Tran Van Giau - the journey from revolutionary to scientific research career: Becoming a famous scientist (Last article)

The history of the Vietnamese revolution in the early days of the country's founding always has interesting stories, scientists and intellectuals gave up a rich and luxurious life to join the revolution, follow the revolution such as Phan Anh, Ta Quang Buu, Vu Dinh Hoe, Tran Dai Nghia,... On the contrary, famous revolutionaries, for one reason or another, turned to the path of science and became great scientists such as Tran Huy Lieu, Tran Van Giau,... Among these special figures, perhaps Tran Van Giau is the most special because he once held important positions but when he changed direction, he achieved many successes in his scientific career.

Final Lesson: Becoming a Famous Scientist

In October 1945, Mr. Tran Van Giau and Dr. Pham Ngoc Thach were sent by the Central Committee to the North and then returned to work in Cambodia. In 1947, he was transferred back to the Viet Bac resistance base to take on the position of General Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of the Interior . In the book Listening to the Teacher Telling Stories, Professor Nguyen Phan Quang recorded that in 1951, he was asked by Mr. Truong Chinh to transfer to the army to work in the General Department of Politics (enemy propaganda), but he felt it was not suitable because he did not go into depth in scientific research, so he applied to the Education sector. From here, his whole life was attached to the Education sector and especially history with monumental works.

General Vo Nguyen Giap and Professor Tran Van Giau - Co-Chairmen of the Vietnam Historical Science Association at the 3rd Congress (1995) in Hanoi

In 1951, he was sent to the Thanh Hoa liberated zone to build a University Preparatory School. Together with great intellectuals such as Nguyen Thuc Hao, Nguyen Duc Chinh, Dao Duy Anh, Nguyen Manh Tuong, Cao Xuan Huy,... he trained a generation of university preparatory students, who later became leaders, managers, and prestigious scientists of the country. In 1954, he was the Party Secretary of the Pedagogical University, and taught subjects of political science, philosophy, modern world history, and modern Vietnamese history.

In 1956, when Hanoi University of Science was established, he was the Party Secretary of the school and the founding head of the History Department. Together with Professors Dao Duy Anh and Tran Duc Thao, he contributed much of his effort and intelligence to training the first generations of Marxist historians for the country. Among them were those who have now become great names in Vietnamese history such as Professors Dinh Xuan Lam, Phan Huy Le, Ha Van Tan, Tran Quoc Vuong,...

When he passed away - on December 16, 2010, on the website of Hanoi National University of Education, there was a very touching farewell article with the title: Professor, People's Teacher, Labor Hero Tran Van Giau - Former first Party Secretary of the Party Committee of Hanoi National University of Education said goodbye to us with the emotional lines: "Hanoi National University of Education lost a veteran leader, one of the first people to build the foundation for the formation and development of the school. The country and people of Vietnam lost an excellent son. The Communist Party of Vietnam lost a loyal revolutionary soldier. The Vietnamese scientific community lost an outstanding scientist. The whole country of Vietnam lost a hero".

On the Hanoi National University website, an article by Professor Dinh Xuan Lam and Associate Professor Pham Hong Tun was published, titled Tran Van Giau - A typical revolutionary, a great scholar, a great personality, with emotional lines summarizing his life: “As a revolutionary, Tran Van Giau contributed greatly to the work of mobilizing the masses, building the Party organization, and was the one who directly led the successful August Revolution in Saigon and Cochinchina, commanding the army and people of the South to bravely fight against the war to re-occupy the French colonialists. As a scientist, through dozens of research works, he affirmed his position and stature as a great historian of modern Vietnamese history. He was a communist intellectual with a simple, tolerant, determined but humane Southern character, an exemplary teacher honored and loved by generations of students.”

In nearly 60 years of scientific activities, in addition to teaching, he left behind a massive body of work. Among those works, there are extremely large works such as: A set of books on philosophy consisting of 3 volumes: Dialectics, Cosmology, Historical Materialism; Anti-invasion (3 volumes); The crisis of the Nguyen feudal regime before 1958; History of the Vietnamese working class (4 volumes); History of Vietnam (editor-in-chief, 8 volumes); The South holds the citadel (5 volumes); The development of Vietnamese thought from the 19th century to the August Revolution (3 volumes);...

In particular, his writing is extremely profound, wise, but also very tolerant and kind, true to the character of a true historian. Even when writing about people on the other side, under his pen are arguments and reasons that are convincing and tolerant. The historical and ideological works that he wrote, although very long, are not dry, not preachy, not dogmatic. He himself, with his intelligence and spirit, has contributed to clarifying many historical issues.

Perhaps that is why his virtue and prestige in the scientific and historical community are so high. Professor Phan Huy Le said about his teacher: “I and generations of his students are forever grateful for his training. We learned from Professor Giau not only historical knowledge but also more fundamentally the basic viewpoints on historical methodology, the mission and responsibility of historians before the people and the nation, the requirement of objectivity, honesty, always respecting historical truth, and the courage to protect historical truth.”

Associate Professor Phan Xuan Bien sobbed when his teacher passed away: “Professor Giau was my teacher’s teacher. As someone lucky enough to be close to the Professor, my first impression was that he was a working man. Working seriously with all his heart, intelligence, conscience, and responsibility. When he passed away, I felt like I had lost a support, a flag…”

Not only did he teach, do science and history, he also worried about the future. Therefore, when he was alive, at the age of 90, Professor Tran Van Giau decided to sell his house and take 1,000 taels of gold (2001 price) to establish a prize for historical works.

Tran Van Giau - the man who made history and also the man who wrote history./.

Vu Trung Kien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/tran-van-giau-hanh-trinh-tu-nha-cach-mang-den-su-nghiep-nghien-cuu-khoa-hoc-tro-thanh-nha-khoa-hoc-noi-tieng-bai-cuoi--a201428.html