"In the summer of 1979, 6 of us visited Yan'an again. It was the first time to revisit our hometown after 34 years. For me, it is not so much a 'visit' as a 'return to my hometown'. Yan'an is mine. My second hometown, where I came into contact with a new world view and outlook on life in my youth...”
If you don’t introduce the source, it would be difficult for people to imagine that this affectionate narrative came from the mouth of a former Japanese soldier who invaded China. During the Anti-Japanese War , Japanese soldier Kagawa Takashi, who was captured by the Eighth Route Army, received education and reform in Yan'an and spent an unforgettable time in his life.
Pagoda Mountain welcomes tourists from north to south every day. Behind the mountainside, there are several rows of cave dwellings in a place rarely visited by tourists. There is a history hidden deep in the cave dwellings.
The former site of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Bowen
html More than 80 years ago, the Communist Party of China founded a unique school in the history of human war here - the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School. Thousands of Japanese prisoners of war who were deeply poisoned by militaristic ideas received education and reformed here. When some returned to the front line, they had transformed from war fighters into anti-fascist fighters."In this school, truth defeated evil, progress defeated backwardness, civilization defeated barbarism, all deception and deception were exposed and abandoned, and the theory of peace and friendship took root and sprouted in reality..." He served as a Japanese worker and peasant Zhao Anbo, a diplomat and vice-president of the school, once wrote an article recalling this.
Students from the Japanese Industrial and Agricultural School are conducting study discussions. (Provided by the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Site Administration Bureau)
"We have no conflict with the Japanese proletarian soldiers"
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party of China advanced to the front line to carry out operations against Japan. As the war progressed, our army captured more and more Japanese prisoners of war. How to treat prisoners of war and carry out effective education and reform is a practical problem facing our party.
"After the Hundred Regiments War in 1940, the number of Japanese soldiers captured by the Eighth Route Army suddenly increased. Except for some released or handed over to the Kuomintang, most of the prisoners of war were scattered in various departments of the Eighth Route Army. They were deeply poisoned by militarism and were reactionary and stubborn. They needed a In a stable environment for reform, some Japanese prisoners also hope to get the opportunity to learn again," said Huo Jinglian, former deputy director of Yan'an Revolution Memorial Hall .
In fact, treating prisoners leniently and distinguishing ordinary Japanese soldiers from militarists has always been an idea advocated by the Chinese Communist Party.
As early as 1936, in an interview with American journalist Edgar Snow, Mao Zedong pointed out, "We have no conflict with the Japanese proletarian soldiers. We must use all methods to make them stand up and oppose the fascists in their own country." "Oppressor."
In a conversation with British journalist Bertrand in October 1937, Mao Zedong once again made it clear that "disintegrating enemy troops and treating prisoners preferentially" was one of the three basic principles of the Eighth Route Army's political work. He said: "We still treat the captured Japanese soldiers and some lower-level cadres who were forced to fight with leniency, without insulting or scolding them, and explain to them the unity of the interests of the two peoples... What will happen on the anti-Japanese battlefield in the future? When the ' International Brigade' appears, they can join this army and fight against Japanese imperialism with weapons in hand. "
Under the guidance of this idea, the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School came into being.
In the spring of 1940, Japanese Communist Okano Susumu stationed in the Comintern arrived in Yan'an. After his proposal, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army decided to establish a school dedicated to the transformation of Japanese prisoners of war.
At that time, there was a heated discussion about the location of the school.
Exterior view of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School. (Provided by the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Site Administration Bureau)
"The school was located at the site of the original 'Northeast Cadre School' halfway up Pagoda Mountain. Some people objected, believing that Pagoda Mountain is a symbol of Yan'an and is not suitable for prisoners of war to live in." Pagoda Xie Yu, an interpreter of the mountain scenic area, said that the General Political Department of the Eighth Route Army had considered it over and over again and believed that it was quiet and spacious and could provide a good working and living environment for the trainees.
Considering that most of the prisoners of war came from Japanese civilian families, Mao Zedong personally named the school "Japanese Workers and Peasants School."
However, it is not easy to transform these soldiers who are deeply poisoned by Japanese militarism and fascist ideas! On the way to escorting the prisoners of war to Yan'an, the tests had already begun.
"Hunger strikes, abuses, resistance, and even attempts to kill Eighth Route Army soldiers. These Japanese soldiers are very stubborn. But influenced by our sincerity, some people's minds began to change. On the road, Eighth Route Army soldiers would even carry injured Japanese soldiers on their backs. This They were very touched," Huo Jinglian said.
In a memoir called "The Lucky Man", Takeo Sato, a former Japanese military doctor, talked about his escape plan - after
was captured by the Eighth Route Army, he often observed the terrain while walking in the morning and evening, waiting for opportunities to escape. Until one time when he suddenly had a high fever and lost consciousness for three days and nights, the Eighth Route Army medical staff gave him meticulous care and even brought him rare pickles . From then on, he was completely moved, gave up the idea of escape, put on his white coat again, and began to treat the sick and wounded.
In October 1940, Northwestern Shanxi and other places, the first batch of Japanese prisoners of war arrived in Yan'an, and the school began teaching immediately. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China selected a group of people from all walks of life in Yan'an who were proficient in Japanese and Japanese prisoners of war who had changed their minds earlier to serve as teachers. At that time, the school's facilities were a classroom of about 200 square meters, a canteen that could accommodate more than 100 people, and a 6-hole student cave dormitory. Okano Susumu once recalled, "The walls of the cave dwellings were painted with white powder, so they looked very bright."
The former site of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Bowen
Stubborn Japanese prisoners of war were reformed
On May 15, 1941, the opening ceremony of the Japanese Workers and Peasants School was held. At this time, Okano Susumu had changed his name to Lin Zhe and served as the principal of the school. Zhao Anbo, chief of the Enemy Engineering Section of the Political Department of the 359th Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, served as the vice principal. The school's motto is "Peace, Justice, Friendship, Diligence, Practice ".
The "Liberation Daily" the next day recorded the grand occasion of this ceremony in detail: At 6 pm on the 15th, at the Eighth Route Army Auditorium, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, representatives from all walks of life and all students of the school attended the opening ceremony. On the rostrum hung the flag of the Japanese Anti-War Alliance in China, the flag of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School, and Chairman Mao's inscription for the conference, "The Chinese people and the Japanese people are one and the same. There is only one enemy, and that is Japanese imperialism."
President Zhu De The commander said in his speech that he hoped that in the near future, Japanese workers and peasants school students would return to China to organize Japan's "Eighth Route Army" and join hands with China's Eighth Route Army to fight for the liberation of the Chinese and Japanese peoples. Afterwards, all the students of the school took the stage and took the oath. Cultural programs were also performed at the ceremony, including Japanese songs, dances and the Japanese drama "Outpost". "At twelve o'clock at night, the conference was declared over in a joyous atmosphere."
Chang Gaixiang, deputy dean of the School of Political Science, Law and Public Administration of Yan'an University, who has long studied the history of Japanese Workers' and Peasants' Schools, said that this opening ceremony reflected the sincere care of the Chinese people and the Eighth Route Army for the Japanese soldiers. The warm and warm scene touched people's hearts. Student Xiao Linqing said at the symposium held the next day: "The captive concept that has dominated all my thoughts for more than a year has completely disappeared until yesterday's conference. My mind is liberated and I am reborn!" "
However, at this time, most Japanese prisoners of war were far from having such ideological awareness.
The "Liberation Daily" on June 12, 1942 recorded this: "Being prisoners of the Chinese army, they initially thought it was a great shame. Even with the school's thoughtfulness and comfort, they were still restless and gave up on themselves. Ten Nine of them tried to escape or committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. They showed passive resistance by not getting up in the morning, not washing their faces, urinating everywhere, etc. "Zhao Anbo also wrote that when the school was announced, the students were extremely skeptical and thought. The Eighth Route Army wanted to "Redize" them and use them to oppose Japan.
For these Japanese prisoners of war with extremely stubborn ideas, the school formulated detailed teaching plans, offered many Marxist theory courses, and divided the students into different study groups according to their educational level.In the first year of
, the courses mainly include current affairs and Japanese issues, natural sciences, social development history , political economics, etc. By 1942, as students' ideological awareness and theoretical level improved, the teaching content also evolved from simple to advanced, and courses such as the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) and political common sense were added.
"In the teaching of political theory, the school pays special attention to students' systematic and in-depth mastery of the theory. To this end, the 'Current Affairs and Japanese Issues' course in 1942 arranged topics such as the Communist Manifesto, the decline of agricultural production and the rural crisis, the bourgeoisie The growth of labor unions, why workers organize trade unions, the weaknesses of Japanese fascism , etc., Chang Gaixiang said.
’s systematic study of Marxist theory has made many students’ worldviews begin to change.
In the second half of 1942, some students began to study Chen Yun's "How to Be a Communist Party Member" and Liu Shaoqi's "On the Cultivation of Communist Party Members" and other works. Student Mitsushige Maeda later recalled: The world view and outlook on life are very profound knowledge, and I have never been exposed to it before. I used to think that Japan had a line of emperors for eternity and that it was the best country in the world. I didn't understand the social structure at all, and I had no doubts about those feudal superstitions... After repeated study, I felt that what the book said was reasonable, and I began to actively participate in seminars with political cadres.
The Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School also held various symposiums and discussions to transform the minds of prisoners of war with heuristic and interactive teaching. At that time, at the school's most famous "symposium on Japanese military atrocities," students exposed the inhumane atrocities of the Japanese army, including gang-raping women, burying civilians alive, using living people to practice bayonets, and poisoning civilians with gas. The more they spoke, the angrier they became. They began to reflect on the poisonous education they had received, and gradually realized the evil nature of the invaders.
At the same time, the school teachers’ unpretentious life style and enthusiastic and meticulous work attitude demonstrated the charm of Marxists and silently influenced Japanese prisoners of war.
Kagawa Takashi recalled in his later book "Japanese Soldiers in the Eighth Route Army" that Chinese teacher Wang Xuewen always explained the profound Marxist economic theory clearly in easy-to-understand language, repeating important points repeatedly. . He often came to teach us wearing straw sandals and a straw hat. One day it rained heavily and we thought, "Maybe Mr. Wang won't come." But he rolled up his trouser legs and crossed the swollen Yanhe River to give lectures on time. "His work enthusiasm and strict demands on himself make us admire him greatly."
Some students from the Japanese Workers and Peasants School took photos at Pagoda Mountain in Yan'an. Front row from left: Yamada Ichiro, Umeda Terufumi (Kagawa Takashi), Wada Shinichi (Yamuro Shigeru); back row: Mori Takeru (Yoshiki Kiyoshi), Yoshida Kenji, Nomura (Japanese II), Sugimoto Kazuo (Maeda Mitsushige) ), Sakai Kiyoshi. (Provided by the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Site Administration Bureau)
"I gradually felt that in the boundless darkness, I had found a glimmer of light."
The Chinese Communists did not suppress and retaliate against these Japanese prisoners of war who had committed numerous crimes. Treating each other equally creates good learning conditions for them, and their living conditions are even far better than those of Eighth Route Army soldiers. Even when the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region was blocked by the Kuomintang reactionaries and fell into great difficulties, the border region government still regarded the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School as the first-category supply unit and did its best to provide needed items.
At the former site of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School, a recipe records the school's food situation in 1943: from Monday to Saturday, daily meals included mutton, pork or beef, and the staple food was not millet but white flour. Toothbrushes, hand towels, shoes, soap and other supplies are in sufficient supply.
At that time, each student at the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School received a monthly allowance of 3 yuan, while the platoon-level cadres of the Eighth Route Army only received 2 yuan. Due to the high level of security, some students even went to the street to buy two cups of sorghum wine to drink on Sundays.
At the foot of the Pagoda Mountain and on the banks of the Yanhe River, Japanese prisoners of war received the brotherly love of the Chinese people. Qin Ying, an interpreter at Baota Mountain Scenic Area, said that the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School has no high walls and no soldiers with guns to guard it. Students can move freely after class, just like other schools.
Xiao Linqing once confided in his memory article: "The comrades in the school and China respect our personality and self-esteem very much. Studying and living in this environment made us gradually forget that we were people in a foreign country. Japanese soldiers...are completely free in both material and spiritual life, and have no feeling of restraint."
In addition to providing generous living conditions, the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School also established libraries and clubs. Dances, performances and other cultural activities are often held. Students dance the cherry blossom dance , compose and perform anti-war dramas, and sing revolutionary songs. Their after-school life is very rich. Some students recalled: "Our usual cultural and sports life included playing mahjong, poker, Go, military chess, and sometimes baseball."
The "New China News" on May 8, 1941 reported, "At that time, the Yanhe River under the Pagoda Mountain The river beach is wide and is a good baseball venue. "Sometimes, the head of the Central Committee takes a walk and occasionally catches the students playing baseball and watches with interest.
A large number of existing documents and pictures in Yan'an freeze the life scenes of Japanese prisoners of war at that time. In a photo at the school's old site, eight teachers and students including Mori Ken and Akiyama Ryoshi are dressed in Eighth Route Army uniforms, standing at the foot of Pagoda Mountain. They are all smiling, with bright eyes, and their expressions are filled with the joy of being reborn. .
The power of justice and the influence of kindness brought about a huge change in the minds of these Japanese prisoners of war who were blinded by militarism.
student Dagu Zheng once published an article titled "My Transformation" in the "Liberation Daily" in July 1942. He said: "After studying in the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School for half a year, I gradually felt that I was in the boundless darkness. , we have found a glimmer of hope, that is because we have learned about communism and other knowledge of proletarian liberation... I will join the Chinese Eighth Route Army in dedicating ourselves to overthrowing our common enemy-Japanese militarism, and in order to achieve the win-win situation between China and Japan. Struggle for the liberation of the nation.”
Even the US military observation team stationed in Yan’an was shocked by the Chinese Communist Party’s preferential treatment of prisoners of war.
In October 1944, John Emerson and others from the US military observation team visited the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School and believed that the CCP's education and transformation of Japanese prisoners was successful. The report he wrote described it this way: A student of a Japanese workers' and peasants' school will feel a comfortable and friendly atmosphere after entering the school. They are surrounded by Japanese...
democrat Huang Yanpei in his book "Return from Yan'an" Zhong also once wrote: "I feel that this Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School is very vibrant."
In September 1945, some teachers and students of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School took a group photo. (File photo)
The school that turned enemies into friends created a miracle
As time goes by, many incredible changes have taken place in the Japanese prisoners of war whose hands are stained with the blood of the Chinese people.
Chang Gaixiang said that after the launch of the mass production movement, according to the policy, Japanese trainees had no production tasks, but they were infected by the military and civilian production boom in the border areas and took the initiative to participate in labor. They established textile groups, agricultural groups, carpentry groups, etc. to open up wasteland to grow vegetables, build their own houses, and help the people hoe weeds. In the autumn of 1943, the students harvested 10,000 kilograms of potatoes and 9 tons of soybeans. By the end of 1944, the carpentry team had built spinning wheels and 103.
Many people may find it difficult to believe that the Chinese Communist Party’s lenient policy for prisoners of war even gives them the right to participate in political life on an equal footing.
In October 1941, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region held the second Senate election based on the principle of " three three systems ", and Mori Ken of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants School was elected as a senator.
During the campaign, he said impassionedly: "Those of us Japanese living in China's anti-Japanese democratic base areas are fortunate to be able to participate in the election of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Council. This is a new learning experience given to us by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people. A good opportunity for democratic politics, which will accumulate valuable revolutionary experience for us to overthrow the reactionary feudal Japanese warlord politics and build a democratic new Japan." The speech received warm applause from the audience.
As the transformation progressed, some Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School students actively joined the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army and Japan's anti-war organizations in China. Their faith defeated blood and transformed from prisoners of war into anti-fascist fighters. The "International Brigade" predicted by Mao Zedong became a reality.
Xie Yu said that the trainees distributed leaflets, wrote anti-war slogans, made condolence bags at the front line, and went to the front line to speak out to promote the Communist Party's anti-Japanese proposition and prisoner-of-war policy. They fought side by side with the Chinese people, and some even gave their lives.
"Sunny skies, dark hearts, stop the meaningless war. Brothers, go back to the country!" The students also composed a large number of anti-war songs and sang them to the Japanese troops on the front lines.
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. On August 30, at the Wangjiaping Auditorium in Yan'an, the Eighth Route Army held a grand farewell party for the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School students who were about to return to China. On September 18, the students left Yan'an.
The former site of the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Bowen
At this point, the Japanese Workers and Peasants School has completed its historical mission.
"It is a unique school founded by the Communist Party of China in the world. From its establishment in 1940 to its official opening in May 1941, and then its closure in 1945, including the Shandong branch, the North Shanxi branch, the Central China branch, etc., "Thousands of prisoners of war have received education in the Japanese Workers' and Peasants' School." Chang Gaixiang said that the school was a great initiative and glorious practice of the Communist Party of China and the people's army under its leadership in the Anti-Japanese War, and a miracle in the history of world war.
Although the school has ceased operations, some of the Japanese students it educated and trained have written memoirs after returning to China to expose the crimes of the Japanese army's invasion of China, and some have continued to engage in anti-war propaganda and have worked hard to promote Sino-Japanese friendship throughout their lives.
Among them, "Japanese Soldiers in the Eighth Route Army" co-authored by Kagawa Takashi and Maeda Mitsushige describes their experience of becoming anti-war fighters from the "imperial army", introduces the heroic resistance of the Eighth Route Army, and exposes the heinous crimes of Japanese imperialism. . Takeo Sato wrote the book "The Lucky Man" to prevent the resurgence of militarism and advocate Sino-Japanese friendship. After the reform and opening up, Takashi Kagawa, Mitsushige Maeda and others visited Yan'an many times and contributed to the enhancement of Sino-Japanese friendship.
Among these students, Xiao Linqing is the only one who has not returned to China. After the founding of New China, he worked at the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences and served as a member of the Tianjin Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference. He also became a Chinese national in his later years and witnessed with his own eyes the achievements of New China. In 1985, he completed his memoir "On Chinese Land - Autobiography of a "Japanese Eighth Route Army"", leaving behind valuable first-hand materials. In 1994, Xiao Linqing passed away in Tianjin. Half of his ashes were brought back to Japan and the other half were buried in Tianjin.
On August 15, 2015, Yokichi Kobayashi, son of Kiyoshi Kobayashi and director of the Japan Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army Comrades Affairs Bureau, wrote an article in " People's Daily ", fondly recalling the days when his father fought side by side with the Chinese people.
wrote in the article: "My father once said that I love Japan because it is my motherland, the place where I grew up, and there are my relatives and many people worth remembering there. But I love China even more, and I love those who fought in the difficult war. The Chinese people who have lived and died with me in the years and ups and downs of life." (Reporters Chen Chen, Li Hua, Wu Hongbo)
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph
.
