Date of letter:1994-07-06
Address of author:Yongqing County, Langfang City, Hebei Province
Date of event:1942-01
Location of event:Daqing River, Hebei province
Name of author:Wang Genyou
Name(s) of victim(s):Wang Jinsheng (Wang Genyou’s uncle)Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers（SL）
Other details:The Japanese soldiers mopped up in the Daqing River area and caught many Chinese civilians including my uncle. The captured people were taken by the Japanese soldiers to Japan to do hard labor. They went through a hard time of four years. Digging caves day and night made the Chinese Slave Laborers so tired that they were only half alive. They often worked hungry, not having enough to eat, and were even forced to work naked. Countless people were beaten to death. My uncle fell ill and wanted to have a rest, but was brutally beaten by the foreman. I strongly urge the Japanese government to compensate me according to my wishes.
Petition
China has only given up war compensation between governments, without giving up civilian compensation to the people of different nationalities of China. The following are my memories of the terrible time my uncle Wang Jinsheng experienced after being seized by the Japanese aggressors to become a laborer in Japan. In January 1942, many people including my uncle were captured by the invading Japanese army during a raid in an area north of Daqinghe, Hebei and sent to Tanggu concentration Camp. Later they were escorted by the Japanese military to the railway station of Tsukino village, Linguee County, Gunma prefecture, Japan, where they disembarked. They were then escorted to and forced to labor for 4 difficult years in a ravine 3 km from the railway station. They labored day and night to dig a tunnel, which was over 15 km long running between east and west and supposedly used for hydraulic power generation. They were hovering between life and death because of the heavy work. They ate pig feed that pigs and dogs would not eat and bran dumplings and they were always starved. Instead of being provided with warm clothes in winter and thin clothes in summer, they were only given a loincloth in a year that covers their rear and had to work almost naked. The Japanese foremen often beat the Chinese laborers with sticks and whips and called them morons. My uncle saw with his own eyes that many Chinese laborers were beaten to death by the Japanese foremen. Their lives were inhuman and intolerable. Some laborers committed suicide. Some escaped, were caught, and were then bitten to death by dogs of foreign breed. My uncle was strong before he was captured, but he grew weak due to the heavy work. To avoid being beaten by the foremen, he worked hard day and night. There was one time when he was too hungry and blacked out in the tunnel. When he came to himself, he felt great pain in his chest and spit two mouthfuls of blood. Feeling that he might be dying, he struggled to get up, thinking about talking to the foremen to take a rest. But unexpectedly, when the wolf-like foremen saw that my uncle stopped working, they started beating my uncle in his head with sticks despite his begging. They did not stop until my uncle bled in the head. My uncle was injured, but the foremen did not give him treatment or medicine, or food if he did not work. So my uncle did not have a choice but pushed himself to work when he could at least move. Those who ate without working would be fed to the dogs. The Japanese foremen barked, “You Chinese people cannot run away. You are just food for our Japanese dogs.” Many Chinese laborers died there of torturing. Even their bones could not be sent home. Also, many laborers were disabled due to the beating or accidents and some got blinded. They suffered in Japan until the end of 1945 after Japan surrendered. My uncle Wang Jinsheng and other survivors returned to the Red Cross of Qingdao, China in March 1946 with the help of the American army. Finally, my uncle reunited with the family.
I strongly demand compensation by the Japanese government for the following:
1. My uncle Wang Jinsheng worked day and night as a laborer for 4 years in Japan during which he suffered treatment that could not be borne by humans and narrowly escaped from death. He should be compensated a reasonable 4-year wage of at least 40,000 USD.
2. Because he worked like a horse in Japan, my uncle returned home with visceral injuries and stomach pains. He had to take medicine all the time and could not work. The Japanese government should give him reasonable compensation and a pension of 10,000 USD.
The above facts are true. I hope our government will strongly support us. The living witnesses who also worked with my uncle as laborers in Japan from our village include Liu Gege and Ma Ruifu. They knew well about the facts.
Chinese laborer and victim: Wang Jinsheng (dead)
Claimant: His nephew Wang Genyou
Address: Shuangwuzhuang Village, Sanshengkou, Yongqing County, Hebei Province
Villagers’ Committee of Shuangwuzhuang Village, Sanshengkou, Yongqing County, Hebei Province
(Villagers’ Committee seal)
