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Former Allied internees of concentration camp assemble in China

2005-08-17 06:41:21 XinhuaEnglish

WEIFANG, Shandong, August 17(Xinhuanet)-- Seventy-year-old David Birch never imagined he could return to the former concentration camp where he lived as a kid some 60 years ago. And he never thought he would meet his old friends from the camp.

Nearly 70 elderly survivors of Weishien concentration camp and their family gathered at the former camp site to celebrate the 60th anniversary of liberation.
(Xinhua Photo)

"I prayed to God that someday before I die I could come back to China, and here I am," the retired cinema doorman said."My heart is full."

On Wednesday, nearly 70 elderly survivors of Weishien concentration camp and their family gathered at the former camp site in east China's Weifang city to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the camp's liberation.

The site is now in the compound of a local middle school and a hospital nearby. Most of the internees' dormitories have been torn down, and only a handful of Japanese officials' buildings remain.

It used to be a missionary compound named"The Courtyard of the Happy Way" before the Japanese army turned it into a concentration camp, where 2,008 men, women, and children were herded together by the Japanese intruders between 1942 and 1945.

The former camp site in east China's Weifang city.

Most of the adult internees have since died, including R. Jaegher, former adviser of the KMT president Chiang Kai-shek, Eric Linddell, the 400-meter Champion in 1924 Olympics, and Arthur Hummel, who was the American ambassador to China in 1980s.

All the survivors returning to Weifang were children internees at the time. Many of them brought their family members, hoping their special experience a family heritage that can pass down for generations.

"I remember on August 17, 1945, the American flights came and rescued us," David said."That was the most exciting day in my life. We were all dancing and singing, running out of the camp."

"I remember that day; we were all crazy," said 77-year-old Australian writer Joyce Bradbury. She was brought to tears when she saw the former camp building and the hundreds of middle school students lining up along the road, applauding for their return.

Joyce said she was nine when the Japanese brought her to the camp. They were crammed in small houses, given scarce food, and forced to do labor when they reached 14.

"One time a horse died and the Japanese guards let it decompose until worms grew on it and then fed us with its meat," she said.

The concentration camp survivors were given help by the local people.

But most of the internees said the guards were treated them carefully, without the savagery that they showed to the Chinese. No one knew exactly how many people died in the camp but the number was small, they said.

"I really cannot forgive them (the Japanese army)," said Joyce.

The government still denies compensation to the Chinese.

Stephen Metcalf, the 78-year-old former internee who went to live in Japan for decades after being released from the camp, appealed that the Japanese government should face up to the history and tell Japan's next generation the truth of the war.

The Japanese have made a very great mistake by trying to sweep the war under the carpet, he said. "Indifference can lead to great problems!"

At a public speech representing all the internees, Mary Previte, assembly woman of New Jersey General Assembly said,"We who were interned here to speak the story of our lives: War and hate and violence have never open the way to peace." Enditem

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