s1408

简体中文

<div>Sequence number:s1408
Date of letter:1993-02-13
Address of author:Zhengzhou City, Henan Province
Date of event:1943
Location of event:Tongxu County, Kaifeng City, Henan Province
Name of author:Li Weihai
Name(s) of victim(s):Li Weihai’s grandfather and father
Type of atrocity:Murders, Slave Laborers(MU, SL）
Other details:In 1943, my hometown Tongxu County in Henan Province was occupied by the Japanese soldiers. One day, the Japanese soldiers came to our village, and my grandfather was killed. Shortly after, they came again. My father was forced by the Japanese soldiers to hold the horse and lead the way. My elder sister at the age of several years old was scared into crying. My grandmother was shot in the leg when she lulled my sister. Soon my father was caught again by the Japanese soldiers to do Slave Laborers. He escaped after a period of time.
 
</div>
Comrade Tong Zeng:

First of all, I greatly admire you for your strong sense of national mission and noble spirit of pursuing justice for victims of Japan’s war of aggression against China.

I am a family member of victims of the war. In the past, I always buried deep in my heart the hatred towards Japan’s war of aggression against China for tearing my family apart. I didn’t know whom to talk to except describing it to the next generation to make them firmly remember the hatred and pass it down to their next generation. The article Pursuing Justice Against Japan on the 4th edition of Weekly Digest of February 3, 1993 showed me a direction and enhanced my confidence. In particular, your strong sense of national mission and indomitable fighting spirit has inspired me so much that I’m determined to join the great mission. Please instruct me on how to contribute to the great mission of the Chinese people.

Best wishes to your work and health.
Best regards,

<p style=”text-align:right;”>Office of Scientific & Technological Industry, National Defense,
Henan Province
Li Weihai
February 13, 1993</p>

Attached are two copies of “A brief Description of My Family’s Suffering during Japan’s War of Aggression Against China”

A brief Description of My Grandfather’s Family’s and My Family’s Suffering during Japan’s War of Aggression Against China

I am Li Weihai and work with the Office of Scientific & Technological Industry, National Defence, Henan Province. I was born in Jiunvzhong, Sunying, Tongxu, Henan and my grandfather’s family lived in Zhushigang Village only 1 km away from the village where my family lived.

In the summer of 1943, my hometown was occupied by the invading Japanese army. There was one time that Japanese soldiers raided Zhushigang Village where my grandfather lived. The villagers fled away and many of them hid in a reed pool outside the village. The Japanese soldiers found that there were people in the pool, so they shot at the pool from the bank. All the villagers were unharmed except my grandfather, who was shot dead on the site. My grandmother was left alone (they only have one child, my mother), so she began to live with my family. Not long after that, Japanese soldiers raided our village. My parents hastily took my grandmother, elder sister and less than 1-year-old second eldest brother to hide among the woods in the north of the village before they could find my eldest brother. Unluckily, they were found by two Japanese soldiers riding a horse. They forced my father to pull the horse and lead the way. My elder sister, then several years old, cried out of fear, so my grandmother tried to persuade her not to cry. Suddenly, one of the Japanese soldiers shot my grandmother in her leg. (My parents recalled later that the Japanese soldier might think that my grandmother was cursing them). The Japanese soldiers took my father away after injuring my grandmother and leaving my mother, elder sister and brother crying. How cruel they are! To cure my grandmother, my parents sold my grandmother’s over 30-mu (1 mu is about 667 square meters) land and property and some of my family’s land. Since it was a war period, no one wanted to buy houses or land. We pleaded with the buyer who reluctantly bought the property at a very low price. Besides, the medical conditions were poor at that time, so my grandmother got infected due to the shot wound and died painfully with hate.

As the saying goes, “Misfortunes never come alone.” My family didn’t get rid of bad luck even after my grandparents were killed by Japanese soldiers. Not long after my grandmother’s death, my father was again captured by Japanese soldiers to be a laborer in Kaifeng. He had to do heavy work in the day light under the supervision of armed Japanese soldiers, ate a small amount of moldy buns and slept on the dark, humid ground in a large house with other laborers. They slept one next to another. It’s even hard to him to turn over. One time, my father escaped by risking his life, but got sick as soon as he got home because he caught cold while working for the Japanese. To cure my father, we sold the remaining land of our family. After that, my family had no land that farmers lived on. You could image how hard our life became. These incidents caused a great mental blow, physical suffering and immeasurable economic losses to my parents and family, especially to my mother, a normal, kind and honest rural woman. Even decades later, she couldn’t help but crying when speaking of the misfortunes. She often tells me and my siblings that she wanted to kill herself several times due to the pain of losing her parents and the suffering of life, but that she finally survived because she couldn’t leave behind the young children. What a great mother she is! She tenaciously survived by suffering the insufferable pain and difficulties of life for her children. When I was little, I was often woken up by my mother’s cries because she dreamed of my grandparents’ suffering again. It can be seen that the crimes committed by the invading Japanese army caused a serious mental trauma to my mother.

At last, I strongly demand Japan to apologize to and compensate the victims of Japan’s war of aggression against China and their family members, which will somehow comfort the souls of my dead grandparents and parents.

<p style=”text-align:right;”>Office of Scientific & Technological Industry, National Defense,
Henan Province
Li Weihai
February 13, 1993</p>
<div class=”tijiaok”><form id=”tjiao” action=”#” method=”get”><input id=”btn” type=”button” value=”Click to view the scanned letter” /></form></div>
<div id=”show”>

</div>

Languages

Blog

相关

Leave a Reply Cancel reply