Date of letter:1995-04-15
Address of author:Jilin City, Heilongjiang Province
Date of event:1940-03
Location of event:Jilin City, Heilongjiang Province
Name of author:Yu Lianhe
Name(s) of victim(s):Yu Lianhe’s parents and youngest sister
Type of atrocity:Slave Laborers, Murders（SL, MU）
Other details:My home also received destruction from the Japanese invaders during Japan’s invasion into China. My father was captured to work as Slave Laborers, my mother and younger sister were burned to death by Japanese invaders. This debt of blood must be repaid by the Japanese government, there is no way it can refuse repayment.
Comrade Tong Zeng,
You must be busy. Wish you good luck with everything!
I am writing to express our respect and gratitude to you and Chen Jian, etc. for pursuing justice for the Chinese people and demanding damage compensation from the Japanese government for the family members of victims who were killed or tortured to death by the Japanese army during the World War II. As family members of victims, we are greatly inspired by you. More importantly, you’ve charged the Japanese army with heinous crimes against the Chinese people during the World War II. Up till today, anti-China Japanese distorted Japan’s war of aggression against China as helping China, which was totally bullshit. These people intended to distort history and make enemies of the Chinese people. We won’t let them get what they want. The debt must be repaid. Just as you noted, the Chinese victims and their family members must be compensated to remove war and defend peace. During the World War II, the Japanese army took the lives of three of my family members (my parents and younger sister). In March 1940, the Japanese No. 261 army killed all slave laborers including my father after they finished building a military warehouse in Heilongjiang near the border with the Soviet Union to prevent the laborers from disclosing their secret. In August 1935, the Japanese army invaded Qingyuan County and Xinbin County in Northeastern China and implemented the Three Alls policy(the policy of burn all, kill all and loot all) there to fight against the anti-Japanese army. One day, a group of Japanese soldiers came from Xinbin County to our village. Without saying anything, they poured gasoline on our house and lit it on fire. The Japanese soldiers claimed that my family were bad people because we secretly communicated with the anti-Japanese army, so they didn’t allow other people to save my mother and younger sister from our house. Thus, my mother and younger sister were burned alive. The evil Japanese army tore my family apart and caused me to live a homeless life as a beggar. Finally, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the Chinese people won the victory of the anti-Japanese war on September 3, 1945. Now, we must settle the debt with the Japanese government. Compensation is the least the Japanese government can do to make up for the death of victims killed by the Japanese army. The Japanese government must compensate us. We won’t take no for answer. So I will sign my name to support your campaign. If you need more signatures, I will unite with the family members of victims in my hometown.
I’ll stop here.
Best regards,
Yu Lianhe
Jilin
April 15, 1995
