Date of letter:1995-06-04
Address of author:Langfang City, Hebei Province
Date of event:1942-03
Location of event:Langfang City, Hebei Province
Name of author:Song Shuzhi
Name(s) of victim(s):Song Shuzhi
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers（SL）
Other details:In March 1942, Song Shuzhi and other unemployed workers were sent by force to Beijing shelters by traitor organization Xinmin Society. More than 700 people were gathered, hands tied and taken to Tanggu Camp; they were then taken to the Shimonoseki seapot, Japan, and finally a ravine in Gunma Prefecture. They were forced to excavate mountains and transport the stones day and night. They had two small bran doughs for each meal and wore the same winter coat for three years. In summer they worked with bare upper body and lived a beastlike life. Many of them were beaten, frozen, starved to death, or killed by dog or committed suicide. Many were disabled. By the time the Japanese surrendered in 1945, only 30% survived from the hell and could be sent home in 1946.
Mr. Tong
Hello!
It’s been several months since our friends in distress Li Wanzhong and Li Deshan left for Beijing in October last year, is there any progress in the matter of seeking compensation from the Japanese government? Our conditions remained unchanged, the officers of the Public Security Bureau still advising us not to go to Beijing. I have thought it over, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the victory of Anti-Japanese war, against such background, what should we do? I have sent letters and petitions to many departments, for instance: Hebei Province People’s Government Bureau for Letters and Calls, Civil Affairs Department, the Foreign Affairs Office, the State Council in Beijing, Bureau for Letters and Calls of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japanese Embassy in China etc. Additionally, we have another newly printed petition letter to give you. We look forward to your reply.
Regards
Yours sincerely
Victim laborer Song Shuzhi
95.6.4
Petition
Demand the Japanese Government to Pay Compensation Salary to Chinese Laborers.
China only abandoned war compensation between governments, but has never given up non-governmental damage compensation. I am a victim worker, my memory of my persecution process during those years is indeed miserable beyond description. During the process of eight years of occupation of our vast Chinese territory by the Japanese Invasion Army, the invaders implemented barbarian “Burn All, Kill All, and Loot All” policy everywhere, captured civilian laborers on a large scale, those who were captured were sent to Japan as laborers. I was one of them. In March 1942, I lost my job at a carpet firm and became unemployed. At that time, the Japanese Puppet Regime New Civilian Society assembled unemployed workers, and with no explanation forced them onto military trucks, saying they would find us jobs; in fact the Japanese soldiers with bayoneted rifles guarded the truck, they shipped us to Tianjin New Warehouse to work. Every day we were asked to load/unload train cargo from/to the warehouse. Half a year later we were transported to Beijing Xiyuan Prisoner of War Camp for 4 months. Later they assembled about 700 persons, with hands bound by ropes; then we were escorted to Qinghua Garden and packed into boxcar till we reached Tanggu Concentration Camp. During the stopover at Tanggu, we were guarded by military police day and night. Several months later we were driven onto a steamer till it reached Shimonoseki Port in Japan. Then we boarded a train to Gokan Station. The place was Tsukiyono Village, Tone County in Gunma Prefecture. In a mountain valley 6 li away near the Gokan Station, there was a very long mountain cave, which was used for a hydraulic power generation. They forced the laborers to work on the construction site. The work involved digging mountain cave and taking the rocks out of the cave on the Guluma carts. We were burdened with heavy workload like cattle and horse around the clock. In fact we had to work harder than cattle and horse. We were never fed adequately; each meal only contained two small bran balls. No clothes were provided; in winter we only wore a cotton-padded coat given before our departure from China, which lasted three winters. No shoes were issued. In the summer we were only given a three inch wide loin cloth, laborers were asked to work in bare body. We lived in a sunless big shed, with less than one chi high floor bed, which was extremely humid. Most laborers developed scabies on the body which caused excruciating pain. When we were working, the Japanese overseer brandished a stick and beat us indiscriminately, as if we were animals, while cursing the laborers “Bageyalu” “Qianggulu”. No treatment was offered for illness or work injury, not to mention drugs. Sick laborers were not allowed to take rest and were forced to work as usual; many people were beaten to death, frozen to death, starved to death or committed suicide by jumping into the valley in despair. There were also others who were smashed to death by falling rocks when working in the cave. Runaways were mauled to death by dogs in front of the public after being re-captured; the number of deaths was countless. It was indeed inhuman and barbaric. The laborers were kept hungry all the time, and were starved to skin and bone. With not a trace of energy left, yet they were still imposed with heavy workload, and had to face beating if they failed to work. The Japanese overseers said: “You Chinese are colonial slaves, all should be fed to dogs, no one cares if you die.” After several years of living in hell, the laborers suffered huge casualty. Some lost hands or legs; others became blind, or deaf with lifelong disability. In the eyes of the Japanese, the death of Chinese laborers was less important than that of an ant. Most laborers could hardly endure those three long torment years. By the end of 1945 when Japan surrendered only 30% laborers survived. In early 1946, with the help of the US Army in Japan, we were sent back to China where the Qingdao Red Cross Society accommodated us and dispatched us to our respective hometowns. The way the Japanese Invasion Army treated us was a great insult to the Chinese people, a degradation of human dignity and national dignity. For this reason, I demand the Japanese government to acknowledge the facts, follow the conscience, concede to reason, and offer salaries and apologies to the laborer victims.
I worked in Japan as a slave laborer for nearly four years without being paid any salaries. The front of my left leg was smashed by rock to leave a scar till today, the skin near the temple has a scar which was caused by crashing of rock piece, my ear was deafened, and I suffered tremendous mental anguish. I should be compensated for salary and mental trauma, totaling USD 50,000.
The names of references and addresses are as follows.
Li Wanzhong: 20F, Dunhuafang Second Machinery Dormitory, Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province
He Chengyan: Laoyoutun Village, Biegu Town, Yongqing County, Hebei Province
Li Shuhuai: Qianliuwuying Village, Biegu Town, Yongqing County, Hebei Province
Note:
1. Guluma is a kind of transporting vehicle
2. Qigngulu means colonial slave
3. Bageyalu means bastard
For details we will talk face to face
Chinese victim laborer: Song Shuzhi (signature & seal)
Add: Shizhuang Village, Matou Town, Anxi District, Langfang City, Hebei Province
1995.6
