<div>Sequence number:s1082
Date of letter:1992-12-25
Address of author:Beijing City
Date of event:1943-1945
Location of event:Not mentioned
Name of author:Song Haixin
Name(s) of victim(s):Song Haixin’s father and elder brother
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers(SL）
Other details:My father, a revolutionist, was arrested by Japanese in Dec. 1943. He was tortured by feeding pepper water, striking bamboo strips into fingerenails, etc. My father asked Japanese to kill him for good, yet they wouldn’t allow a clean death for him. Later he was sent to do hard labor in Japan, during which he suffered greatly. When father was alive, I could still see the bite marks and scald scars on his legs. He was sent home after the Japanese surrendered. My elder brother, very young then, was forced to herd horses. I don’t know the details, but I can inquire if needed.
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Mr. Tong Zeng:
Hello!
I received your letter on December 15, due to a variety of reasons, I failed to give prompt reply, please forgive me. Your letter made me further understand the obligation of this organization, it does not merely involve some compensation money, what’s more important is that it involves the right to uphold justice and safeguard national interest, in order to uphold justice and safeguard rights, I hereby tell you what I witnessed and what I heard, which may just be a tip of the iceberg.
My Father joined the revolution in 1938, and had been arrested three times. In the first two times he managed to escape, but in the third time of arrest, namely in December 1943, he was escorted by Japanese Army to Hashima Island in Japan as Chinese laborer (I don’t know if it’s Hanaoka Incident), where he suffered all kinds of hardships. When father was alive, I once saw scars left by dog biting and burning on his chest and legs.
During the time of his three arrests, the Japanese Army used inhuman means of torture on him. In order to obtain confession, the Japanese crammed chili pepper water, poured boiling water, and jamming bamboo strips into fingernails. Following these penalties, they revealed their savage nature by trampling my father’s stomach, so much so that my father asked the enemy to kill him with a bullet, but he Japanese Army said with a smirk that it would be too easy for him to die this way, the Japanese Army used every cruel inhuman ways, but still were unable to obtain any information. In December 1943 my father was sent to Hashima Island in Japan as a laborer. On the Hashima Island, each day he had to go to a coal mine, several dozen meters underground, everyone was given two wotou made of sorghum flour, a small cup of wine, some people developed constipation after eating he sorghum flour wotou, many others died in the mine and were permanently buried there. In the two years of captivity in the coal mine, the Chinese laborers led an inhuman life, inferior to the cattle and horse. What crime have they committed? Aren’t they merely rebellious for not wanting to become slave of a foreign nation? This is exactly the national interest that we want to uphold.
After Japan’s surrender in (August 1945) my father fortunately returned to motherland, and he continued to take part in the liberation war. After, liberation, he was assigned by the superior to Mentougou Exclusive Sales Company to work as the director, later due to persistent illness, he passed away at Tongren Hospital in November 1961. He was only 54. His poor health and early death were a result of his long time torment in Japan as a Chinese laborer.
My elder brother was very young at that time (might be a teenager), and was forced to graze horses during which he was kicked by horses and fell unconscious, but I was not aware of a lot of details and facts, if needed I can make inquiry.
In summary, you work at the China Research Center on Aging, where you must have the opportunity to come into contact with many revolutionists of the older generation who are from different walks of life, and among them there must be someone who shared similar or even worse experience than my father.
I don’t know what I can do in this organization, nor do I know what I should do. To put it simply, I will actively participate in what you need me to do, I will surely try my best to uphold justice and safeguard national interest, and to expose the crimes committed by the Japanese Army during the invasion war.
Wish you Merry Christmas
Regards
Yours faithfully
<p style=”text-align:right;”>Song Haixin
12.25</p>
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