of|

|the cell, Rigolo, Myself, the Lawyer and a new comer that did not appear quite right. I was of the opinion that|

|he had been put in our cell by the secret police to spy on us. I did not speak to him. The others, all |

|Catholics, formed a clique and stayed apart from me. The Lawyer had a connection with the guards; he |

|immediately started receiving packages from the outside which he shared with the others. He ignored me, but |

|Rigolo urged him to share his bounty with me also. Once in a while I got a small piece of banana or a sliver of|

|fish...well, better than nothing. I could see that the Lawyer was egotistical and greedy, and most certainly |

|one of the corrupt lawyers one finds in Vietnam. Prison is the right place for these leeches, but even here |

|they find advantages and loopholes. The "spy" was a good friend of the chief guard, and even received |

|cigarettes. He was not chained, and had a good wool blanket. This plot was too obvious. A few days later he was|

|removed from the cell and didn't return. As I said before, Rigolo, who was up to this point a very quiet |

|person, started to preach for hours on end, and to berate all within earshot. He waved his arms, and complained|

|that everyone was talking about him, and that he was going to be shot. The guards had decided that he was to be|

|eliminated, and were even now making arrangements for his execution, It was clear to us that the poor man had |

|snapped. Would it happen to us also? Hopefully not, I at least had enough will power to withstand the |

|persecution. I tried to accept everything that happened with calmness and equanimity, even torture and death |

|threats. Often I thought of the wise words of the Blessed One; they gave me the strength to hold out. One verse|

|in particular helped enormously: Patiently we will take all upon us When others discredit or scold us. We are |

|grounded fast in our teaching, We therefore take all with sublime equanimity. This path was in no way easy for |

|me, as one can imagine, but I overcame my misgivings and trod the path with courage. What comes comes. I was |

|ready for anything. Rigolo started to rave, cry and scold from morning to evening. The guards came in many |

|times, and chained him up only to release him later for "good behavior". This calmed the confused man down for |

|a while, a day or two, but then he started all over again. I asked him once: "Who are you talking to?" He |

|answered: "To God." "And does he answer you?" I asked. "He doesn't answer at all, he doesn't care about us, not|

|even about Catholics. I said my mind, I accused him; why does he allow them to keep me in this prison, I who |

|have done no wrong, either political or otherwise. God is not right. How can he let this happen, that Atheists |

|control the Government, a Government that tries to stifle religion, and they do not believe in God!" Then he |

|started screaming: "Let me out, I am innocent!" I tried to talk to him, but with no success; the man was |

|completely gone. I don't think he was actually insane, only suffering a breakdown from the stress and |

|uncertainty of prison life. Thus it is with people who do not show an interest for spiritual development or |

|religion in their life. He had had everything, fancy cars, a villa, etc, and lived the good life in spite of |

|the war surrounding him. For such people, the end was heavy indeed when it finally came. Used to luxury and |

|comfort, they could not withstand privation, and soon broke down. The Lawyer, however, had himself under better|

|control, although his situation was quite hopeless. Soon they took the chains from Rigolo again, whereupon he |

|started raving once again, and beating on the door. The guards stormed in, unfortunately the three worst of the|

|entire crew; they beat Rigolo in the face. He laughed and turned his other cheek, as Jesus had taught. The |

|guards saw red! They beat him again and again in the face, one even kicking him in the head, but he only |

|laughed. His madness was apparent in his wild eyes. The watch chief came in; he carried an AK-47 on his back; |

|another VC followed on his heels. Now the usually quiet and friendly chief was enraged. He did not strike |

|Rigolo, but threatened to shoot him on the spot unless he quit screaming and carrying on. One of the guards |

|suggested that they take him to the bunker, and there give him "corrective action." Ah, I thought, so they have|

|bunkers here where people are tortured and executed. Some of the prisoners were not even put in a cell, but |

|simply eliminated. I had talked to eyewitnesses of these gruesome deeds. |

| |

| |

|Attempted Suicide |

| |

|I suffered greatly from not being able to shower, and the stink in the cell became unbearable as the |

|temperature climbed to over 40 degrees centigrade. The ventilator was now working, and ran day and night. This |

|was thanks to the lawyer, who had taken the blanket left by the informer, and insisted that the fan run |

|continuously. I protested that I had a cold already, but that didn't bother him in the least. Another example |

|of inflated ego. I was terribly chilled, and had a high fever. The next morning I collapsed. Unconscious, I was|

|loaded onto a stretcher, and transported to Le Loi hospital by jeep. There I was placed in an un- barred room |

|in which two other patients lay: an old man and a school boy. Medics came, among them was an English speaking |

|nurse, and a medic that spoke French. They examined me, gave me shots and pills, and then left. As it neared |

|noon time I thought they had forgotten me, as I only got something to eat after repeated requests. A friendly |

|nurse finally brought me a bowl of rice soup, bread, and a little sausage. This was beautiful, although not |

|nearly enough for a starving man. That evening I had much the same to eat. I stayed in the hospital for a week.|

|A Vietcong in civilian clothes patrolled the corridor; he carried a pistol in his pocket. They once brought in |

|a man that had been badly beaten; he was covered with blood. They put him in the bed next to mine. As soon as |

|they left he sprang to his feet, ran to the window and jumped out. I turned my face to the wall; I didn't know |

|anything. Unfortunately they caught the escapee again, and he was put in a more secure room with bars on the |

|windows. We have not seen him since then. Later I dreamed that I had escaped, something that I would definitely|

|tried had I been twenty years younger; I dreamed that the way to freedom beckoned me. Then, suddenly, I was in |

|the middle of a jungle somewhere in Cambodia. Farmers gladly gave me food and showed me the way to Thailand. I |

|arrived in Thailand after a week of adventurous travel, but only in the dream, sadly. After I had recovered I |

|had to leave the hospital, and was brought back to the prison. There I heard that two young prisoners had |

|escaped. We were all happy for them in P-2, but the prisoners in P-1 were infuriated, as the guards stated that|

|if the escapees were not caught, their fellow prisoners would lose all of their privileges, and be chained up |

|again. One of the boys was caught somewhere in the country, brought back to the prison, and beaten unmercifully|

|by the guards. Then, when he was taken back to the cell, we heard screams and the sound of blows; he was being |

|beaten by his fellow prisoners. The other boy was caught that afternoon; he had not gone far. The same fate |

|awaited him as his fellow escapee. They would certainly not try to escape again. The Vice Commandant of the |

|Security Police gave the order that all prisoners in P-1 were to learn revolutionary songs and sing them in the|

|evenings. They sang something in which every other word was Ho Chi Minh. So, a personality cult was forming, |

|much the same as we see in Russia and China. How absurd and ridiculous this sounded. The people had no idea! |

|The songs, many of which were set to French melodies, were accompanied by hand clapping. One of the prisoners, |

|most certainly one of the collaborators, led the songs. We had these "Watchers" in our cell also; prisoners |

|who, due to their size and aggressiveness, were picked by the guards to watch over the other prisoners. They |

|were required to keep watch over us and inform the guards of all that took place in the cell. They were like |

|the "Kapos" that the Nazis used in the concentration camps. These Kapos, Vietnamese, and without exception |

|Catholic, did everything possible to ingratiate themselves with the guards at the expense of their fellow |

|prisoners. All of the prisoners hated them, a fact that didn't disturb them in the slightest. One group of |

|stronger prisoners, mostly former soldiers, worked outside the prison, for which they received some extra rice |

|daily. The rest of got only two meals (such as they were) a day. I found a small slit in the wooden shutter |

|through which I could observe a portion of the long, narrow courtyard. Directly across from our cell were two |

|other cells and the bathroom. In front of this was a cistern and a massive watertank in which water from the |

|roof was collected. The other cells were frequently left open, and once I saw a woman in handcuffs in one. She |

|was between thirty and forty years old, and very beautiful. She had no leg irons on, and was free to walk up |

|and down in the courtyard. I wondered what ridiculous charge had led to her imprisonment; probably only her |

|beauty and intelligence had convicted her. The courtyard was surrounded by a high wall, which one could reach |

|by climbing onto the water tank - a possible escape route, but, alas, with my bad leg I hadn't a chance, not to|

|mention being so weak from a bad diet. The tower was later covered by barbed wire, and a watch tower built. I |

|tried to see if it was manned, but could not. I often saw a Vietcong Policewoman clad all in black stalking |

|down the courtyard. She wore the black pajamas of the country side, and carried an East German carbine. She had|

|cut notches in the stock to represent her kills, and I later found out that they were all Americans and Koreans|

|that she had "liquidated." They often left our cell door open now, so fresh air would come in. Once the VC |

|Police woman came to the door, but she did not enter. She was unarmed. I was sitting on a plank just inside the|

|door. She stopped, twisting her long braided hair, and looked at me searchingly. Her eyes glowed with hate, and|

|her lips, tightly pressed together, trembled. She evidently thought that I was an American, as did every one |

|else in the prison. No one had told the guards that I was German. That changed with the next interrogation, |

|however. The interrogator clapped me on the shoulder and said: "We know that you are not an American, but |

|German. Still, you are a West German, and they have helped the Americans against our country." I replied: "I |

|have never lived in West Germany, but was in Sweden in 1944, as you well know." The interrogator shook his head|

|and said that I would soon be let out of prison. "Soon" never came; I stayed months longer in the primitive |

|prison. Luckily, our cell did not have rats and mice. We were also not troubled with lice and fleas. Once the |

|guards sprayed DDT on the walls, giving us all headaches for the next few days. My neighbor started raving |

|again, and cursing his imaginary god. Many times I tried to talk to him and calm him down. He would listen with|

|interest, calm down for a while, and then commence to rage again. Once I recited a Buddhist verse: If god has |

|power over all, And brings life to all earth, If he gives here luck, here pain, Lets evil be done and ignores |

|it, And people carry out his wishes, Then god is covered with guilt. And this verse from the Jatakas (Rebirth |

|stories of the Buddhas former lives): Is god the ruler of this Earth And the father of all beings, Why is |

|misfortune part of it? And not only gladness, honesty and Wholesomeness? Why are there lies, deception and |

|evil? And conceit, injustice.....etc. Rigolo gasped. He had not thought that Buddhism was different from other |

|religions, but thought it was something like Islam, as both religions were named as heresies by the Catholic |

|church. I explained the universal law of cause and effect, or Karma, to my fellow prisoners; what we sow in |

|past lives or now, we are sure to reap in this life or the next...or the next. Rigolo listened attentively, and|

|found that everything I said was true, but still did not understand much. A few hours later he railed against |

|his god once more. A few days passed. The fluorescent lights in our cell were on day and night. As I was |

|accustomed to sleeping in near total darkness, they interfered with my sleep. One night, as I lie awake on my |

|plank, I glanced over to Rigolo's bed. I noticed suddenly that blood was flowing down his arm onto the concrete|

|floor. I was immediately wide awake, ran to the door and beat on it with my cane to attract the guards. It |

|appeared that Rigolo had attempted suicide. He was lying still on his plank bed, and was breathing heavily. The|

|blood pulsed from the severed artery in his left wrist. The guards stormed into the cell with their rifles at |

|the ready; others followed them with drawn pistols. One of the younger policemen screamed at the lawyer, saying|

|that he had tried to murder Rigolo. The lawyer cringed and yelled that he had nothing to do with it. Another |

|guard asked the lawyer if I did it. Before the lawyer could answer, Rigolo opened his eyes and said: "No one is|

|to blame, I did it myself! Let me die! Get out of here!" Then three "nurses" in black pajamas came into the |

|cell. They administered first aid to the stricken Filipino. Rigolo didn't die, but recovered very rapidly; he |

|was robust and healthy anyway. He had cut the artery in his wrist with a fragment of a broken water glass, but |

|not deep enough to do any real harm. He and I had been given water glassed by the young guard just last week. |

|Before that we had to drink from our rice bowls. Now, all glasses and other sharp objects were taken away from |

|us, and our tin bowls, knives, forks, etc were stacked up in the hallway when we weren't using them. It was |

|three months before we were allowed to have them back. I was becoming very sick, and had lost a lot of weight. |

|One day I passed out again. I was immediately taken back to the hospital, and stayed there for a week this |

|time. A Vietcong Doctor in civilian clothes ordered that I be given a thin rice soup; so little that I |

|immediately protested. He laughed meanly, and went out. He should have been in one of Hitler's concentration |

|camps, he would have fit in well. I wanted to get out of this pig sty! It was not a hospital, not fit for |

|animals. On my bed was a filthy and torn sheet, which must have been white before the "Liberation." I did get a|

|blanket, as the nurses saw that I was cold, and also a mosquito net thanks to a friendly nurse. I was in a |

|different section this time, and the English speaking nurse was not here, which I regretted. I saw her |

|occasionally, and she greeted me from afar. Once, when I could walk again, I met her in the hallway. We sat on |

|a bench and talked for a while, but a Vietcong guard soon appeared; he laughed at me, drew his pistol and held |

|it behind his back. He stood about three meters from us, and glowered. The nurse whispered that he did that any|

|time he caught her talking to a patient, whether on his own initiative, or because of orders she didn't know. |

|Any way, he couldn't understand either French or English. Many of the nurses still serving had husbands, |

|brothers or other relatives in the prison. Many people had been secretly arrested, and many were never seen |

|again. I discovered that most of the hospital equipment, including blankets, surgical instruments, drugs and |

|medicines had been stolen from the hospital by patients and personnel that had fled the country. The doctors |

|had taken all the instruments with them, and the Vietcong had no way of replacing them. Everything was being |

|used up, and there was no hope of getting resupplied. Russia and China had done little to help their fellow |

|Communists, not near as much as they could have done. They had their own problems. No Communist country has |

|ever approached the living standard of the Capitalist countries of the West. There must be something wrong with|

|their "Socialist" systems. Back in the prison, we began to see more women through the slot in our window. There|

|was a small baby, perhaps only a few months old. The mother had two other pretty daughters with her. The |

|children had no idea of what was happening here; they played in the courtyard completely unconcerned. The women|

|walked up and down in the courtyard; better to put up with the heat rather than the stink in the cell. I |

|learned that there were 45 women and girls in the prison, most of whom had been arrested for trying to flee the|

|country with their families. They had been caught by the Chinese near Hainan Island, and forced back into |

|Vietnamese waters, where the Vietcong gunboats were waiting for them. Most of these men, women and children had|

|been in prison since the first of May: the day that the Vietcong took over the country. Rigolo saw his wife. |

|She was a tall, thin lady with white hair. Her hair had turned white in prison! What had that poor lady been |

|through? Two Catholic Nuns, small, old and fat, had also been imprisoned. We learned that they had been |

|arrested when they had tried to change their Piasters for North Vietnamese money. The Vietcong had declared a |

|general curfew that day. The Nuns had gone from Vung Tau, with the Lady and her daughters, to their convent |

|which was in a small hamlet outside Vung Tau. As they reached the convent they were arrested by the Vietcong |

|and imprisoned. They had been in the prison for two months. All of the banks in Vietnam had been closed; only |

|the National Bank and the Bank of America in Saigon were still permitted to operate, and only for foreign |

|trade. All of a sudden a guard came into the cell, and gave me a plastic bag containing bread, sugar cane, |

|sweet potatoes and lettuce. I was astounded, and even more so when the guard handed me a letter in Esperanto |

|from my friend Professor Simonet! He had managed to come all the way from Saigon to the prison gate. That was |

|courageous. He wrote that he was doing all that was possible to secure my freedom. He said that the Vietcong |

|Security Police had given him a written statement which said that I had been arrested because foreign |

|contraband had been found in my possession; no word of my alleged connection with the CIA, or that I was the |

|American Lt. Petri. These fables were all merely lies to support my incarceration. My friend had answered the |

|Security Police stating that foreign items were not proscribed by the government until October, and therefore |

|my arrest for their possession was not legal. The professor had also written to the German Ambassador in Hanoi,|

|and the new government in Saigon. New prisoners were brought into our cell. First came a fifteen year old boy, |

|who looked much older. The guards shackled him to the iron pipe, and made him wear handcuffs. It was a long |

|time before the boy would speak, and we were all anxious to know why he had been arrested. After a few hours, |

|he began to speak in a whisper; he had gone to the market place with an older friend, and had been stopped by a|

|Vietcong patrol. The patrol had found a pistol under his shirt. They had beaten him severely with the pistol, |

|and taken him to the prison. His chest and head hurt him, but he had no open wounds. The two boys could count |

|on years in prison. The boy said that he and his friend (who was in the next cell) had been on the way to |

|deliver the pistol to the police station, but the Vietcong did not believe them, thinking them to be anti |

|communist guerrillas. The young man spoke fluent English, and said that he was a high school student. Now his |

|career was over. Here in prison he would not learn anything of value. Later another man, a sailor, was brought |

|into the cell. He had tried to smuggle weapons to Singapore to help the Communist underground there. The |

|Vietcong did not believe his story either. Then came three Catholic guerrillas, wood carvers by trade. |

|Strangely, the guards let them bring their tools into the cell. Soon they started carving wooden plaques and |

|name tags for the guards, to curry their favor. They carved continuously; mostly religious scenes, girls and |

|designs. Soon their handcuffs were removed. One, the tallest of the three, seemed to be the leader of the |

|group. He was the best carver, possibly the teacher of the others. Another seemed to have a great deal of |

|French blood. He was the quietest of the three. They were apparently all homosexuals. Actually, there were |

|quite a few of that persuasion in cell 1. I was transferred there after Christmas of 1975, as I was going to be|

|released on the 27th of December. On this day I was interrogated again, and the interrogator, a fanatic, |

|arranged that I was not released |

|. |

| |

|My Condition Improves |

| |

|The tall wood carver and his accomplices were also transferred to P-1, along with a young boy. P-2 was over |

|filled with new prisoners, mostly anti-Communist guerrillas, or those thought to be so by the Vietcong. This |

|wood carver had the ambition to be a "watcher" so he could throw his weight around. He picked me as his first |

|victim. As we sat in two rows near the rice pot, I reached in and took a piece of burnt rice. The carver jumped|

|up and struck me a blow on the right shoulder, knocking me to the floor. I said nothing, but got to my feet and|

|grabbed my cane, not to hit him, but to pound on the door and alert the guards. They came. I demanded to speak |

|to the Director; they immediately sent for him. He came into the cell demanding angrily to know what was going |

|on. Calmly I told him what had happened, and remarked that I would not endure such treatment from a prisoner, |

|when the guards themselves would not strike me. This attitude impressed the Director, and he grabbed the carver|

|by the neck and boxed his ears soundly, ordering him to apologize to me immediately. He fell to his knees and |

|begged me with folded hands to forgive him. This I immediately did. The Director ordered him to be put in |

|handcuffs for one month. From then on I had peace. No one dared bother me. The rumor spread that I was a |

|"States Prisoner", and a VIP. This was probably true, as I was undoubtedly being used as a political pawn by |

|the VC. The German Embassy in Saigon had closed, and, as they told me in the last interrogation, there was now |

|a provisional Embassy of the German Federal Republic (West Germany) in Hanoi, although there were only two |

|diplomats stationed there. I demanded that they let me contact the Ambassador, and they acquiesced by letting |

|me write a letter to him. But, as I later learned from the Charge D'affairs, Dr. Peter Truant, the letter was |

|never posted. P-1 was so crowded that we lay together like sardines. Some had mosquito nets, I did not. Many |

|slept three or four to a net, a condition that was much abused by the homosexuals. Altogether, it seemed to me |

|that these people were quite content to be here among so many young men. Once a young boy dressed up as a buxom|

|dancer one night, much to the delight of the other prisoners. There was much carrying on, catcalls, whistles, |

|and lewd comments. The situation soon degenerated into a free-for-all brawl, which was broken up quickly by the|

|watchers. Two heavily muscled blacks (half American, half Vietnamese), a Cambodian, and the accused murdered of|

|the Mayor of Vung Tau comprised the "Watch." They were responsible to the guards for peace and order in the |

|cell, and were held responsible for any escape attempts. Rigolo was also transferred to P-1, and was two |

|sleeping places away from me. On my right was a young official of the former regime, a Catholic. On the left |

|was the young man that had been caught with the pistol, whose name was Phuong. Many officers of the defeated |

|Army were on our side of the cell. The highest ranking among them was a Captain, who was also a Buddhist. He |

|was quiet, friendly, and very respectful. He, and another officer, gave me two or three bananas every Monday |

|and Thursday when their packages came. Directly across from me was a former millionaire. He spoke good French, |

|as he had graduated from a French school. He had tried to escape from Vietnam, but was captured off the coast |

|of Vung Tau. He had been in prison since the first of May. He was quite friendly, but tried to corrupt me, as |

|he saw that I was suffering from malnutrition, and was only skin and bones. One day he drew near me and |

|whispered in my ear, that if I accepted his god he would help me, and let me into his group of cronies. I |

|laughed and refused, replying with "Man does not live by bread alone." I noticed that he considered himself |

|some sort of "Feudal Lord," and had gathered a group of "servants" around him which he kept well fed. Soon |

|young Phuong joined his group and moved to the other side of the cell. Most of us had a terrible fungus |

|infection on our bodies that itched constantly. Everyone was continuously scratching themselves. I had the |

|infection on my hands, and on the left and right sides of my waist; also my arms and buttocks were covered with|

|sores. Only my torso and face was free. Every two days the nurses came in and smeared us with a red liquid |

|similar to iodine. This helped for a while. We also received shots against Beri Beri and Cholera. Most of the |

|time we had no medicine, neither shots or pills. A Taiwanese, very tall and thin, had a terrible case of |

|scabies. He also had a large boil the size of his fist on his back, below the rib cage. It was a long time |

|before the medics consented to operate on it. The man was made to kneel on the floor, and the boil was simply |

|cut off then and there with a knife; no anesthetic was used. The Taiwanese did not even whimper, although the |

|operation and cleaning of the wound afterwards must have been very painful. The nurses were unconcerned, no |

|doubt they had seen much worse. We didn't have a dispensary or operating room, most of the treatment was given |

|on the rough wood table, which was usually filthy and covered with soot and rust from the pots and pans. They |

|now allowed me to sit outside in the courtyard, and even to walk around a bit. Other prisoners also had this |

|privilege, but not many. At last we were also allowed to shower once a week; not really to shower, but we |

|gathered around the cistern and poured water over ourselves from a bucket. The water was cool, and refreshing. |

|We could also wash our clothes. Once a month we received a microscopic piece of soap, which was used up with |

|one washing. The guards had taken the handcuffs off the woman in the next cell, and she washed clothes for |

|them. Unbidden, she took my clothes and washed them along with the others, even though she was a Catholic. |

|Probably Catholic in name only. A very beautiful young girl, with long black hair and a graceful manner was |

|placed in the cell next to the bathroom. We couldn't see her, as she was handcuffed to the bar day and night. |

|The rumor was that she had torn up a red and blue Vietcong flag, her neighbor had seen her and turned her in to|

|the authorities; she was immediately arrested. We admired her courage, and everyone tried to find a way to talk|

|to her, but the guards were alert and would not permit it. We saw the other ladies, and the nuns; many were |

|well dressed, as they had put on their best clothes for their escape from the country. One woman stood out |

|among the others; she was richly dressed, and had a very noble bearing. In actuality, she was a member of the |

|former ruling family, the Emperor Bao-Dai. The rumor was that she had been one of the former president's |

|mistresses; possible, but unlikely. It must have been a blow to her pride to have to carry a full chamber pot, |

|which was actually an old steel helmet, every morning. The ladies toilet was in another courtyard, so the |

|female prisoners always had to pass our cell on the way there. Since the first days of my imprisonment I had |

|been allowed to use the ladies toilet; in Vietnam, as in many other far eastern countries, there are no |

|separate toilets for the sexes. I was allowed to use the toilet once a day, usually in the early morning. One |

|day a young VC, a boy of sixteen or so, was on watch. He sat behind a table with his rifle on the ground and |

|his head on the table sound asleep. As I stopped and looked at him, he jumped up angrily and pointed his rifle |

|at me screaming "Get Back!" I think he was afraid that I was going to take his rifle, or was ashamed that I had|

|caught him sleeping. Luckily the chief of the watch came behind me, and allowed me to proceed. In the courtyard|

|there was only one weak light; ideal situation for an escape, but I didn't try because of the impossibility of |

|running on my bad foot. I was told by a guard that the Government had decided, commencing on the 14th of |

|January, 1976, that I was to have 500 Piasters a day as a food allowance. As I have said before, all prisoners |

|received only 50 Piasters a day, and the guards 125. I was to receive 500? Unbelievable. What were they up to |

|now? The guards and my fellow prisoners were astounded from this order from "above." They grumbled that I got |

|this concession because I was a white man, or because of being a priest, or even a Vietcong agent! The next |

|day, at four in the morning, I received my first ration; a huge bowl of vegetables, a piece of meat, and two |

|boiled eggs. Unbelievable but true. The whole cell assembled to watch me eat, which was very painful for me. It|

|was a lot to eat, really, but I was so starved that I ate every scrap, and my stomach rebelled from this |

|assault. That evening I again received a bowl full of vegetables, meat, and a boiled egg; three eggs a day. The|

|next day was the same, then it suddenly ceased. I heard from a guard that the Commandant had received no money |

|to feed me, and the food had to be purchased at a restaurant. For two days I got nothing, then on the third day|

|the food started again, but this time much less; only one egg, no meat, but only a bone with a few scraps |

|adhering to it. It was clear that someone, another prisoner or guard, had "fished" in my bowl, and would |

|continue to do so. The guard glared at me angrily, but I didn't react. I suspected the young cook, as his |

|expression betrayed him. He was a homosexual, who curried favor with the guards to keep his job. Among the VC |

|there were also homosexual types. One was so bold as to continually grab the male prisoners by the testicles; |

|he tried this with me twice, but I gave him to understand in no uncertain terms that I was not interested in |

|his games. Another of the same type once showed a red cloth that he had inside his new khaki jacket. It was an |

|amulet to dispel demons! He showed it to me to see if I understood the mystic symbolism. Some monk had drawn in|

|ink a four cornered square with the Buddha Vairocana inside, which is called Vaya in Vietnamese. Around this |

|was a row of Chinese, Thai, and Sanskrit letters: I could only read the Sanskrit. It was the famous Mantra Om |

|Mani Padme Hum. The VC, only sixteen years old, told me that he had worn this talisman during the jungle |

|fighting, and believed it to have protected him and kept him from being injured. He was a Buddhist, but knew |

|nothing about his religion. Many of the Vietcong were nominal Buddhists, and most of them wore Buddhist amulets|

|around their necks, even small statues of the Buddha. The same VC told me how easy it was to kill the big |

|Americans, and how, on the other hand, it was difficult for the Americans to shoot the small VC. Other guards |

|told me that they had seen many American prisoners in underground bunkers in North Vietnam, and some had been |

|even sent to China, where they were working in mines. |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

|Three VC in Prison |

| |

|My extra rations became meager, and of poorer quality. For days on end I had no eggs,vegetables or meat; only |

|six or seven tiny shrimp and a piece of carrot. Once I found only a quarterof an egg in my bowl, and I could |

|plainly see the teeth marks in it wheresomeone had bitten into it. |

|A fellow prisoner told me that he knew that the kitchen helpers were stealing my food, which came from the |

|restaurant, and replacing it with prison food. I refused the bowl with the nibbled egg. They called the guards.|

|The guard angrily ordered me to eat the food, or he would beat me with my own cane. He pushed the end of my |

|cane against my right temple; I sat calmly, asif anchored in stone. Theguard didn't strike me. The entire cell |

|gathered around us to see what would happen next. The millionaire whispered in my ear that it would be better |

|if I took the food, or at least take the bowl, then the guard would leave. I took the bowl; the guard stood up |

|and went out of the cell. What should I do now? I stood up, went to the toilet and threw the entire contents of|

|the bowl in the trash can. I did not see any looks of disapproval from the other prisoners, it seemed they |

|approved. I was hungry, and starved like the Buddha before his Enlightenment, but I would not let them demean |

|me. |

|Some prisoners were to be released on Vietnamese holidays, such as Ho Chi Minh's birthday, the day of Vietnam's|

|"Liberation," Christmas and New Years. At least, we had heard this. Some of the prisoners claimed, however, |

|that the ones to be released were only transferred to the concentration camp at Binh Hoa. We had heard that |

|there were over 30,000 prisoners there. Is there any freedom under the Communist system anyway? There must not |

|be, as every year thousands of people flee such countries. All Vietnam was one huge concentration camp after |

|the "Liberation." |

|There were a few former Vietcong among the prisoners. One had fought on the side of the Red Guerrillas for six |

|years, and then deserted. Now he sat in a prison run by his former comrades. It would be rough for him, we |

|thought. He tried to curry favor with the guards by making them new tables and chairs. He was a Hercules of a |

|man, with hands like shovels; but he seemed to be good natured. I talked to him once, and discovered that he |

|had once been a diver. |

|This was probable, as he had a chest like a barrel. He always went without his shirt, and all could see that |

|his body was covered with obscene tattoos. The nurses demanded that all wear shirts while they were in the |

|cell. We laughed at this prudery, and the former VC didn't like it at all. I once read his palm, a knowledge I |

|had picked up in India from a competent yogi, to see if there was any possibility of him being released in the |

|near future. I have found that often the lines in one's hand can actually mean a great deal. I learned this on |

|my first journey to India on the Polish ship "Batory." A Yogi read palms with 90% accuracy, and advised me to |

|learn the art, as many people would expect it of me. In Calcutta I bought an English translation of the "Hast |

|Samudrika Shastra," and studied it diligently, with the result that I was soon and expert. In Vietnam I had |

|often read people's palms, and given them advice and warnings when something seemed to be going bad. Naturally,|

|Buddhism has nothing to do with Palmistry and Astrology, but now, as in former times, a monk or priest cannot |

|live unless he knows and practices this art. I could see in the VC's palm that he would soon be released from |

|prison; if he were actually to be free was another question. His wife was also a prisoner, along with his |

|mistress. He managed to get them both pregnant while in prison, much to the delight of his fellow prisoners, |

|and to the consternation of the guards. |

|One day two uniformed Vietcong were thrown into the cell. They were felons. One had spent his entire youth |

|fighting in the jungles. Now for the first time he had the opportunity to see how good the South Vietnamese had|

|been living under the capitalist system. He started breaking into villas and houses, stealing everything he |

|could lay his hands on; and always in uniform, thinking to terrify his victims if he were caught, as everyone |

|was terrified of the Vietcong in the first months of the "Liberation." Then he made the error of breaking into |

|occupied houses and simply taking anything he wanted; so far no one had opposed him, or complained to the |

|authorities. Then one night a young girl tried to stop him from plundering her house, and he beat her to death.|

|The father raised a hue and cry, and notified the police, who immediately arrested the criminal. The other |

|Vietcong had raped a young girl. He too was caught and imprisoned. Both were being held in prison until the |

|authorities could decide their fate; both would probably be shot, as plundering and rape were serious crimes. |

|Two half-grown boys were delivered into our cell, caught stealing tires from an auto. The boys were about eight|

|or nine years old. They burst into tears when they saw the cell with all the chained prisoners. The Homosexuals|

|were fascinated, and took the boys into their corner to give them "fatherly" advice. The two thieves slept in |

|different areas in the large cell. The Vietcong did not chain them. Late that night I heard a terrible cry from|

|the oldest of the boys; undoubtedly the homosexuals had tried something, but the boy would have none of it. The|

|next day the two boys were released with a stern warning; they would not return, as one could see the terror in|

|their tear-stained faces. |

|Out of boredom or malice, one of the guards took to pushing his rifle under my nose in front of the other |

|prisoners. He said: "You West German, very bad! we should shoot you. I will put you against that wall and |

|execute you soon!" |

|I answered coolly: "What are you waiting for, then?" Answers like this irritated the guards, who were used to |

|people being terrified of them. |

|Another time one of the three worst guards took my cane away from me, pushed it into my throat and bore down so|

|hard that my neck was sore for a week afterwards. I knew immediately what they were up to; they wanted me to |

|rebel or lose my temper so that they would have an excuse to shoot me, and thus solve the problem of my illegal|

|imprisonment. Also, the guards were becoming bored; it had been a long time since any of them had used their |

|weapons. I didn't react to their abuse, rather I thought: |

|All powers in spite you maintain |

|Never bowing down, showing courage, |

|Thus you link arms with the gods. |

|Yes, never to bow down, always showing courage. As long as I could hold to this maxim, the Buddhist Protective |

|Deities would not fail me. Every accusation and criticism would bounce off of me, and return to the one who had|

|originated it; like dust, when thrown against the wind, will blow back to the one who throws it. |

|One day Rigolo, who had become much calmer, said that his wife had been executed by the VC. No one knew |

|anything about this. I asked one of the friendlier guards, but he opined that Rigolo was having one of his |

|hallucinations again, as his wife was well and in the next cell. I said that they should let her go for a walk |

|in the yard, so Rigolo could see her. The VC did this, and we could all see that there was nothing wrong with |

|her, other than being half starved and miserable like the rest of us. Not the least surprised, Rigolo grinned |

|when he saw her. |

|My hair had grown to my shoulders by now, and was snow white. My beard had reached my chest, as they had only |

|let me shave and trim my hair once since my imprisonment. There was an inmate barber in the prison, but he was |

|in another barracks; once he cut the hair of all the prisoners in the yard. No one needed a shave, as the |

|Vietnamese have very little body hair, only a thin beard which they pluck with tweezers anyway. The VC were |

|very curious about my beard, which was very thick and full. They got a big kick out of pulling my beard. Many |

|of them were, in spite of the war, very childish in demeanor. One of them, for instance, had a habit of |

|juggling his rifle in order to impress the female prisoners. But this suddenly ceased; one day as he was |

|juggling his rifle went off, luckily only hitting one of the roof tiles. The women ran back into their cell in |

|terror. The guard stood there unbelieving, apparently unaware that his rifle had gone off. Soon another guard |

|came and he was replaced, |

|I could meditate quite often, in spite of the noise in the cell, but could not sit in the Padmasana (Lotus |

|Position). I rather sat casually in the Bodhisattva position. That is, with the left leg drawn in, and the |

|right knee bent with the leg drawn up. I held my meditation band in my right hand. I quite frequently had |

|visions during these meditation periods. In Tantric Buddhism we call this visualization. It is a process |

|whereby inner visualizations are projected outward, somewhat like the manifestations of the Christian Saints, |

|except that the Tantric Adept knows his creations are a manifestation of his thoughts. A Christian mystic does |

|not know this, thinking his visions are really god, or Jesus, or Angels speaking to him. A genuine Yogi, and |

|such is the Tantrika, knows that it is his own thoughts given form that he sees before him. |

|When I desire to, I can let the Buddha, or any other personalities appear before me during intensive |

|meditation. Calling forth spirits belongs to another sphere; one should not confuse the two, the difference is |

|clear. |

|I once asked a materialized spirit: "Is the spirit world a reality, or is it only imaginary, a fable?" |

|The spirit answered: "The spirit world, or better said "worlds" are just as real as this world of the third |

|dimension, only with the difference that by us there is a fourth, fifth, and even an eighth dimension, |

|something impossible for an earthly intelligence to comprehend." |

|One inmate, a Cambodian who had fought for the Vietnamese, had an inclination towards all sorts of |

|superstitions including the summoning of spirits. He wanted to hold a seance to find out how long he would be |

|in prison. Late one evening, around midnight, he sat in a circle around a candle with his friends. They covered|

|their heads, and the "magician" mumbled secret incantations, trying to cause a spirit to appear, which of |

|course never happened. They were not honest, and had only selfish goals in mind. The next day Phuong came to |

|me, and asked that I give him instructions in summoning spirits. I laughed at his naivete. He pressed me, and |

|said that all Vung Tau knew that I could summon spirits. I said: "That is pure insanity, and if I could call |

|spirits, that would not mean that I could teach you to do so. It is possible only through meditation and |

|discipline to contact Spirits, Gods, and Demons, and such is not our goal, or should not be. There are higher |

|goals than merely summoning spirits!" |

|The boy was sad, and said that I didn't want to teach him, as he was too young. "Yes, that is true," I said: |

|"You are very young and inexperienced, there is no trace in you of religion or other spiritual interests, isn't|

|that right?" |

|"Unfortunately, yes. My parents believed in nothing, although they are nominal Buddhists. One of my uncles is |

|even a Vietcong Major, but he does nothing for me." |

|I said: "What you want is for a ghost to tell you how long you must stay in prison, beyond that nothing, |

|right?" |

|Phuong nodded in agreement, all the while staring at the floor; he appeared very ashamed. |

|To pacify him, I told him that I would try to call a spirit, but he would not be able to see it. I would ask |

|the spirit questions in his name. Phuong folded his hands in happiness - and went right to the other side of |

|the cell and told everyone that I was a psychic and could summon spirits. I was very angry because now I would |

|have no peace. All of the inmates would want to know how long they were to be in prison. As I had read the |

|palms of all of the inmates and most of the Guards, I could tell much about their future tendencies and events |

|that would likely occur. |

|That night I sat under my mosquito net ( I had finally been given one by a prisoner that had been released) |

|meditating, or better said concentrating my thoughts on the old ghost I had seen in the Vihara. Would he |

|receive my telepathic message? As he had said himself, we were on the same wave length. After about half an |

|hour he appeared before me. He was astonished by my call, and as soon as he thought to answer, he was there in |

|my cell. This time the old ghost didn't laugh, but made a compassionate face and said: "There it is! I told you|

|years ago that you shouldn't stay on that mountain, now you sit here in misery." |

|I answered: "You were right, but you didn't tell me that I would be arrested." |

|The ghost answered: "As you rightly know, we are not omniscient, we only have strong hunches." |

|I said: "Good. Now answer a few of my questions. First, how long will I stay here?" |

|The old ghost scratched his head and thought for a while, then he said: "If I am not mistaken, you will be |

|released in one or two months, and then will leave the country. All of your possessions are confiscated. You |

|will probably go back to your home to recuperate, beyond that I can't say." |

|"Thank you," I said, and questioned him further: "The young boy over there wants to know how long he must stay |

|here." |

|The ghost concentrated and finally said: They probably won't punish him officially, but send him to a |

|"Re-education" camp, where he should stay for one or two years. He will eventually wear the Vietcong uniform." |

|We talked for a while, then the old man disappeared, but first wished me good luck and "Bon Voyage." I lay down|

|to sleep, and had wonderful dreams of my homeland, Sweden, and Spain. Would I ever see these countries again? |

|After breakfast, which came at the same time as lunch, the young prisoner came over and asked if I had spoken |

|to the ghost; I affirmed that I had. He sat down beside and listened to my report. When I told him what the |

|ghost had said he was discouraged. He cheered up later, however, and said that at least he knew now that the |

|Vietcong would not shoot him, and he would be free in two years. He gave me some bananas that he had filched |

|from the millionaire. |

|As I had thought, in the next days many prisoners came and asked me to find out how long they would be there. |

|Even the woodcarver came and asked for information. Playfully, I told him that he would be released in 1987. He|

|blanched; he thought I was serious. All of the prisoners standing around howled in glee. The carver took my |

|hand and pled with me to tell him the truth. I said that he had a "couple of years" to go, I couldn't tell |

|exactly. |

|It was now April of 1976, and I felt that something would happen soon, but I didn't know exactly what. Freedom?|

|It didn't look like it. I was interrogated again, as was Rigolo and his wife, separately. The new interrogator,|

|a younger man who spoke good English, said again that he did not believe that I was a German, but was an |

|American spy. He said that the Americans had many Germans in their Army, which was true, but they are all |

|American citizens. The last interrogator seemed to be a bit mentally disturbed; one could see that he had lived|

|in the jungles for a long time. The other interrogators were only "Desk Heroes," as one could tell by their |

|pale faces. In spite of the accusations, the interrogator remained friendly and correct. He did not force me in|

|any way. |

|Back in my cell I wracked my brain for a plan. What to do? One of the VC had told me truthfully that he had |

|seen a list with my name, Mr. Muoi and Rigolo on it. We were supposed to be released on the first of the year. |

|Something was not right; perhaps they had forgotten us. |

|To draw the attention of the authorities, I planned to fake a suicide attempt. Perhaps that would cause |

|something to happen. |

| |

| |

| |

|A Suicide Attempt |

| |

|I immediately set about putting my plans into action. One day, as I was walking in the courtyard with a group |

|of prisoners, I passed the cistern near the bath house. Two prisoners stood there; one was dipping water out of|

|the cistern with an ammo can, and pouring it into a bucket held by the other prisoner. I slowly lifted my right|

|leg to climb into the cistern, asking the prisoner, as if I was demented, if it was permitted to jump into the |

|cistern. The two were speechless, and as I grabbed the leg of the inmate standing on the cistern, to haul |

|myself up, both came to and realized that I was attempting suicide. They raised the alarm and held me fast. The|

|guards raced into the courtyard. I decided that it would be better for me if I suddenly passed out, so I |

|relaxed and fell to the ground. The guards picked me up and carried me back to the cell. There I waited a half |

|an hour before coming to. As I opened my eyes, I saw that the guards had brought a stretcher, and were about to|

|place me upon it. Two prisoners picked up the stretcher, and rushed outside where a jeep waited. A driver, two |

|guards, and a VC nurse escorted me to the Le-Loi hospital. Right in the middle of the city we had motor |

|trouble. The jeep coughed and died right in the middle of the market place. I was made to lie down on the floor|

|boards so passers by wouldn't see me. This didn't work, as a whole group of school children noticed me in the |

|jeep, and were chattering about the "white man" that was a Buddhist monk. They peered into the jeep with |

|curiosity while the VC tinkered with the engine, trying to get it running again. I saw that the children did |

|not laugh, but looked at me with sober and sympathetic faces. This was much different from their former ways. |

|As I said before, everyone in Vietnam used to laugh, even when something was serious. Now laughter was gone. |

|Some of the children looked at the VC with anger in their eyes. The guards growled back at the kids, who fled |

|across the field, no doubt to tell everyone that the VC had arrested a Buddhist monk. I was elated. Now more of|

|my friends would know that I was in the hands of the VC. |

|After a considerable time, they got the vehicle started again, and we finally reached the hospital. There I was|

|placed in a room with only one other patient, a young boy. No doubt his mother had been staying in the room |

|with him, as she was put out on my arrival. I saw that she had been preparing meals for the boy in the room. |

|She had a small round stove with her, in which she burned charcoal; this soon filled the room with smoke. There|

|was a large sign on the wall stating that cooking and making fires was forbidden. Perhaps the old woman |

|couldn't read. She stayed by her son that night; my presence did not seem to bother her. The boy was released |

|the next day, and I soon had the room to myself. |

|This time I was treated exceptionally well. All of the nurses came and welcomed me. They brought me clean |

|sheets, pajamas, handkerchiefs, etc. They even gave me bananas, bread and other food, so that I was never |

|hungry. I was never sick, didn't even get a stomach ache. |

|Only when the doctor and the unfriendly medic came in did I have pain. And then in all of the 240 bones of the |

|human anatomy. Eight days had passed, and I was living like a king compared to my former state in the prison. |

|Friendly Buddhists, and even Catholics appeared and brought me food. articles of clothing, and even a pair of |

|sandals donated by a gentleman who had also been in the Vietcong prison. He had been in since the first part of|

|1975, and had been an officer in the South Vietnamese army. |

|I heard much news; among other things that the two Vietnams were now united. The capital was Hanoi, Saigon was |

|no longer a capital city. The standard of living fell rapidly. The regime in Hanoi did not want their soldiers |

|to see that the south had a far better living standard than the proletarian north. Now they were trying to make|

|the south as poor as the north in order to conform to Communist theory. The VC were very keen to buy wrist |

|watches, something that was very scarce in the north. They buy everything that they cannot find at home. They |

|VC were still plundering vacant houses, I don't know if the North Vietnamese took part in this, as it is very |

|difficult to tell one from the other. |

|The VC were very disappointed with their North Vietnamese mentors. The North had not kept its promise of a |

|large reward to all those that had supported them. The "Bo-Dois" only received a small badge to wear on their |

|pith helmets. |

|Most of my friends complained of missing relatives, and spouses that were still in prison. No one knew their |

|fate. |

|The doctor only examined me once, and again ordered that I be given a thin rice soup. The nurse, who was in the|

|room agreed, but as the doctor turned and left she gave him the finger. I was impressed by her courage. |

|On the 14th of April the prison warden came with one guard. As he approached my bed he held out his right hand |

|for a handshake, as though we had been friends for years. The other VC only grinned. The warden made it clear |

|that I was to be released in the morning. I asked him if I must return to the prison. He waved his hand in |

|negation, and said no. My day of freedom was at last here. Was this true? Or was it only another cruel joke? |

|With the VC anything was possible. It was difficult to believe that I was soon to be free once more. But, did |

|not the Old Ghost say that I was soon to be released? I told the nurses, who were elated. They all wanted to |

|hug me, but being a monk this was not proper. |

| |

| |

|The Day of Freedom |

| |

|My stunt with the simulated suicide attempt had directed the attention of the authorities to my case, and this |

|accelerated my release which had already been delayed five months. My time of suffering at the hands of the |

|Vietcong was now ended. I found that I had passed the last test on the Bodhisattva Path with honors. During the|

|night I meditated, and called the Old Ghost; he appeared almost immediately. I told him that I was being |

|released from the prison in the morning. The old man was happy, and said: "So? What did I say? I have again |

|given a correct prediction." |

|On the morning of the 15th of April all the nurses came to wish me farewell. The prison warden was coming to |

|take me away. The nurses brought me shirts and handkerchiefs, and other things for my coming trip to Europe. |

|This was very moving, as most of the nurses were Catholic; very few were Buddhists. There was no discrimination|

|among them. |

|The warden arrived at 8AM accompanied by an armed policeman. As we left, all the nurses stood at the door and |

|watched. As the jeep pulled away they all waved and wished me good luck. |

|We drove swiftly through the city. At last; I am leaving Vung Tau, my beloved city. I would never see it again,|

|but in my heart it is ever my home. |

|We went first to the Police Station, and then to the prison office. The usually evil tempered Commandant shook |

|my hand and invited me to sit in an easy chair. Tea was brought, and a list of all the items which they had |

|taken from me. A guard entered, and placed a broken flashlight on the table. I immediately stated that it was |

|not mine. The guard took the light and disappeared into the next room. A policewoman who spoke French handed me|

|the list of confiscated items, and told me to sign it. I refused to sign it until all the items had been |

|returned to me. She laughed, and turned her back to confer with her colleagues. Another policeman came in, and |

|counted out my confiscated money on to the table. 50,000 Piasters and the foreign money that I had been |

|carrying. So, it was not illegal to have foreign currency, as my friend in Saigon had said. The guard came back|

|with another flashlight, but this also was not mine. I took it anyway, to eliminate any further difficulties. I|

|asked them for my glasses, which had a built-in hearing aid. They had taken them as they thought the hearing |

|aid was some sort of surveillance device. They brought the glassed, but the hearing aid had been taken apart, |

|and no longer worked. I took the glasses and threw them in the trash can. The VC gave me dirty looks and |

|started muttering to themselves. The French speaking Policewoman informed me angrily that all of my manuscripts|

|and documents had been confiscated by the Communist Government, along with the Institute and all of its |

|furnishings. I had thought this would happen, therefore it was no surprise. I demanded to be taken to my Vihara|

|to get my Monk's robes. The Commandant said angrily: "No, you will go to Saigon immediately. There is a car |

|outside from the French Consulate." I rose and went to the door; the others followed. A Vietnamese sat behind |

|the wheel. We shook hands, and I got in beside him. There were no VC in the car; they preceded us in another |

|car along with two policemen and the policewoman. |

|Then, suddenly it seemed, we were at the outskirts of Vung Tau, and on our way to Saigon. In contrast to |

|earlier times, there was almost no traffic on the road. Gasoline was in short supply, and rationed; much too |

|expensive for the Vietnamese. |

|I did regret that I had not been able to say goodbye to my fellow prisoners. What would they think? That I had |

|escaped? Or committed suicide? They were probably telling all sorts of tales and rumors about my whereabouts. |

|The Vietcong would never tell them the truth. I looked at myself, and saw my blood stained yellow monk's |

|trousers, and the American shirt I had been forced to wear. In my yellow bag I had a pair of pajamas, and two |

|more shirts. I would change clothes in Saigon, there I could also obtain monk's clothing, |

|The driver told me that I could thank Professor Simonet for my release. He had worked long and hard to get me |

|out of prison, even placing himself in a dangerous position. He had notified the Provisional German Embassy in |

|Hanoi of my imprisonment, who then negotiated with the Communist Government. Development aid was more important|

|than a German prisoner, so they released me. Professor Simonet could not get permission to pick me up, so he |

|had sent the auto instead. |

|On the way to Saigon we passed many burnt out and destroyed houses; bridges were demolished, and hap-hazardly |

|repaired. I did not see the large statue of Kuan Shih Yin, the Bodhisattva of Mercy; had it been destroyed? |

|About half way to Saigon the police car had a flat tire. amused, the three policemen got out and looked at the |

|tire in consternation. |

|After the tire was changed, we went on to Saigon. We were not stopped by any of the military check points; they|

|saw the police in the leading vehicle and passed us through. Before noon we reached Saigon, the former Capital |

|of South Vietnam. Everything seemed to be as before, but instead of American soldiers we saw green uniformed |

|VC. All of the police wore khaki uniforms with pith helmets. The Navy wore blue uniforms with wide collars, |

|much like German sailors. They wore green pith helmets. I didn't see any Europeans or Westerners. We went to |

|the house of my friend on Phan Thanh Gian Street, which the Communists had renamed Dien Bien Phu Street in |

|honor of their great victory over the French. The French Consulate is also on this street. |

|My friend, Professor Simonet, waited at the gate with open arms. At first words failed me; I was so overcome |

|with emotion I couldn't speak. My eyes were full of tears. Free at last! The policemen and the driver left. I |

|did not say goodbye to them! they left us without saying a word. Now, finally I felt free. What a feeling after|

|so long in prison. The months in jail would certainly take years off of my life; I felt that my health was |

|broken. |

|My friend had rented his house from Air-France. It had formerly been a stop over hotel for pilots. The house |

|was not large, but had two stories. I got the bedroom on the second floor so I could read and meditate |

|undisturbed. |

|My friend showed me a stack of papers that were copies of the correspondence relative to my release. I was |

|impressed by his courage; it signified true friendship. Professor Simonet had lost his position at the |

|University because of his efforts to free me. Luckily, he soon found another position at a French girl's school|

|which was still in operation. He was, however, going to leave the country in July, as his five year contract |

|with the former government would expire then. A renewal was not possible, as the Communist Government would not|

|allow any foreign Professors to teach. |

|The Vietnamese people would have welcomed either the French or the Americans back in their country. Life was |

|much easier, and the people were freer than under the communist regime. |

|Most of the retired bureaucrats sat at home now, those that had not been sent to "re- education" camps, and |

|waited for their promised pensions, which never came. Many were reduced to selling their watches and jewelry, |

|furniture, etc. in order to live. Household servants were dismissed; no one had money to pay them. |

|Professor Simonet asked me to stay with him until my hospitalization. I was in dire need of medical treatment, |

|and was ordered to the hospital by the German Embassy. I had brought many diseases from the prison with me. |

|Above all, I suffered from shortness of breath, which caused me to snore loudly when I slept. In prison, the |

|other prisoners had thrown things at me during the night because of my loud snoring. I also had many infected |

|sores on my hands and feet, and a rash over my entire body. I was malnourished, and could easily count my ribs.|

|I looked like the famous statue of the Buddha from Taxila, which depicts his time of fasting before his |

|Enlightenment. |

|We went to a barber shop, and I had my hair cut and beard shaved off. Once again I looked like a monk should. |

|I saw a few Europeans on the street, but not many. The Communist countries had not sent their "Advisors", etc. |

|yet. |

|Professor Simonet had gone to Vung Tau a few months after my arrest, and broken into my now deserted Institute.|

|He had brought back some of my books, and my monk's robes. |

|My friend experimented in the kitchen, as he didn't have a cook now; the results were disastrous, our daily |

|meals horrible in spite of his good intentions. We had to start eating in a vegetarian restaurant in the |

|neighborhood. I rode in a bicycle rickshaw, the Professor leading the way on his moped. The food was very good,|

|but expensive. I was amazed at the high prices, which seemed to have risen dramatically since my arrest. Was |

|this also an attribute of Communism? It seemed so. |

|I saw few monks on the street, and no Catholic Priests or Nuns, which were part of the street scene before the |

|"Liberation." Before one could see the Sisters going to market every morning; no more! |

|On the way to and from the restaurant I had the opportunity to observe many things. For example, I saw a troop |

|of young boys marching in formation down the street. they all wore short pants, white shirts, and bright red |

|scarves. They were the Young Pioneers, future Communists, the hope of the red regime which had immediately |

|started "brain washing" the school children after the "Liberation." The children I saw were all around ten |

|years old. they carried large red flags, the flag of North Vietnam. A VC led the troop. |

|Once I saw something more sinister. I sat in the rickshaw as we were passing a large villa. Suddenly I saw an |

|old woman peering around the half open front door. She made a sign, and a VC in uniform with a bulging rucksack|

|hurried out into the street, where he marched swiftly away. Robbery in broad daylight! The old woman was |

|probably a servant which had been left behind by the owner, who was either a prisoner or had fled. The VC was |

|probably the woman's son. So, what I had heard in prison was true; the VC were also plundering. |

|Everywhere were painted placards with slogans such as "Vietnam is Re-united," and "Long Live Ho Chi Minh." The |

|portrait of Ho Chi Minh was everywhere. A personality cult, such as surrounded Stalin and Mao Tse Tung had also|

|started in Vietnam. |

|The streets of Saigon were cleaner than before, and one saw no sign of prostitutes, pimps or thieves; they were|

|all in Chi Hoa prison, or in the concentration camp at Bien Hoa, where they were supposedly taught manual |

|labor. The American advertisements and signs on all the bars and night clubs had disappeared. In their place |

|were signs in Vietnamese. All of the bars and night clubs were closed. Some monuments had been destroyed, and |

|new ones had not been erected as yet. Nowhere could one see a mini skirt; all the girls now wore the |

|traditional Ao-dai. All traces of Western culture had vanished; there were no English language newspapers, |

|magazines or books to be found. All book sellers had to get rid of al their western literature. The Young |

|Pioneers collected them all, and burned huge piles of them in the public squares. It reminded me of the Hitler |

|era in my country. High Schools and the two Universities were also emptied of all western literature; only |

|purely scientific and technical material was left intact. All organizations were prohibited, even the few |

|Christian sects which had been formed by missionaries; their prayer halls and churches stood empty. It was now |

|dangerous to admit being a Christian. The formerly influential Roman Catholic Church had suffered the most, |

|although the Government did not hinder their services. Most of the priests, both European and Vietnamese, had |

|fled the country, either to France or America. |

|Many thousand of war refugees that had fled to Saigon were now being sent back to their homes, whether they |

|wanted to go or not. Other Saigonese were enrolled in work battalions, and sent to the rice fields or the |

|forest. Anyone who did not work got no rice, and rice is the staple of the Vietnamese. Many small Buddhist |

|Temples were closed, and the monks and nuns pressed into social service; many gave up their robes. |

|In order to forestall any difficulties for my Buddhist friends, I didn't visit any Temples or Viharas. However,|

|many came to visit me in my friend's house. They brought me many robes and clothes; soon I had too much, so I |

|shared my bounty with other monks that had nothing. I found that material was expensive, and of poor quality. |

|The textile factories were working at full capacity, so said radio Hanoi, but the people were not benefitting |

|from it. Everything was being sent north to Hanoi. The north was plundering the south. |

|After living in the Professor's house for about a week, I was admitted to the French Hospital. There I was in a|

|first class room, and alone. The one French doctor that had remained, Dr. Henri Pelloux, visited me daily. I |

|was treated very well, and given excellent food to build up my strength. The staff there was excellent; all |

|spoke fluent French. The hospital was very large. a complex of many buildings arranged in a square. In the |

|middle was a garden of palms, tamarinds and flowers. |

|The Professor visited me every day, and I was also visited by many monks and lay-Buddhists. There were no VC to|

|be seen. The hospital remained in French hands until the 25th of May 1976, then it was given over to the |

|Communist government. All patients, whether well or not, had to leave the hospital by the 21st. After fourteen |

|days in the hospital, medicine began to run out. Everything was used up, and no more was being shipped from |

|France. A young man was in the next room, very ill with tuberculosis; there was no medicine for him, and he |

|thought his end was near. He had a charming wife and very nice children. |

|After I was discharged from the hospital, Professor Simonet bought an airline ticket for me to Paris. I was to |

|leave the next day. Professor Simonet went with me to the Passport Office, where I was quickly given an exit |

|Visa, and from there we went directly to the airport. I said farewell to my good friend, and boarded the Air |

|France plane to freedom. |

|Note: after the Venerable Dr. returned to France, he was admitted to a hospital for treatment of his various |

|illnesses. From Paris he went back to Germany, where he was again admitted to a hospital specializing in |

|Tropical Medicine. After a stay in Germany, he traveled to the United states where he visited his Disciples in |

|Florida and California. He returned to Asia, where he traveled to Singapore , Bali and New Caledonia. He |

|finally passed on in 1980, in Noumea, New Caledonia, where his remains are interred |

|One of his Disciples, Mr. Don Sparks, visited Vung Tau recently. Of the temple there is no sign; another |

|building has been erected on the site, and a Vietnamese family living there. The Stupa is still standing, |

|although it has been broken into, and the contents rifled It was teachers wish that his ashes be interred in |

|the stupa, which so far has been impossible to accomplish. |

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