We’re kicking off our Street Figures series with one of the city’s busiest streets which spans Districts 1 and 3 – Nguyen Thi Minh Khai.
Born in 1910 in Nghe An Province, Khai co-founded the New Revolutionary Party of Vietnam (Tân Việt Cách mạng Đảng) which predated the Communist Party in Vietnam.
Shortly after moving to Hong Kong in 1930 for work, she was jailed there by the British administration. Upon her release in 1934, she and Lê Hồng Phong were invited to participate in the Seventh Congress of Comintem in Moscow.
She returned to Saigon in 1936 where he became one of the leading communists in the South. Four years later, she was arrested by the French and executed in 1941.
Today, Khai is considered a revolutionary martyr and, as you’ve probably noticed, her name adorns not only streets across Vietnam but schools and other administrative units as well.
