Date of Letter:1993-01-05
Address of Author:Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
Date of Event:1942
Location of Event:Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province
Name of Author:(The name of auther is unreadable due to the broken letter)
Name(s) of victim(s):Aunt, grandmother
Type of atrocity:Murders, Rapes (MU, RA)
Other Details:In 1942, the Japanese army killed two people of my uncle’s family and their farm cattle. When my aunt was being taken away by Japanese army, my grandmother tried to protect her and got killed. Later, we knew that my aunt was taken away and forced to be military prostitute. When Japanese army retreated, they killed all the women, including my aunt.
My ancestors lived in Houmayuan Village, Tuwo Township, Qinshui County, Shanxi Province, which was located at the foot of Zhongtiao Mountain, Southeastern Shanxi.
Since it happened to be the camp of China’s Regiment 57, the Eighth Route Army, the Japs crushed this place extra hard. In the Jap’s “May 1st Extermination” campaign in 1942, they killed two of my family members and my farming cattle.
When the Japs captured my aunt in the forest, my grandmother tried to save her but was shot dead by them. My aunt was taken away at the age of 18. The families spent money to ask people to look for her all around, but there was no news whatsoever. Until 1945 when Jap surrendered, a man called Li Haishui from Yangcheng Township (a neighbor township), who worked as a long-term laborer in our village before and later worked in Yangcheng ‘Guard’, told us that after being captured, my aunt was forced to ‘serve’ at ‘Dahongbu’ in Yangcheng City God Temple, which was a military brothel of the Japs. The Japs killed all the Chinese female citizens prior to their retreat from China after Japan had surrendered to China to end WWII. I always bear this deep hatred in my mind, so when I read about you on Reader Digest, I could not wait to look for your address and postcode. Hope you could receive this letter and let me know how to participate in the signature campaign. Looking forward to your reply. Attached is a stamp.
Sincerely,
Happy New Year! Good luck in everything!
Zheng
Genxia Street, Dongcheng District, Chengdu City
