China News Service, Chongqing, August 15th, title: For an unforgettable commemoration-Chongqing bombing survivors pursue the path of national justice
Author Liu Xianglin Peng Ziwei
After wiping the dust off the monument to the June 5th tunnel tragedy at the Chongqing bombing site group, 88-year-old Su Yuankui bowed three times to the monument, muttering "I'm visiting you again", and then got up and put his forehead on " On the wall of the ruins of the "Sixth Five-Year" tunnel tragedy, I haven't left for a long time.
August 15, 2021 is the 76th anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender.
Su Yuankui, a survivor of the Chongqing bombing and the head of the civilian claim group for the victims of the Chongqing bombing, goes to the site of the June 5th tunnel tragedy on August 15 every year to pay tribute.
From February 1938 to December 1944, in order to destroy the will of the Chinese people to resist the Japanese war, the Japanese invaders carried out indiscriminate bombings for more than 6 years against Chongqing, the capital of the Nationalist government during the war, and the surrounding areas. Big bombing".
According to statistics from the Chongqing Anti-Japanese War Research Group, the Chongqing bombing caused 32,829 direct casualties and 6,651 indirect casualties.
Su Yuankui said that "drilling air-raid shelters" in his childhood to avoid Japanese bombing was a normal life.
On the evening of June 5, 1941, when a sharp air raid warning suddenly pierced the sky of Chongqing, people ran out of their homes in panic and ran to the nearest air-raid shelter.
Su Yuankui's family was one of them. Five members of his family rushed into the Jiaochangkou air defense tunnel less than 100 meters away from their home.
"My father took my mother, and my mother held me with one hand, and the eldest sister with the other hand. The eldest sister took the second sister. The family rushed into the air-raid shelter without time to pack anything." Su Yuankui said. When night fell, the air-raid shelter became "crowded." People", the air is not circulating, the heat is unbearable, and the breathing becomes more and more difficult.
Father suggested that the family move towards the entrance of the cave, but at this time the plane roared, and the crowd at the entrance of the cave desperately rushed into the cave. The crowd inside the cave desperately squeezed towards the entrance of the cave, squeezing around, and Su Yuankui's family squeezed away.
Su Yuankui, who was only up to the waist of an adult, was pushed to the corner of the air-raid shelter by the crowd. His thin figure made him stop in this corner.
Caught in the gap between the adult's legs, he squatted on the ground. The lack of oxygen, fear, and hunger continued to hit... Soon, Su Yuankui fainted.
The next day, Su Yuankui was awakened by a group of people carrying the corpse.
He looked up and saw that all the bodies of the victims were lying next to him.
He only knew when he got home that the two sisters had disappeared.
Su Yuankui's family cried, searching among the rows of corpses...
"The sky is bright, the ground is covered with cloth-covered corpses, the air is filled with the smell of pungent gunpowder and dust, the whole city is'misty', only the unquenched fire burns bright..." Su Yuankui Said that he remembered the scene of looking for his sister all his life.
The bombing of Chongqing by the Japanese invaders caused the "6·Five" tunnel tragedy that shocked China and foreign countries. Thousands of people were suffocated and killed in the Jiaochangkou tunnel.
In the blink of an eye, 80 years have passed. The original child has now become an old man, but the memory of avoiding the bombing has never faded.
In order to get justice for the victims, in 2004, the victims of the Chongqing bombing spontaneously formed the "Chongqing Bombing Victims' Civil Claims Group for Japan", with Su Yuankui as the head of the group, and he led the victims to go to Japan to sue the Japanese government.
In March 2006, the claim group initiated its first lawsuit in Tokyo, Japan. 188 victims of the Chongqing bombing from Chongqing, Chengdu, Leshan, Songpan, Zigong and other places became plaintiffs in this transnational lawsuit.
For more than ten years, Su Yuankui, who has inconvenient legs and feet, and other plaintiffs have visited Japan more than 40 times. In addition to appearing in court and giving testimony, he also joined other victims and Japanese peace-loving people to protest in front of the court and stage demonstrations on the streets of Japan. , To promote the historical facts of the Chongqing bombing, and hope that the Japanese government will face history squarely.
However, the first instance, second instance, and final instance of the case all ruled that the plaintiff lost the case.
Although the court admitted that the Japanese invaders bombed Chongqing and various parts of Sichuan Province and caused harm to the plaintiff, the court rejected the claims for apology and compensation.
Although the result was lost, Su Yuankui was not discouraged.
"Life never ends, more than claims" is often on his lips.
He and other victims plan to sue the Japanese government in China so that the Japanese government will face history and apologize to the war victims.
He said that he hopes to use practical actions to tell the world that war is the pain of mankind, and no one is a bystander on the sidelines.
Provide relevant materials to the Chongqing Great Bombing Memorial Hall, participate in the oral history filming of the Chongqing Great Bombing, go to communities and schools to tell about the history of the Chongqing Great Bombing and claims against Japan... Nowadays, the gray-haired and faltering Su Yuankui can be seen at many events in Chongqing. Busy figure.
In 2021, Su Yuankui, as one of the initiators, planned to establish the NPO Council of Chongqing Bombing with Japanese peace-lovers.
Su Yuankui said that the council will establish an online library for the Chongqing bombing to introduce the history in multiple languages and let more people know about the Chongqing bombing.
The council will also call in Japan to include the history of the Chongqing bombing in Japanese teaching materials so that Japanese teachers and young people will know about this incident.
"I am 88 years old this year, and I may not live long. Why do all this work? It is for national justice." Su Yuankui said that suing the Japanese government for compensation is not only to bring justice to the victims of the Chongqing bombing, but also to make The Japanese government faces history squarely. Not to perpetuate hatred, but to hope that the world can remember history, oppose war, cherish peace, and prevent history from repeating itself. He hopes that in his lifetime, he can hear the Japanese government apologize to war victims. (Finish)