Exhibits relive horrors of Japanese torture at WWII camp

An exhibition on a World War II concentration camp in China has opened in San Francisco, shedding light on a little-known chapter of history.

The Weixian Concentration Camp in Weifang, Shandong province, serves as a testament to the deep-rooted friendship between the people of China and the US in combating Japanese fascism dating back to 1942.

Speaking at the exhibition hosted in the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, Chen Baiwei, deputy director of Shandong Foreign Affairs Office, said the history of the camp should never be forgotten by future generations.

The exhibition consists of seven parts, using about 180 artifacts, pictures and documents, including oral history, to showcase and replicate the concentration camp in which Japanese fascists imprisoned about 2,000 Western nationals.

Following Japan’s invasion of China in 1931, the Japanese imperial army reached the Shandong Peninsula in 1937. In March 1942, the army looted several European-style missionary buildings and transformed the multifunctional complex — Courtyard of the Happy Way, as it was originally called — into a concentration camp.

Targeting Western expatriates from Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, the Japanese put more than 2,000 civilians, including more than 300 children, into the camp.

Inmates were mistreated, as food was rationed, clothes were limited and cells overcrowded. There was mandatory labor and mental torture.

“You could only write short letters, only about a paragraph through the Red Cross (stationed in the camp),” said John Stanley, a professor at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and a descendant of camp inmates, explaining how the Japanese suppressed communications.

Against all odds, “wholehearted assistance” from Chinese people in various forms empowered the inmates. Men on night watch helped relay SOS messages between shifts, farmers stuffed much-needed food into the hands of inmates, and guerrilla forces helped to rescue prisoners, all of them risking their lives.

Mary Taylor Previte, who was an inmate in the camp when she was 9 years old, later recalled, “Here, in a place once filled with despair, I saw heroes planting seeds of hope.”

Arthur William Hummel, the US ambassador to China from 1981 to 1985, was also an inmate. In one of his recollections of the camp, he highlighted the solidarity and teamwork of the Chinese and US people when fighting Japanese fascism.

“Even today, I feel very close to China. Whenever I have the opportunity, I go to China for (a) visit,” he said.

Upholding peace

The Chinese and US people, like others across the world, cherish and uphold peace, Chen said.

“Weifang city has been awarded the title of International City of Peace,” Chen said. “The Chinese people know full well the value of peace, and China will stay committed to the path of peaceful development.”

She said “solidarity gives us strength”, calling the camp a true record of the solidarity among international expatriates, including US expatriates, and the Chinese people in their fight against Japanese fascism.

Although the camp was shut down on Aug 17, 1945, following Japan’s defeat in the Pacific, its historic significance is far-reaching and multifaceted, Betty Yuan, one of the organizers of the exhibition, said.

“It is so touching to learn that in the 1940s ... the Chinese people have devoted their lives to help, protect and save the Westerners, including Americans,” Yuan said. “Stories happened there were less told in America, heroes there unsung.”

Calling the 10-day exhibition “just a start to a great cause”, Yuan said she felt an urgency to publicize the camp’s history.

The camp has produced a deep bond of friendship between the Chinese and US people.

“Friendship needs to be passed down through generations,” Yuan said. “We need to carry on.”