August 14th is the World "Comfort Women" Memorial Day.
The so-called "comfort women" are women who were forced to provide sexual services to the Japanese army and serve as sex slaves according to the orders of the Japanese government and its army. During the " World War II", at least 400,000 women around the world were forcibly recruited as "comfort women" by the Japanese army. The victims involved China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), the Korean Peninsula, various parts of Southeast Asia, Japan, and a small number of white people in Asia. women.
This is a photo of "comfort women" taken by Shizuo Ogishima, a Japanese soldier who invaded China. From August 1937 to March 1940, he kept a handwritten diary of nearly 200,000 words. The diary comes with 208 photos documenting his devilish "battlefield experience."
In 2007, Professor Su Zhiliang, a professor at Shanghai Normal University and director of the China "Comfort Women" Research Center, told Lens that there were only 45 "comfort women" survivors in mainland China at that time. By 2012, this number The number of people was reduced to 32, which is where the title of "Thirty-Two", a short documentary by documentary director Guo Ke that reflects the living conditions of "comfort women" comes from.
Today, the director's documentary on the same subject was released in China, but the title was changed to " Twenty-two " because ten of the original 32 elderly people have passed away.
Trailer for the feature documentary "Twenty-Two" on comfort women_Tencent Video
v.qq.com video
Trailer for the documentary "Twenty-Two"
Lens interviewed more than a dozen "comfort women" survivors in 2007 about their experiences that year It completely changed their lives: the pain in their limbs and the shame in their hearts were painful memories that they will never be able to erase in their lifetime, and they are worth remembering for generations to come.
"I welcome you to come and take a look at my home. My house is dangerous!" On the phone, the son of "comfort women" survivor Zhou Fenying told reporters. Zhou Fenying is 91 years old and lives in Baipu Town, Rugao, Jiangsu Province. Her son Jiang Weixun is also 64 years old and takes care of his elderly bedridden mother at home.
Zhou Fenying receives a monthly "martyrdom" pension of 400 yuan from the Civil Affairs Bureau. Her family mainly relies on farming, and is usually taken care of by Jiang Weixun. During sowing and harvesting, neighbors help take care of her.
In May 2007, Zhou Fenying was willing to disclose the fact that she had been forcibly recruited as a "comfort woman" by the Japanese army only after her family learned about the death of Nanjing's only "comfort woman" Lei Guiying. "My mother said: 'Everything that happened can be explained clearly.'"
Zhou Fenying held her Holocaust Survivor Certificate with her skinny hands. The 91-year-old man could no longer see anything in his eyes. On May 12, 2007, Zhou Fenying also recognized a son, the son of Lei Guiying, the only "living witness" of Nanjing's comfort women who had passed away not long ago. Two families with the same historical memory were connected.
Han nationality, born in 1920, from Tanniu Town, Wenchang City, Hainan Province. In 1939, he was shot by the Japanese army. He was shot once in the upper right back and right arm. In 1940, she was taken to the Japanese camp in Huiwen Town, Wenchang, and forced to become a comfort woman. In 1942, she was transferred to Qionghai, China with the Japanese army. She said that the Japanese soldiers were worse than beasts. Sometimes they were gang-raped by several Japanese soldiers, up to seven or eight at a time. The cruel life caused Liu Wenying to suffer from serious gynecological diseases. Fortunately, she gave birth to one daughter and three sons. After suffering a stroke and becoming paralyzed in 2000, her eldest daughter took care of her. Liu Wenying said that no matter how much she suffered in the past, she was content when she saw the filial descendants in front of her, but she hoped that China's history of being invaded would never happen again.
Han nationality, born in 1922. In 1940, she was captured by the Japanese army and forced to serve as a comfort woman in the Japanese barracks in Lingao County. She was rescued by her aunt only after the Japanese surrendered.Chen Jinmei's parents fought hard when she was captured and were killed by the Japanese army. At that time, her head was also slashed with a saber by the Japanese army, causing blood to flow all over her body. At this time, she was gang-raped by several Japanese soldiers. After being rescued, Chen Jinmei married Zuo Kaiyuan and had two sons and one daughter.
was born in 1920 in Houdang Village, Nanshe Township, Yu County, Shanxi Province. When she was 24, Japanese invaders broke into her home, shot her husband to death, and raped her. Later, he was imprisoned on a fort and became a sexual tool of the Japanese army.
A native of Rirangmyeonnaegok-ri, Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. In the second half of 1939, the Japanese conscripted troops in South Korea, and Park Laishun 's lover was drafted to the Chinese battlefield. In February 1940, Japan recruited women for the "Field Logistics Service Team" in South Korea. They said they would cook, wash clothes and take care of the wounded. With the idea of possibly meeting her lover, she signed up. In March 1940, they arrived in Fushun, China, and served as comfort women for the Japanese army. At the end of January 1941, Park Laishun and 28 sisters took a boat to Haikou City, Hainan Island, and were arranged to live in a comfort station near the Japanese Army Headquarters. They lived in Haikou City for a year. In January 1942, the Japanese army sent her to Sanya and lived in a comfort station next to the red sand. Because the war was tense at that time and there were many soldiers coming and going, Park Laishun allowed himself to be rudely ravaged by the Japanese army.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered and evacuated Hainan Island, and she was left behind after suffering so much. At this time, she met a young Korean named Shi Jianshun, who was also left behind by the Japanese army. In 1948, the two became partners and lived in Lizhigou, Ya County. They had been married for 7 years without having children. In 1955, Shi Jianshun died of illness. The Chinese government showed concern for this foreign woman, issued her a "foreigner's residence permit", and arranged for her to work as a road maintenance worker in the Baoting Highway Works Zone. She became seriously ill in 1993 and died in Baoting County, Hainan Province in 1994. She has lived in China for 53 years.
was born in September 1925 in Quanshang Village, Xiyan Town, Yu County, Shanxi Province. On March 16, 1944, he was captured by the Japanese army and taken into the stronghold. Due to the rape by the Japanese army, the fetus was aborted at 7 months of pregnancy and she was unable to have children for the rest of her life.
of Li nationality, born in 1926, is from Jiamao Maoli Village, Baoting County, Hainan Province. Since 1942, she was captured by the Japanese three times in Baoting County and was forced to serve as a comfort woman and tortured by the Japanese soldiers such as "four-legged bull". He was injured in many parts of his body and was blinded due to years of sadness and crying. After the Japanese surrendered, she married Zhang Chongri in Damao Town, Wanning, China. They had two boys and two girls. Her husband died of illness in 1995.
Li nationality, born in 1925. In early 1941, when she was only 16 years old, she was incorporated into the Japanese Army's "Field Logistics Service Team" and lived an inhumane life. She was humiliated by the brutality of the Japanese soldiers every day. She lost count of the number of times she was raped by the Japanese soldiers. She could be raped by two or three people a day, or by one person at the least. She was never let go even when her menstruation came. She escaped and was captured many times, and it was not until June 1945 that she succeeded in escaping when the Japanese army was in panic.
Chen Jinyu told us that fortunately she did not take the "preventive pills" issued by the Japanese army, so she gave birth to two girls and three boys, and now she has children and grandchildren. But whenever she thought of the various humiliations she suffered in the Japanese Army's field logistics service team, she hated the crimes committed by the Japanese army even more. She said that she was old and could no longer collect debts, but they must be repaid.
Li nationality, born in 1925, from Luokuishhao Village, Nanlin Township, Baoting County. One day in October 1943, she and her sisters were captured by the Japanese army in the rice fields, taken to Shiluo Village, and locked in a small hut. The next day, they were gang-raped by three Japanese soldiers. In 10 days in Shiluo Village, 9 of them were raped. Tiandu was raped by the Japanese army. Ten days later, she was taken to the Japanese stronghold in Nanlin Village and locked in a small iron room, where she continued to serve as a comfort woman. A month later, Lin Yajin fell ill and was able to return home. Later, he was raped and gang-raped many times by the Japanese army. She married into Luokuishhao Village in 1951 and was unable to have children, so she adopted a pair of children from her husband's brother. In March 2005, Lin Yajin went to Japan to testify in court to sue the Japanese government.
was born in 1926. In 1943, she was arrested and worked as a laborer. She was locked up in a thatched hut and was dried and powdered by the Japanese army. She was also given liquor to the Japanese soldiers. Once, the Japanese soldiers took her to the mountains to hunt birds and she was raped by the Japanese soldiers. After he came back, he was often raped by a Japanese captain. Later, he was taken to the Japanese stronghold in Omura, where he was also raped many times. Tanya Dong was also kicked and beaten in the waist by the Japanese, causing body deformation and long-term pain. In addition, his legs were swollen and he is now unable to walk upright. After liberation, she was introduced to someone and got married.
was born in 1920 in Gangpo Village, Guangpo Town, Lingshui County. In 1940, she was captured by the Japanese army and served as a comfort woman at the Japanese Military Headquarters (now Hongling, Lingshui County). Because of her resistance, her arms were broken by the Japanese army and she is still disabled. During the period of being sexually ravaged by the Japanese army, she attempted suicide many times.
Born in 1926, he is a native of Songmei Village, Nanbao Town, Lingao. When she was in her 20s, she was captured by the Japanese. At that time, the traitors tricked her into "marrying" a Japanese. Lin Ailan didn't agree, so the Japanese stuffed her mouth with a wooden stick, hung her up with her hands, and beat her to death. , and raped her at night. Because she refused to comply, her right thigh muscles were broken by the Japanese, leaving her disabled to this day and unable to walk normally. The picture shows her with her adopted daughter.
A native of Zuxiu Village, Lingshui County, because her parents did not tell her the year she was born, she did not know how old she was. She said she was probably in her 80s. She had four younger siblings. At that time, her elder sisters were all married, and she was the only one left in the family. When the Japanese soldiers came to arrest her, they took her away. After being captured, she was imprisoned in the Japanese military headquarters, where she was raped by many Japanese soldiers. He was beaten with a stick by Japanese soldiers. A year later, she hid in the mountains to escape capture. When she thought of the scene at that time, she felt so bitter that she couldn't even speak. Tears immediately moistened her already cloudy eyes. Zhuo Tianmei has been married twice and has four girls and one boy.
1925. In 1942, when she was 17 years old, she was caught by Japanese traitors and sent to work hard in the traitor barracks. Half a year later, he was arrested and sent to a comfort station, where he served as a sex tool for the Japanese. He was raped many times by Japanese soldiers and sometimes beaten. His eyes were broken from crying. She was imprisoned for two or three months. Later, her mother went to the traitor leader's home to intercede, and the traitor leader went to the Japanese comfort station to pick her up. After she came back, she continued to work hard at the traitor leader's house for three years. Before Chen Yabian was captured as a comfort woman, she already had a lover named Zhuo Kaichun. Due to the physical trauma caused by being forced to serve as a comfort woman, she miscarried six times during her pregnancy, and finally gave birth to a daughter with great difficulty. On September 1, 2006, Chen Yabian went to Japan to file a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court.
The departing elderly Lei Guiying’s cart was rolled out from the intensive care unit with a blue cloth covering it. Lei Guiying, the only victim in Nanjing who publicly admitted that she was a comfort woman, died at 3:12 pm on April 25, 2007 at Jiangsu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine three days after being admitted to the hospital due to cerebral congestion. She was 79 years old. age. Before her death, Lei Guiying preserved evidence of her experience as a comfort woman at the Jiangning District Notary Office in Nanjing. In addition to the written records and audio and video materials at the notarization site, the old man also provided a very special piece of physical evidence: a bottle of potassium permanganate that was used to disinfect "comfort women" in the Japanese military comfort stations.
Li Tianying was born in Bokjiang County, South Korea. In 1938, when he was 13 years old, he was abducted by the Japanese army who occupied Korea and taken to Harbin, China. In 1939, she was forced to serve as a "comfort woman" for the Japanese invaders. He followed the Japanese army to Shijiazhuang, Zaozhuang, and Hong Kong, and escaped in Linfen, Shanxi, before the Japanese army was defeated in 1945. He has been living in China since then, and later settled in Kangmiao Village, Santa Town, Taihe County, Anhui Province. The old man is nearly 70 years old, has no children, and is supported by the villagers. The picture shows the residence permit issued to Li Tianying by the local public security department.
How many "comfort women" were there?
There is currently no exact statistics on how many "comfort women" the Japanese army recruited during World War II. Most of the Japanese military's archives on "comfort women" were destroyed when they were defeated, and most of the original "comfort women" have passed away.
Former History Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Dr. Tan Ruqian, former president of the World Anti-Japanese War Historical Facts Preservation Association (referred to as Shiweihui), said in an interview with reporters: "The 'comfort women' system is a great crime against human rights. , was a heinous crime committed by the Japanese army during World War II. It is estimated that the total number of "comfort women" reached 400,000 to 500,000."
According to Su Zhiliang, a professor at Shanghai Normal University and director of the China "Comfort Women" Research Center. According to the professor's research, there are a total of 400,000 "comfort women", of which there are at least 200,000 in China, no less than 140,000-160,000 victims in the Korean Peninsula, 20,000 in Japan, and the rest are from Southeast Asia and a small number of white people.
China is the largest victim of the forced recruitment of "comfort women" by the Japanese military. However, the investigation and evidence collection of the "comfort women" issue in China have always been initiated by private scholars and lawyers. The "Comfort Women" Bill No. 121 passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 30, 2007, cited "200,000" as a figure based on Korean survey statistics: "The Japanese Imperial Army forced more than 200,000 'comfort women' into sexual Slaves."
A United Nations delegation visited South Korea and Japan in July 1995, and North Korea also provided written material. In April of the following year, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights unanimously adopted the "Report on Violence against Women." The biggest shortcoming of this investigation is that there was no on-site investigation in China. Although the report mentioned that the Japanese army also opened comfort stations in mainland China, their size, location, number of victims and other issues were not discussed.
Professor Su Zhiliang wrote in "Research on "Comfort Women"" (published in 1999): "This can not but be said to be the biggest regret, and it also affects the authority and scientific nature of the report to a certain extent." "The most conservative It is estimated that the total number of "comfort women" in China is more than 200,000. This number does not include those women who were raped by the Japanese army for several days."
During Su Zhiliang's visit to Japan, he met the Japanese Congresswoman Hideko Ito. The issue of Japan's "comfort women" during the war was raised for the first time in the Japanese Diet. A Japanese professor told Su: "It is said that the first comfort station in Japan during the war was located in Shanghai?" Su Zhiliang was shocked. Before 1992, there was no domestic research in this area.
The "comfort women" issue stirred up the world
2007
On January 31, 2007, US Congressman Honda proposed a "comfort women" resolution, which only received six signatures. Honda wrote in the motion: "The purpose of the resolution is not to attack and humiliate Japan, but to pass this resolution to seek justice for the existing 'comfort women' and to expose this rebellion that has been unknown for many years. "Human rights atrocities." On March 1, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's speech immediately brought the "comfort women" bill that may have been shelved into the public spotlight, and triggered an overwhelming condemnation by the Western media. The power of public opinion.
Shinzo Abe said: "There is a debate as to whether coercive means were used." At the Senate Budget Committee meeting on March 5, Abe once again stated that Japan will no longer apologize for the "comfort women" issue, and Said, "Even if the U.S. House of Representatives passes a resolution demanding an apology from Japan, Japan will no longer apologize for forcing Asian women to become 'comfort women' during World War II."
html On March 8, Abe also stated that the Japanese government will assist the Liberal Democratic Party. re-examines the facts related to the "comfort women" issue that are the premise of the "Kono Statement" and explores "the possibility of revising the Kono Statement."" The New York Times " published an article titled "The Politics Behind Japan's 'Comfort Women' Apology" on March 5. Agence France-Presse published an article on March 11 saying, "'Comfort Women' historians have been "Shocked by Abe's rebuttal"; "Korea Herald" published an article titled "Japan cannot escape its responsibility for 'comfort women': Tokyo's sincere apology is necessary for its relations with its Asian neighbors to continue."
html July 2. , China’s first factual investigation report on the victimization of “comfort women” was released. The investigation focused on five counties and cities in Shanxi Province, two counties in Hainan Province, and six counties and cities in Yunnan Province.
On the morning of January 29, 2012, the New York State Senate in the United States unanimously passed the "Japanese Comfort Women Resolution 304", condemning Japan's forced recruitment of "comfort women" during World War II. In July, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton corrected a State Department official's title of "comfort women" during a briefing, saying that they should be called "forced sex slaves."
On May 13, 2013
html, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who belongs to the right-wing party Japan Reform Party, publicly suggested that the commander of the U.S. military allow U.S. soldiers to enter Japan’s sexual service establishments to vent, and believed that the Japanese military’s comfort women system during World War II was necessary to maintain Necessary measures for military discipline. This statement was strongly criticized by all walks of life in Japan. The United Nations Committee against Torture reviewed Japan's human rights issues for two consecutive days on May 21 and 22. It stated that it could not accept Toru Hashimoto's claims and would submit a letter of inquiry to the Japanese government, requesting a formal statement. "January 25, 2014, the then president of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Katsuto Monii said at his inaugural press conference that Japan's use of comfort women during the "World War II" was no different from other countries. France and Germany " There were comfort women during World War II, and he was puzzled by the international anger against Japanese comfort women.
html On June 20, Japan proposed a new interpretation of Kono’s remarks. On June 23, the New York Times published an editorial “Japan’s "Japan'sHistorical
Blinders" criticizes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for trying to deny history; the editorial says that historians outside Japan agree that the Japanese army forced the comfort women to historical facts, but Japanese nationalists still deny history so far. .
2015
On April 29, Shinzo Abe gave a speech to the joint session of the two houses of Congress in the United States. He did not mention the comfort women issue at all, nor did he apologize for the comfort women issue. After the speech, Mike Honda criticized Abe Shinzo for avoiding the Japanese military's " "The forced recruitment of comfort women during World War II", "did not even apologize" during the speech, which was shocking and shameful.
html On August 14, Shinzo Abe delivered a speech marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, but did not address the issue of comfort women. Apology, arousing criticism from the international community.On December 30, Kyodo News Agency quoted a Japanese government source as saying that if the statue of a girl symbolizing the comfort women in front of the Japanese Embassy in South Korea is not moved, the Japanese government will not send money to South Korea. Pay the previously agreed compensation of 1 billion yen (approximately US$8.3 million). In 2017,
" Oxford English Dictionary " included the term "comfort woman" in the dictionary, and the final version used a large proportion of Chinese in its interpretation.
The explanation of the word describes the forced recruitment of comfort women by the Japanese army: "Women or girls who were forced to engage in sexual acts with Japanese soldiers. This was Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War Part of the brothel system run by the imperial army...", "Most of these women and girls come from Japan's colonies and occupied areas. Many were kidnapped, and others were deceived in the name of work. ..." etc.
