Date of letter:1992-12-3
Address of author:Lin’an, Zhejiang
Date of event:Not specified in the letter
Location of event:Not specified in the letter
Name of author:XU Weiguo
Name(s) of victim(s):XU Weiguo’s fellow villagers
Type of atrocity:Rapes (RA)
Other details:Before Nanjing was occupied, women, from kids to old ladies, were raped.
Dear Teacher Tong,
I have received your letter on October 13th.
I would like to add some details that I saw and heard.
Right before Nanjing was occupied, the family members of my parents-in-law were in their middle or young ages, except the grandmother. My wife’s sister didn’t marry yet. Her aunt and uncle went abroad to Burma with Army 79 Guangxi Hechi branch before the Pearl Harbor event broke out. I was a driver at the Jinchengjiang automobile unit when I met WANG Bingnan, younger brother of my mother-in-law. WANG Bingnan’s family asked me to stay for one night. I went back to Changsha to fight against the Japanese since they had invaded Changsha three times. I then participated in battles in Changde, West Hubei and also in East Jiangxi. In regions that were once occupied by the Japanese, women, from kids to old ladies, were raped, pig skins were dumped by the side of roads, and people’s ovens were filled with excrements…I couldn’t describe fully what I saw. My father-in-law was originally from Jinan, Shandong, and he once worked in Gansu and Anhui. WANG Binghua once came to Changhua to take my wife to Nanjing for vacation. She didn’t go with him. The visit that time was the last meeting between them. I was in the army, and the head of our unit didn’t grant me vacations. I didn’t know when I could go back home. My wife committed suicide on the eve of the Lunar New Year in 1946. It was the biggest tragedy in my life (I was told the truth when I returned in 1961).
We Chinese take sons-in-law as their own sons, so I am here requiring compensation from the Japanese government on behalf of myself and everyone whose family were killed directly or indirectly by the Japanese. I believe my request is reasonable and fair, so you and our society will support me. If I could ever get compensated, my parents-in-law and my wife would rest in peace and I would donate the money to education and public causes in our hometown. It has been my long-cherished dream.
I am not well educated, and I am old and weak now. I would entrust my dream with you, Teacher Tong. I would appreciate your help with all my heart. If necessary, I may come to visit you in spring.
Best regards,
XU Weiguo (name seal)
12/30/1992
