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Japanese captives recall life in China
(People's Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-08 15:00 Please don't forget this
phase of history: In the early 50s of the 20th century, 1, 062 Japanese
prisoners of war (POW) were detained in China's war prisoner administrative
office (969 of them in Fushun War Criminal Administrative Office in north
China's Liaoning Province), 1, 017 of them were free from being sued for three
times in 1956 and released back home; another 45 were sentenced by the special
military tribunal of the Supreme People's Court (with not a single death
penalty), and released back home in April 1964.
When China's Supreme Court announced its judgment, no war prisoner protested,
and sob mixed with remorse and gratitude was heard from the defendant seat.
Foreign auditing correspondents commented: China's trial, despite the
different stands of the procurators and war prisoners, the victims and war
prisoners, the witnesses, judges and war prisoners, the judge and the judged, at
the solemn court, people exposed with one voice the atrocities of Japanese
imperialism, an unprecedented scene in international trial history. Those
veteran Japanese soldiers vowed to turn over a new leaf, and never changed their
choice for half a century.
Fushun miracle
Correspondent with the Overseas Edition of People's Daily attended a
gathering held in Tokyo to mark the publication of the book Testimony by Staff
of China Fushun War Criminal Administrative Office: Work Left by Photographer
Tosio Arai. The gathering was initiated by China Returnees Association, a peace
organization composed of former war prisoners detained in China. Eight former
war prisoners at the senile age specially attended the meeting. The themes of
the meeting were to memorize Tosio Arai and to recall the life at the
administrative office in Fushun, north China's Liaoning Province in their early
years.
Upright Tosio Arai, though not having experienced war, published works such
as Testimony of Invasion, Ah, Manchuria and Japanese remaining after War in
China.
In 1985, Sun Mingzhai and Jin Yuan and some others. who once worked in Fushun
War Criminal Administrative Office visited Japan and those invited them were
precisely the war prisoners under their administration 28 years ago. Throughout
the times, former war prisoners and officers all changed their roles and got
together for peace. This event greatly moved Tosio, who, seeing many Japanese
being ignorant of China's policy toward war prisoners, got the idea of recording
this phase of history.
Then Tosio Arai gave up his peaceful life and went to China for interview at
his own expense and with friends'support.
He once went deep into Taihang Mountains bordering north China' Shanxi and
Hebei provinces. There he went to see an elderly who suffered sexual abuse and
cried with the narrator.
Within several years, he trudged from Harbin Exhibition Hall displaying
evidence of t 731 force's crimes in north China's Heilongjiang Province, to the
Pingdingshan martyrs' Osseous Remains Hall in central China's Henan Province,
from Shenyang, "September18" Museum to Nanjing Massacre Museum, with his
footmarks covering over 80 places in Fujian, Hubei, Henan, Hebei and Shanxi
provinces.
He consulted a great deal of historical materials in National Archive
Administration, visited 31 people once working in the administrative office,
including the then office director, teachers, doctors, pharmacists, keepers and
cooks. He took a lot of precious photos and acquired a lot of testimonies.
Unfortunately, Tosio died of lung cancer in June 2001 before the publication
of his works. Jin Yuan, former head of the office, who offered all-out support
to Tosio also passed away in 2002. Fortunately, Tosio Arai Information-keeping
Association published his Testimony by Staff of the China Fushun War Criminal
Administrative Office.
Treat war prisoners as human beings
Another part of the gathering was to invite those old folks to talk about
their feelings of living in the office. 80 to 90-year-old former war prisoners
analyzed themselves candidly, feeling that "they are right now and wrong in the
past".
They said in one voice that Chinese administrators' deeds are philanthropic
act of rescuing humankind. Gray-haired Syunntarou Kunitomo showed the pictorial
Humanity and Pardon published by China in the 1960s to all present there. He
said, China regards harmony as most precious "peace brings benefit while battle
causes injury to both sides".
Ninety-year-old elderly surnamed Ehato said
emotionally, China's policy is, first, "treating war prisoners as human beings,
and recovering their human nature through education".
He held that the administrative office is "the World's first highest-level
prison in human history established in the times of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
Chinese administrators stressed education, and knew how to guide the prisoners
to confess their guilt in front of the people. "The confession drive is an
achievement of China's humanitarianism".
Mr. Itou, then "head of the study group, organized the study of "On
Practice". He said that the war was a sheer invasion of China and crime
committed on the soil of China. However, China gave war prisoners warmth, and he
himself truly felt the "humanity" from Chinese Communists.
Yosio Sinozuka, who once joined 731 Force, recalled, when he was
unconsciousness, it was the People's Liberation Army (PLA) that rescued him by
all means. Originally he was very stubborn, and his change was the result of
China's earnest education.
Yamanaka, Suzuki and Koyama said, from generals to soldiers, 1, 062 war
prisoners, except for a few, all changed their stands. The administrative office
was a university of life.
Watabe, who came specially from Nagoya, burst into tears: "I'm No. 459 as
described in the book". Watabe killed Chinese after joining the army, at first,
he had the resentment and so had the idea of muddling along, but later he was
one of those who became awakened early. He suffered serious schizophrenia, and
it was Chinese doctors who cured him. He said, Tasio's 'testimony' was the most
precious gift he had ever had and it gave him greater courage to confess.
Tecurou Takahasi, former head of China Returnees Association, said that in
his latter half of life, the spirit of "opposition to war, and peace and amity"
was deeply engraved in everybody's heart. China's treatment of war prisoners as
human beings and its policy of basing its administration of prisoners on
education helped cut off the interlink of hatred featuring the search of
revenge.
Based on education
What kind of magic wand did the Chinese Communists use to make the war
prisoners, firm believers in Japanese militarism, confess their guilt and never
changed once they confessed. People are exploring the secret of "Fushun
miracle". In fact, all the secret lies in China's policy on war prisoners, which
is not "the winner's reprisals against the loser" but education and
transformation.
In the beginning, many officers could not understand the policy. The 7 family
members of a chief warder were killed by Japanese armies, and he joined army for
revenge. His superior asked him not to beat or abuse the war prisoners in front
of him, and he should even talk kindly. He cried out of anger.
The authorities educated them "to hate the crime but not the person", and put
the family enmity aside and stick strictly to the Party's policy. War prisoner
is also human being, who is not born evil. It was militarism that should take
the blame. They were driven to the battlefield and deprived of humanity. Do not
insult and abuse them, but respect their personality.
Cooks paid attention to sanitation, and medical staff gave timely treatment
to patients. Like an iceberg in the pole melting gradually under the sun in
spring, the nature of being a human was aroused in the prisoners of war.
Sun Mingzhai, Jin Yuan, heads of the administrative office, said, struggle
was needed for the war prisoners to change their stands. At first, most
prisoners remained arrogant, advocating Japan's "self-existence and
self-defense" and asserting that they came to China for "maintaining public
order" and was "acting upon the order of the Mikado".
Chinese staff rebuffed seriously: Japan's invasion of China was not invited
by China; Japanese Mikado could not administer the affairs of China. Japanese
armies ran roughshod on China's soil and did everything evil, the only way out
for the prisoners was to confess and transform themselves.
Although the war prisoners committed monstrous crimes in China, considering
the changes during the several decades after Japan's surrender , the development
of Sino-Japanese relations and the repentance of most war prisoners, the
National People's Congress (NPC) decided to give lenient treatment to Japanese
prisoners.
In the summer of 1956, the Special Military Tribunal of China's Supreme
People's Court held hearings in Shenyang, north China's Liaoning Province, and
Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, announcing different terms of sentence
for 45 prisoners with heinous crimes, such as Sigeru Fujita and another
lieutenant general surnamed Suzuki, from eight years to 29 years and exempting
the accusation and immediately released 1, 017 war prisoners. All those declared
guilty confessed to Chinese people.
Nosuke Sasansinn, sentenced to a term of 16-year imprisonment, said that he
committed crimes all over China, so the 600 million Chinese people hated him so
much that he could not make it up no matter how many capital punishments were
given him.
Tadayuki Furuumi, sentenced to 18-year imprisonment , admitted, "my crime is
intolerable and in order to educate the younger generation of Japanese, please
give me death penalty" .
Sigeru Fujita, at hearing the furious and sorrowful accusation made by Zhang
Putao, the first witness whose whole family was killed by Japanese, said, "I
felt as if a knife were stabbing into my heart, and my guilty conscience surged
inside me. I would like to ask this grandma to kick me, bite me and beat me
down. I am willing to take death penalty."
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