LEE Su-dan 이수단

LEE Su-dan

이수단

Born in South Pyonggan, Korea, Drafted year: 1940, 19y/o, foar 5 years. left in Dongning. China

I thought I would be paid money and clothes

for doing chores in Manchuria.

I received 480 won as an advance payment

for a 3-year contract,

which I gave to my step mother.

It was a Japanese informant who took me away. He was wearing a uniform and a sword. I thought I would be paid money and clothes for doing chores in Manchuria. I received 480 won as an advance payment for a 3-year contract, which I gave to my step mother.

When I arrived in Manchuria, it was not a factory but a brothel type of place. The owner was a Japanese couple, and they called me Hidomiひどみ.

8-10 soldiers came a day. When soldiers bought the ticket, the owner gave them condoms.

A military doctor examined for sexually transmitted disease and found that I had a serious venereal disease.

I was sent to a hospital in Dongning东宁 and treated there for 10 days. When I was discharged from the hospital, I came back to find a “Do not enter” sign on my door.

All the cost for the medical treatment and the money I couldn’t make during the time became my debt.

After the war ended and liberation came, I decided not to go back because I didn’t think I’d feel comfortable in my hometown. I married a Chinese man near here.

He was so violent that all the neighbors told me to get a divorce. I couldn’t bear to live with him anymore, so I left and came to this nursing home alone.

* Since she couldn’t bear her own child, she became obsessed with baby. As she became schizophrenic, she put a picture of a baby in her room. The director of the nursing home gave her a baby doll. She treated it like her own baby that she talked to it and slept with it in her arms.

Martina Madeira Hoar

Born in Casabauk, East-Timor, Drafted year: 1942, 12y/o, for 3 years

I was about 12 years old,

and there were lots of young women.

I was a Japanese soldier’s wife.

A lot of soldiers came every day.

My parents were farmers. I was home alone when the Japanese soldiers came. I ran away out of fear. Meanwhile, my parents came back and they caught my parents. They made threats to take me away which they did immediately.

I was about 12 years old, and there were lots of young women. I was a Japanese soldier’s wife. A lot of soldiers came every day.

They did not hit me. I stayed there for 1 year like that before they told to me to go home.

After returning home, Japanese soldiers would come from time to time and ask for me. When my parents refused, they were beaten up and I was taken away. I had to go because they would beat my parents if I didn’t.

There was no doctor, no treatment and no medicine even if I got sick. They only fed me. I was released two years later when the war ended.

I don’t know when my sister was taken. I found out about it later. We were living apart because we had different fathers. I only heard about it after we started living together. I got married but I have no children.

When I look back what happened at the time, I get a headache. I have back pain and cough a lot. I wish I could fix the old house.

* She met her sister in 1975 and has been living with her in their relative's house since then. She is reluctant to talk about her past in front of other family members. It probably was extremely difficult for her to show her pain to a stranger who is also a foreigner, she said she was a Japanese soldier’s wife, to describe what she went through.

Dg Tija

Born in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Drafted year: 1945, 16y/o estimates, for 5 months

because I could’ve been killed if my father found out.

According to the culture of Gowa,

a woman must die if she experiences such thing.

My father did not know this until he passed away.

Around the time I was junior in the middle school, Japanese soldiers came to Ujung Pandang. First, they took my father, and ten days later, they took me away by four soldiers unbeknownst to my father.

There were about ten other women. I was usually raped by 3 soldiers a day. Sometimes two additional soldiers came.

I did not know what to do when they did that to me. I cried and told them I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t go and they continued to do it while I was crying. If I resisted, they tied my hands to a tree.

I started bleeding down there, but there was no treatment or medicine. Japanese soldiers gave me strange medicine after sex. I thought it was contraceptive.

There were women who died there. I felt listless when I heard a girl was sent back home after becoming sick, but she died a week later.

5 months later, Japanese soldiers left. I didn’t tell my father what happened to me

because I could’ve been killed if my father found out. According to the culture of Gowa, a woman must die if she experiences such thing. My father did not know this until he passed away.

I can’t even breathe well, and my whole body hurts when I get up. If the pain is too great, I go to see a doctor to get treatment and medicine. Then, I feel better. I want to keep on taking medicine.

* The house is so old it’s falling to one side. She has several children, and she lives with her fifth daughter, Salla.

Lucia Luriz

Born in Arayat, the Philippines), Drafted year: 1942, 12y/o, for 2 months

Sometimes I get nightmares

when I hear Japanese on TV.

The Japanese government should be held accountable

for what happened during the war.

I was hanging the laundered clothes on a clothesline when three Japanese soldiers came and grabbed both of my arms. I was scared because I could not understand what they were yelling in Japanese.

I was forcibly dragged to Arayat Central School. I was locked in a room alone. After a while, my sister Maria was also dragged there. Two soldiers came in the room,

and I tried run away from them in the room, but I was caught and beaten. When the first soldier raped me, I bled heavily and felt so painful. When the next soldier did it, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, my clothes were wet with blood. My sister named Valeriana was also captured and in the same room, and she seemed to have gone through the same pain. Soldiers came back the next day.

My body was still swollen but they didn’t care. I cleaned during the day, and I was raped three or four times a week at night.

I told what happened to my husband when we got married. He accepted everything about me.

Sometimes I get nightmares when I hear Japanese on TV. The emotional and physical damages caused by sexual assault cannot be calculated in money. The Japanese government should be held accountable for what happened during the war.

* On one side of her room, halfway up the dark stairwell, there is a crucifix and a statue of Jesus for praying. It was beautiful and sad at the same time to watch her pray in the light pouring through the large window.

REN Lan-e 任兰娥

Born in Sanxi, China), Drafted year: 1944, 13y/o, for 15 days + 2 months(2times)

I don’t think Japan is the only problem

when it comes to this issue.

The Chinese government is the problem as well.

What I've been through is never a good thing.

I don’t want to talk about it,

because I am ashamed.

My father and a cousin were soldiers of the Eighth Route Army. A traitor had snitched on us, and the Japanese soldiers came to my house. They set a fire on my cousin's head, and my mother and I went on our knees and begged the soldiers not to abuse him.

But they dragged me into a room and raped me, and hauled me to Nangouchun南沟村.

There were two other women there.

One woman fought back and got stabbed to death, and the other women was so shocked that she became mentally ill. I, being the only one left, was raped by more than ten soldiers every single day.

I was released only after my family gave the traitor money and food. When I was dragged away the second time, there were 10 women there. This time, I ran away in a chaotic pitfall when the Eighth Route Army attacked the Japanese military base. After I got out, I hid in the attic every time the Japanese army came to town.

I don’t think Japan is the only problem when it comes to this issue. The Chinese government is the problem as well. What I've been through is never a good thing. I don’t want to talk about it, because I am ashamed.

In the past, there were times when some people brought me clothes and gifts. When my neighbors asked me why they gave me gifts, I didn’t tell them the truth.

* She had died once in 2013, but she woke up in the shroud after one hour. She forgot how to speak and could not say a word for a long while. She thinks she will not die again, because she has already died once.

PARK Cha-soon 박차순

PARK Cha-soon

박차순

Born in North Jeonra, Korea), Drafted year: 1942, 19y/o, for 3 years. left in Xiaogan, China

There were too many soldiers and women

but not enough rooms that they divided

the rooms in the middle with sheets

so the women could serve the soldiers

in each side of the room at the same time.

Officers came during the normal days,

My family was so poor that I grew up in my grandparents’ home near Jeonju(전주). I was working at a distillery at low wages but was sold to a brothel in Kyoungsung due to a debt with the owner. Then, I was sold again to a Chinese “comfort station.” I went through Nanjing南京, and arrived at Wuchang武汉 in Wuhan.

There were too many soldiers and women but not enough rooms that they divided the rooms in the middle with sheets so the women could serve the soldiers in each side of the room at the same time. Officers came during the normal days, but on Sundays, I had to serve about 20 soldiers. The Japanese managers distributed all the necessary items.

The rule was very strict that we were only allowed to go outside in a group.

After the war, they gathered women near the Japanese concession site.

I was scared and ran away with the help from a local. I wanted to go back home, but I did not know how to get back. I didn’t have parents there anyways, so I decided to stay there because I was ashamed of what I went through.

I got marrieåd in Xiaogan孝感, but I couldn’t bear a child. I adopted a little girl and raised her. In 1970, I had a surgery to remove my uterus, probably due to what I went through in the past.

* She had a step daughter, but she didn’t care about her. Twenty three volunteers and sixty five donors from Korea, Japan and China worked together to build a room for her who was living in a warehouse without a ceiling. I was glad to see her being happy and grateful that her winter will be warmer now.

Fransisca Marcedu

Born in Suai, East-Timor, Drafted year: 1942, 19y/o, for 3 years

Japanese soldiers called me Tomikoトミコ.

They never gave me any money or medicine.

I was just like a horse or a dog.

What I’m saying is all true.

I don’t know when it was, but Japanese soldiers came and asked my parents for me. I said that I didn’t want to go, but the soldiers forced me away.

From the morning till the evening, different soldiers constantly came in. When one was done, the other immediately came. I had to do it, because they said they would kill my parents if I didn’t obey.

Japanese soldiers called me Tomikoトミコ.

They never gave me any money or medicine. I was just like a horse or a dog. What I’m saying is all true. My meal was corn, instead of rice. I was with two other girls named Dafumako and Dou.

I hadn’t started my period before I went there, but after a year it began. I was there for about three years. The Japanese soldiers went home so I was able to come home, too.

When I think about those days, I get headaches. The tattoos on my arms and legs were done by a Japanese soldier. He asked me to get tattoos first when he was with me in the comfort station. I don’t remember what it said. (The writing is blurred. Only the pattern is visible.)

* She was able to have a conversation with me in 2014 but now she doesn’t remember me. Conversation is nearly impossible now. She cannot leave the room without help. She always carries a large leather-looking bag like a treasure. It contains the things she needs, such as hair combs and betel nut.

Dayi

Born in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Drafted year: 1945, 20y/o estimates, for 6 months

I had to say hello every time I met him.

“ごんにちわ, さよなら(Hallo, Good bye)”

If I did not say hello, he got angry

but didn’t hit me.

My parents were farmers, and I was happy with ten siblings.

The village foreman came and forcibly picked out twelve girls and sent to the Japanese military, saying that he was ordered to do so. I wasn’t even properly dressed when I was forcibly sent away.

The village foreman said that we were going to make cotton yarns. I was 20 years old, and there were some women older than me.

We made cotton yarns during the day, but we were taken away by the soldiers in the evening. Almost every night, the same soldier came and slept with me. I had to say hello every time I met him.

“ごんにちわ, さよなら(Hallo, Good bye)” If I did not say hello, he got angry but didn’t hit me.

Every night, I did it with that Japanese soldier and then went home. I had my period at the time but didn’t get pregnant.

Some of the other women got pregnant. I don’t know where and how they live now.

* Her bed is in one corner of the kitchen because there isn’t a proper room to live in. The 2nd floor is woven with bamboo that it looks dangerous as she may get a cut. She kept pointing at me with her finger while I interviewed her. I only heard later that she said I look exactly like that Japanese soldier but the interpreter couldn’t tell me this in front of her.

Fedencia Nacar David

Born in Luzon, the Philippines, Drafted year: 1942, 14y/o, for 10 days + a month(2times)

Even after that, two, three Japanese soldiers

would come to rape me

frequently and took food from me.

My father was hiding out elsewhere and I was home alone.

There was no hope.

When I went to the village market with my grandmother, two Japanese soldiers hit me that I collapsed and they tied my hands behind. When I resisted, they cut my ear with a knife and then took me away. I was taken to room in a government office where a Japanese soldier came

and tried to hold me. I started screaming but the soldier covered my mouth and raped me. I was raped by more soldiers after that. There were about ten other women.

I worked during the day, and soldiers kept coming at night. After about 10 days, soldiers told me to go home. They thought we were guerrilla spies, so they let me go on purpose to put a tail on me. When we arrived home the next day,

the Japanese soldier shot my grandmother and killed her for no reason. In this chaos, the two Japanese soldiers raped me. I fainted and I gathered myself after a while and came home.

the Japanese soldier shot my grandmother and killed her for no reason. In this chaos, the two Japanese soldiers raped me. I fainted and I gathered myself after a while and came home.

Only after one month of this, the Japanese soldiers finally stopped coming. I have suffered from traumatic amnesia. I couldn’t even speak at the time.

* In order to make ends meet, she seeks for pieces of cloth and make cleaning towels for sale. She uses a sewing machine to make it in a size small enough to hold in one hand. It’s only 1 peso (3cents) each, but she says it’s better than just resting, and she keeps looking for work to do.

LI Lan-hai 李兰孩

Born in Sanxi, China, Drafted year: 1945, 15y/o, for 10 days

The girls who had both parents at home

were released after gifting meat, food, and money

to the Japanese soldiers,

but my family couldn’t afford it.

Several days passed and my father gave the local leader.....

My father raised me. Japanese soldiers came and took many women. They only kept those who were 15 and 16 years-old among those women. Only myself and the other three were the ones.In order to avoid being raped by the Japanese soldiers, we searched for a way to escape from the yard.

The Japanese soldiers forced us into rooms and raped us. After they captured us, they did not give us enough water and food.

The girls who had both parents at home were released after gifting meat, food, and money to the Japanese soldiers, but my family couldn’t afford it. Several days passed and my father gave the local leader a few things and money, only then I was released.

After returning home, I stayed in bed because we didn’t have money to go see a doctor. The villagers collected money for me, so I could go to the hospital. It took me half a year to feel better after taking the medicine called #606 (an injection).

My husband, who belonged to the Eighth Route Army, lost one of his arms when a Japanese bomb exploded. My husband died early from a stomach cancer, and I worked for a textile factory.

* Her son lives in the city, but she lives alone because she prefers the countryside. She lives on the dumplings her son brings for her from time to time. She has a large picture of MAO Zedong毛澤東 in her room, whom she thinks of someone that defeated the Japanese military during the war.