The glorious soldier of justice and progress
From 1936 to 1945, many doctors from Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania and other countries traveled to China to support the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War.
In the extremely difficult environment, they treated the wounded, prevented epidemics, trained medical staff, and dedicated their youth and even their lives wholeheartedly.
Since the founding of New China, they and their descendants have also been paying attention to China’s construction and development, and their deep friendship with the Chinese people is still continuing.
Fu La Du
China's experience is the pride of a lifetime
Our newspaper correspondent in Poland Yu Yang
"My father is a man with lofty ideals and convictions. During the difficult years of the Chinese people fighting against Japanese fascist aggression, my father fought side by side with the Chinese people. The experience in China is the pride of his life." Du's son Yurek Fuladu said.
Stanislaw Fuladu was born in 1910 in a Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland.
In the 1930s, he joined a leftist organization in France and later joined the Communist Party of Poland and the Communist Party of France.
When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Fu Ladu resolutely joined the anti-fascist international column composed of Communists and left-wingers from various countries, and went to Spain to assist the local people in the revolutionary war against the domestic reactionary conservative forces.
In August 1939, Fu Ladu and several other international column comrades rushed to China to support the Chinese People's Anti-Japanese War.
Yurek said: "China is the main battlefield in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War. My father went to where they were needed."
A few months later, under the arrangement of Soong Ching Ling, leader of the League of Defense, Fu Ladu and others arrived at Tuyun Pass in Guiyang, where the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps was based.
He and other foreign doctors worked hard to adapt to the environment, seized the time to learn Chinese, and asked to go to difficult places.
Like Chinese medical staff, they eat brown rice and live in thatched houses.
During his stay in China, Fu Ladu was hired as a consultant for the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps and served as a health service instructor. After that, he led the team to Hunan, Hubei and other places to actively rescue the wounded and sick.
In order to strengthen the rescue force, he set up a military medical training class in Shatianping, Xiangyin, Hunan, and instructed many Chinese trainees in medical rescue.
On the front line, Fula was respected and loved by the officers and soldiers.
"As a Communist, my father has a deep friendship with the Chinese Communists." Yurek said.
In 1940, Fu Ladu visited Zhou Enlai in Chongqing and proposed to work in the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines.
Zhou En said that as long as it is in China, it is the same as helping the Chinese people in the Anti-Japanese War.
Although he failed to go to the Northwest to participate in the War of Resistance against Japan, Fu Ladu often sent medical equipment and medicines raised by foreign doctors to the Eighth Route Army through various channels.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Fu Ladu returned to Poland.
In 1957, he served as Minister Counselor of the Polish Embassy in China and returned to China with his family.
During his 7 years in China, he visited many places in China.
When passing by Zhuzhou and Hengyang on a business trip by train, he couldn't help tears in his eyes: "Almost every piece of land here has my footprints."
In June 2016, on the eve of the state visit to the Republic of Poland by Chinese President Xi Jinping, he published a signed article "Promoting China-Poland Friendship Ship at Full Speed" in the Polish "Republic".
It mentioned: "During the Second World War, the two peoples sympathized with and supported each other and formed a profound friendship. Polish friends such as Fuladu and Jungmann traveled to China to provide medical support for China's War of Resistance Against Japan. "
"President Xi Jinping mentioned my father's name, which made us very moved." Recalling the past, Yurek said that the full and deep friendship between his father's generation and the Chinese people still continues in the present.
"The Second World War has been over 75 years. People in an era of peace should not forget the cruelty of war, and should not deliberately provoke confrontation and war. Only in this way can they be worthy of their ancestors and responsible for future generations."
Shen En
Father's right choice
Hua Fang, our reporter based in Germany
"Fighting for the cause of communism and saving many lives-my father made a very correct choice." 72-year-old Joseph Somogi said of his father Shen En.
Shen En was born in a Jewish family in Szeged, Hungary.
Facing the anti-Semitism in Hungary at that time, Shen En went to Bologna, Italy to study.
After obtaining a medical degree, he returned to China to join the Hungarian Social Democratic Party at the time, looking forward to a fair and equal society.
After the Spanish Civil War broke out, Shen En joined an international column of Communists and left-wingers from all over the world to Spain, and joined the Spanish Communist Party during this period.
After the outbreak of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Shen En responded to the call of the International Committee for Medical Aid to China established by anti-fascists in the world. He arrived in Tuyunguan, Guiyang, and the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps in 1939. , Together with the Chinese military and civilians to fight against the Japanese fascist invaders.
Shen En's youngest son Peter Somogy recalled his father's account of his experience in China.
During his stay in China, Shen En and other foreign doctors assisting China went to the front line to treat the wounded, promote vaccination, and conduct medical training.
In addition to treating wounded soldiers, they also tried their best to provide medical services to the people.
Once, Shen En cut open a boil in the eyes of a villager through a minor operation to help the villager see the light again.
"My father's medical skills have been affirmed by the Chinese folks, and he is very pleased."
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Shen En continued to stay in China to work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, during which time he married his Chinese wife in Shanghai.
It was not until 1947 that Shen En and his wife returned to their hometown Hungary.
Joseph still remembers that when he was a child, his home was full of Chinese elements.
The parents brought back a lot of Chinese handicrafts. Traditional silk embroidery was hung on the walls. Enameled vases, Chinese sailing boats, and carved handicrafts representing Chinese mythological images were placed in the display cabinets...
In 2019, Joseph came to Tuyun Pass in Guiyang where his father had fought.
He found his father’s name on the memorial deputy monument of the International Medical Assistance Team to China, and said with emotion: “It seems that my father is still alive, and there are many memories of my father in my heart. I sincerely thank the Chinese people for commemorating my father and his comrades in arms. We built this monument!"
Following in his father's footsteps, Joseph also became a doctor.
Although it is difficult to imagine the special historical environment his father was in, he believed that if he faced the situation at the time, he would make the same choice as his father-a "correct choice".
Gan Yang Dao
Innovation in battlefield rescue
Our reporter Ren Haoyu
In 1994, Ni Huiru met Dr. Gan Yangdao for the first time in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
The old man is a burly figure, with big wise eyes under his gray hair.
Speaking of the experience of participating in the War of Resistance in China many years ago, he said, "If history repeats itself, I will make the same choice."
Ganyandao was born in a peasant family in Bulgaria in 1910.
At the age of 25, he completed his medical studies at Sofia University by part-time work and became a doctor.
After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, he gave up his stable life, went to Spain to join the international column, and devoted himself to the fight against fascism by the Spanish people.
In August 1939, under the organization of the International Medical Aid China Committee, he went to China to participate in the War of Resistance.
In China, Gan Yangdao joined the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps.
He led a medical team touring Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, and began a 6-year battlefield rescue work.
Rescuing wounded soldiers in the battlefield counts against every second, so Gan Yangdao also learned to speak Chinese with a little Hunan accent.
The front-line conditions are difficult, and Gan Yangdao has made many innovations to improve health conditions.
Zou Ningyuan and Ni Huiru, a couple of scientists living in the United States, introduced his "invention" at the time in the book "When the World was Young", "We use bamboo to build a shower tank, and the sun-warmed water flows through the bamboo tube and receives the shower. Trough, allowing patients to enjoy a warm bath".
In 1940, Zhang Sunfen, a student of the Department of Nursing at Yenching University, came to Tuyunguan alone to participate in the field rescue work with the belief that "the rise and fall of the country is the responsibility of everyone".
At Tuyun Pass, Gan Yangdao and Zhang Sunfen met and fell in love.
In their free time, they often sing songs with other foreign doctors and walk all the way to Guiyang to listen to Peking opera.
In 1942, the two married in Tuyunguan, and the new house was a borrowed straw shed.
Zhang Sunfen said: "We didn't feel bitter at all at that time. We didn't enjoy it at the Red Cross."
In 1943, their eldest son was born in Yunnan and named Baozhong, and later they had a second son named Baohua.
They hope the children will always remember that they are Bulgarians and Chinese.
In 1945, Gan Yangdao and his wife returned to Bulgaria.
After that, Gan Yangdao taught in the medical school, often giving presentations on China, and also wrote the foreword for Snow's Baowen edition of "Westward Journey".
Zhang Sunfen has been teaching Chinese at Sofia University, and personally compiled the first Baozhong and Zhongbao dictionaries.
In 1983, the couple were invited to visit China. Gan Yangdao donated hundreds of photos he had collected for more than 40 years to China.
During his visit to Yan'an, he said: "I finally came to Yan'an, and my wish was fulfilled more than 40 years ago."
Gan Yangdao, who returned to Bulgaria, still retains many of the habits cultivated in China.
"I learned to cook'Bulgarian Chinese food' from my mother. My family likes Chinese food very much. Although my mother has passed away, we still cook the Chinese food that my mother taught in those years at home," said Gan Baozhong.
In 2015, Gan Baozhong returned to Tuyun Pass in Guiyang again to participate in the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the commemoration of the International Medical Team to China.
Returning to his hometown, Gan Baozhong sighed: "I visited Guiyang once in 1989. This time, Guiyang has changed a lot. The city has become bigger and more beautiful, and people's living standards have also improved a lot."
Recalling his father’s experience in China’s War of Resistance against Japan, Gan Baozhong sighed with emotion: “The world is developing and advancing. We must do everything possible to avoid war and do everything possible to pursue peace. Only peace can guarantee the progress of mankind.”
Layout design: Cai Huawei