Date of letter:1993-08-17
Address of author:Chongqing City
Date of event:Not mentioned
Location of event:Yanggao County, Datong City, Shanxi Province
Name of author:Zhang Xinzhai
Name(s) of victim(s):Zhang Xinzhai’s townsmen
Type of atrocity:Other Massacres(OM）
Other details:The Japanese occupied Yanggao County, Datong City, Shanxi and slaughtered more than 700 in town in groups.
Comrade Tong and Chen,
I am so moved by your act of pursuing justice and demanding compensation from the Japanese government for victims of the Japanese war of aggression against China. I didn’t write to you early only because I didn’t have your address until recently.
I am a veteran, a soldier who fought the Japanese invaders and also a direct victim of Japan’s invasion of China. I am a Manchu, born in Yongning Town, Yanqing County, Beijing. When the war broke out in 1937, my father Zhang Weitao ran a bakery called Dong Ao Store with partners in Xi Street, Yanggao County, Shanxi. After occupying the county, the invading Japanese army forced over 700 people to a place in the south of the county in the name of maintaining peace and carried out a massacre. This becomes a major historical event only second to Nanjing Massacre and is widely recorded in historical data.
My father was cruelly killed and my stepmother remarried (my biological mother died on the way of fleeing for shelter in the war when I was five). So I was raised up by my grandmother. After studying for several years in a primary school, I became a car washer in Kangzhuang Car Factory under the control of Japan. After the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, Chairman Mao called for “the last battle” by damaging the traffic route of Japan and organized the underground army to cooperate with the Eighth Route Army in cutting off the Ping-Sui (Beijing-Baotou) railway. Thus, I joined the revolution, became a guerrilla scout disguised as a worker of the Ping-Sui railway and fought the Liberation War from northern China to Southern China. I was the general manager (senior engineer) of the Chongqing Special Knitwear Station before retirement and I now enjoy local treatment after I retired.
I am writing to you because I want to know about the progress of the influential matter of pursuing justice and demanding civil damage compensation from Japan. What are the difficulties and what do you need from victims’ children and offspring? What procedures and certificates should we provide if we want to entrust you with the compensation matter? It should be pointed out that I have retired, so I have plenty of spare time and my life is not economically difficult. If an investigation into the massacre is required, I can do it at my own expense. Although Japan has achieved economic development, the Japanese government hasn’t apologized for its crimes during the World War II. So we have to depend on the people and international law to make the Japanese government confess, admit its defeat and pay compensation. Meanwhile, victims’ family members like us can account for our suffering to our future generations. Looking forward to your reply.
Best regards,
Zhang Xinzhai
XX 17, 1993
Address: Building 21, No. 5, 8th Lane, Yulin Community, South Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041. Tel: 458425
Copy of retirement certificate
