Date of letter:1993-06-24
Address of author:Yongqing County, Langfang City, Hebei Province
Date of event:1942-01
Location of event:Yongqing County, Langfang City, Hebei Province
Name of author:Han Zuozhi
Name(s) of victim(s):Han Zuozhi
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers(SL)
Other details:In January 1942 when the Japanese army raided the Daqing River, Hebei Province; many people were conscripted labor. Han Zuozhi and others worked in Japan for four years, during which they were tortued by hunger, bad weather and maltreatment. They were sent home after liberation. The letter is attached with victims’ photos, references, and seal of village committee for proof.
Petition Demanding the Japanese Government to Compensate Wages to Chinese Laborers
China has only given up war reparations between governments, not compensation for civilian damages. The following are my painful memories. In January 1942, the Japanese army invaded Hebei, China and captured many civilians during a raid in northern Daqinghe. They were sent to the Tanggu Concentration Camp. I was one of the captured civilians sent to a railway station behind Nomura, Ligon, Gunma, Japan. I was forced to work as a slave laborer for 4 years in a ravine 6 km south of the railway station. Every day, I dug a cave, which was over 30 km long from east to west used for hydraulic power generation. The Chinese laborers did heavy work in the cave every day and ate pigs feed. We were never given enough food and instead of being provided with warm clothes in winter and thin clothes in summer, we were only given a crotch cloth to work naked. The Japanese foremen often beat the Chinese laborers with sticks and whips like they did to cattle and horses and called them morons. Many Chinese laborers were beaten to death. Some killed themselves in this inhumane living hell. Some escaped and then jumped from mountains to kill themselves, and some escapees were recaptured and killed by Japanese dogs. The Japanese foremen said, “You Chinese people can’t run away. You are just food of our dogs.” Many Chinese laborers were abused to death there, or blinded and disabled due to injury while working in the cave. Only 130+ out of more than 400 Chinese laborers survived when Japan surrendered at the end of 1945. In March 1946, with the help of the American army, we returned to our motherland and were received by the Red Cross of Qingdao. We will talk about the details face-to-face.
The names of the Japanese foremen: Sato and Sataka
I strongly demand compensation from the Japanese government:
① I worked as a laborer in Japan for 4 years and suffered for 4 years and should be compensated 4-year wages of 40,000 USD.
② I suffered mentally and should be compensated 5,000 USD.
③ I was injured in the left knee when laboring in Japan and should be compensated a fee of 5,000 USD.
It’s a total of 50,000 USD.
Han Zuozhi (Person’s seal)
Chinese victim
Address: Sanshengkou Village, Sanshengkou Town, Yongqing County, Hebei
Witness: Yin Baorong
Alive witness who labored with me in Japan: Li Zhongyuan
Sanshengkou Village Committee (seal of the committee)
June 24, 1993
