Date of letter:1993-01-13
Address of author:Shanghai City
Date of event:1945-06-30
Location of event:Not mentioned
Name of author:Huang Lizhong
Name(s) of victim(s):Geng Chun, etc.
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers(SL）
Other details:Today I read a report about the Hanaoka Incident: On June 30, 1945, the Slave Laborerss initiated a collective riot led by Geng Zhun. They escaped out of the construction site but then suppressed by Japanese police. More than 130 people were tortured to death, which, plus the 300 people slaughtered earlier, added up to 418 deaths. The atrocities committed by Japanese in China were far more than that. I hope that you will never give up fighting for it. Enclosed is the original article.
Comrade Tong Zeng:
Today, I’ve read an article about “Chinese Laborers Cruelly Killed at Hanaoka” from Reference News. Japanese militarism committed atrocities far more than that in China. The blood debt must be paid. A right cause will not be necessarily successful, but I hope that you can overcome obstacles to fight until the end for the benefits of millions of Chinese victims against Japanese militarism.
Best regards,
Huang Lizhong
January 13, 1993
Chinese Laborers Cruelly Killed at Hanaoka: Another Tragedy caused by Japanese Militarism during World War II
[Singapore’s United Evening News, reported on December 29] Title: Chinese Laborers Cruelly Killed at Hanaoka
During Japan’s war of aggression against China, many Chinese war prisoners and civilians were captured to be forced laborers. Over 40,000 Chinese people were escorted to Japan and arranged in 135 business offices of 35 enterprises to suffer hell-like slavery and torture.
986 Chinese war prisoners and laborers were taken to NAKAYAMA-RYO Camp at Hanaoka-cho, Akita Prefecture, Japan to work for the Hanaoka river project under the supervision of Kashima Group. Due to hunger, coldness and cruel killing, the death tolls grew with time. Some of them were cruelly punished and some were whipped to death. Extreme hunger forced laborers to eat wild grass and even the flesh of dead people. To protest inhuman slaughter, the war prisoners and laborers started a riot under the leadership of Geng Zhun at the night of June 30, 1945. They beat Japanese foremen to death and escaped to the mountains. Finally, the riot was cruelly quenched by the Japanese police. Over 130 people were heavily punished to death and before that, nearly 300 people were killed, so the death toll reached 418.
The inhuman Hanaoka Incident that happened in local Japan is a typical example of thousands of tragedies caused by Japan’s war of aggression against China as well as an undeniable crime of the militarists who launched the war and those people directly responsible for the incident.
According to a post-war report released by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 41,760 Chinese people were escorted to Japan from prisoner camps in China, including students, farmers, traders, captured soldiers and anti-Japanese guerrilla fighters. Among them were 11-year-old children and 70 or 80-year-old elderly men. Inhuman treatment caused death and missing of many laborers. Most of the Chinese people who were forced to be slave labors at Hanaoka are from Hebei, He’nan and Shandong provinces of China.
“Chinese people died at Hanaoka with hatred before they could realize their dreams; thousands of people sorrowed at the debt not being paid at the memorial ceremony.” The elegiac couplet was written by Japanese friends from various circles and overseas Chinese in Japan in 1950 when they attended the first Hanaoka Incident Memorial Ceremony at ASAKUSA HONGANJI, Tokyo. On June 30, 1987, the government of Odate in Akita-ken prefecture and representatives of all sectors participated in the 42rd memorial event in front of the Chinese Martyrs Monument in TONOSE KOUEN. Additionally, at the invitation of Japanese friends such as Congressman Hideo DEN, Takako DOI and Tokuma UTSUNOMIYA, Geng Zhun, a former principal leader of the Hanaoka riot and now a standing committee member of the Pingdingshan CPPCC Standing Committee, took a special trip to Japan, presenting a bouquet of chrysanthemum to the spirits of his dead friends.
Geng Zhun said, “A laborer called Xue Tongdao picked up an apple core to eat due to extreme hunger. He was found by the foreman and brutally beaten. He died on the spot. All the Chinese people at NAKAYAMA-RYO were very indignant, so we were determined to start a riot. Thus the riot on June 30.”
In less than 2 months after the Hanaoka riot was quenched, Japan announced unconditional surrender. But despite Japan’s surrender, the Akita District Court still heavily punished the rioters in accordance with the prewar laws. In March 1948, 4 foremen and 2 policemen from the Hanaoka Station of Kashima Group were sentenced to death or 20 years in prison (later, they were all released) for the crime of abusing and killing war prisoners at the military court for BC-class war criminals (8th meeting of the military court) in Yokohama under the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
What’s worth mentioning is that Japanese authorities haven’t publicly apologized for abusing and cruelly suppressing Chinese laborers that shocked the Japanese community and that up till today, Japanese authorities deny violating international conventions and committing the crime of abusing and killing war prisoners.
