Date of letter:1996-12-12
Address of author:Tianjin City
Date of event:1942-1944
Location of event:Tianjin City
Name of author:Seven people including Tian Shulan, Cai Yu, Pan Zhi
Name(s) of victim(s):Pan Shulin, He Junsheng, Pan Fusen, etc.
Type of atrocity:Murders, Others(MU, OT）
Other details:One day in the winter of 1944, more than 50 Japanese surrounded our village. Six people including Tian Shulan’s husband Pan Shulin were suspected members of the Communist Party and killed. On April 13, 1943, the Japanese came to sweep our village, when Qi Guizhen’s hunsband He Junsheng was brutally tortured, before he got fainted and became paralyzed for life. Other victims were Pan Fusen and Cai Zhanfu. Pan, after captured by Japanese, was tied to a wooden bench, fed with cool water and then burnt in the chest. He died after years of disability. Note: envelope missing.
Letter of Claim Against Japan
Defendant: Japan
Content of claim: 5 of our villagers were killed by the invading Japanese army and 2 were injured and disabled. To show our generosity and further improve Sino-Japanese relations, we hereby permit the Japanese government to only make a compensation of 310,000 USD in accordance with international laws and the principle of civilian damage compensation.
Facts and grounds:
On a day in winter of 1944, over 50 soldiers of the Japanese puppet army stationed in Zunhua, headed by Da Yanwang, surrounded Mengguantun Village, Jingge. The villagers fled away, but many of them were captured back. My (I am Tian Shulan) husband Pan Shulin, along with Pan Lianfeng and Cai Zhanrong from our village and Li Jixiang, Yang You and Wang Shifu from Mengguantun were taken to the street of Mengguantun, where some other villagers from the two (adjacent) villages were held there. The Japanese soldiers suspected they were soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and forced the village cadres to shoot them, but they refused. So the Japanese soldiers took them to a large pit in the south of Mengguantun, threatened and bayoneted them into the pit.
On April 13, 1943, the Japanese army raided my village. My (I am Qi Guizhen) husband He Junsheng (he was then an underground cadre) was unfortunately surrounded in the village and brutally tortured by the Japanese puppet army until he blacked out. We rescued him after the Japanese army left, but the injury caused him a lifelong paralysis. (Witness: Tian Shulan, female, 82, a villager from the same village).
On the same day, villager Pan Fusen fled to the south of Maguantun and was shot to death by the Japanese army. (Witness: Tian Shulan)
Cai Zhanfu from my village was with the Eighth Route Army. On a day in June 1942, the Japanese puppet army stationed in Mashenqiao, headed by Li Wujie, surrounded my village. Cai Zhanfu was paying a visit to his family, so he was captured and later killed. Witness: Cai Yu from my village, male, 60.
On a day in June 1942, the Japanese puppet army invaded my village and the villagers fled away. Villager Pan Fude was unable to escape, so he was captured and tied to a bench. The soldiers poured cold water into his mouth and burned his chest. He was thus disabled and died years ago. Wintess: Cai Yu from my village, male, 60.
To further improve Sino-Japanese relations, we hope that the Japanese government will quickly put an end to the historical tragedy caused by Japanese militarists to the Japanese and Chinese peoples by considering the difficulties of victims and the Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations and apologize to and compensate the Chinese people. This letter is addressed to the Japanese government.
Victim and claimant: Tian Shulan (Personal seal) Pan Rui
(Fingerprint)
Cai Yu (Personal seal), Qi Guizhen (Fingerprint)
Pan Zhi (Fingerprint), Pan Fuhong (Fingerprint)
Cai Shan (Fingerprint)
December 12, 1996
