Date of letter:1993-08
Address of author:Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Date of event:1938
Location of event:Hankou, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Name of author:Chen Deqing
Name(s) of victim(s):Chen Deqing’s family
Type of atrocity:Sex Slaves (SS)
Other details:In 1938, the Japanese occupied Anhui and my grandfather fled with his family to Hankou, Hubei, where the Japanese deceived women on the excuse of finding workers and sent them to Jiqing, Hankou – a Japanese concession to be comfort women. We received letters during the time and went to search our family, however, to no avail. Later we heard that they were sent to the battlefront and no news was heard from after that.
Letter of Claim for Compensation
To Tong Zeng,
In 1938, my grandfather Mr. Chen and grandmother Mrs. Liu escaped to Hanzou, Hubei with my father before Anhui was occupied by the Japanese army. Later, as the Japanese army invaded Hubei, they escaped to the French Concession (the area of Shanghai once designated for the French) for shelter. At that time, the Japanese army established a tofu factory at Hanzou to deceive women into working for it and then send them to the Jiqing Avenue at Hankou of the Japanese Concession to be comfort women (women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II). During that period, my family received a letter and tried to look for her, but the Japanese soldiers guarding the gate didn’t let them in. Later they made inquiries and were told that she was sent to the frontline in Jinzhousha. After that, they lost her whereabouts. For decades, to save face and avoid being laughed at by people, my family never told others about our sorrow. Recently, we’ve seen an article on the newspaper about claiming for civilian compensation and known that you are helping Chinese victims of the Anti-Japanese War claim for compensation against the Japanese government. Moreover, I’ve heard that the Japanese government has apologized for their acts during the war earlier this month, which is a spiritual comfort to our ancestor. I hereby submit a letter of claim for compensation.
Looking forward to your reply.
Survivor: Chen XX
August 1993
