Nguyễn Văn Lém

Nguyễn Văn Lém (* approx. 1934; † February 1, 1968 in Saigon ) was during the Vietnam War under his "battle name" Bảy Lốp member of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam and fought during the Tet Offensive . The pictorial documents of his killing by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan , the South Vietnamese general and police chief of Saigon, which were recorded on film and photo, became known worldwide , similar to the recording of the self-immolation of the monk Thích Quảng Đức and those of the "napalm girl" Phan Thị Kim Phúc , among the most famous of the Vietnam War.

Circumstances of death

After his capture, and even during the ongoing fighting in Saigon, he was by the then police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan in Saigon in the street by a head shot killed in the presence of NBC -Kameramanns Vo Suu and AP -Photographers Eddie Adams . According to Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, Nguyễn Văn Lém is said to have carried out a terrorist attack during the Tet offensive launched the day before, in which, among other things, the family of a police officer was murdered. To what extent this is true has never been clarified.

The film sequence recorded in color and sound by Vo Suu begins with a group of South Vietnamese soldiers who lead Nguyễn Văn Lém, whose hands are cuffed behind his back, to a group of other soldiers, including the police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. After a short exchange of words, the chief of police waves his revolver and the group disbanded. Nguyễn Văn Lém stops without looking at the police chief. Without further ado, he aimed the gun at Nguyễn Văn Lém's right head and shot him. Nguyễn Văn Lém's body sags, spasms for a moment, then relaxes and lies on its left side. A fountain of blood rushes from the entry wound on the head onto the asphalt. The police chief puts the revolver in his belt and calmly leaves the frame to the right.

Aftermath

The black and white photo of Adams, showing the moment of Nguyễn Văn Lém's assassination , went around the world and, due to international reactions, has become a symbol of the increasing importance of the mass media in warfare. It became Press Photo of the Year 1968, and a year later Adams was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it.

In 1998, the photographer expressed understanding for the police chief and regretted that he had had difficulties with the publication of the photo.

Web links

• Van Lem Nguyen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Eddie Adams' photograph of the shooting of Nguyăn Văn Léms

Footnotes

1. ↑ General Loan's obituary . July 16, 1998 from The New York Times , at academics.wellesley.edu.Retrieved May 7, 2016

Note: The surname of this Vietnamese name is Nguyễn , in Western texts the spelling is often simplified Nguyen . According to Vietnamese custom, the person should be referred to by their first name Lém - even in formal situations .