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Maintaining evidence of Japanese warcrimes in Shanghai
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Program Code: 0909346160205003 | Source: CNTV
IN Shanghai, demolition has ceased on a former sex-slave site run by the Japanese military during World War II. This follows protests against erasing the memory of warcrimes and is part of a broader movement not only to preserve such sites but to turn them into museums.
A shikumen building on Gongping Road was built in the 1920s and occupied during World War II by the Japanese navy, who turned it into a brothel with 17 rooms. At its busiest time, more than 40 women of different nationalities were forced to work as sex slaves, or so-called “comfort women,” in the building.
Since the brothel was shut down at the end of the war, the building has been home to a number of families. But the Hongkou District government took control last November, and all of the residents were moved out. Demolition work began three days ago, and most of the interior has already been destroyed.
But Professor Su Zhiliang, who has been studying the issue of comfort women for decades, says the building documents the history of a very dark period for Shanghai, and should be protected.
“This comfort house was managed by a Japanese veteran named Sakashita Kumazo at that time. His son witnessed the entire history of women being raped in this house and later wrote a book in 1990 that documented all the details,” said Su Zhiliang, historian, Shanghai Normal University.
“Therefore, this site serves as a testament to Shanghai’s tumultuous 20th-century history, and should not have been demolished.”
But the Hongkou government says the building was not listed as a protected historic relic, so the work was perfectly legal. Many other former brothels exist in the district, and some people want to see them protected.
“We believe it was all done in a legal manner. But given there are different opinions, we have suspended the process and will invite experts and cultural-relic-protection institutions to re-evaluate this site,” said Yao Jian, director, Hongkou Govt. Cultural Affairs Bureau.
There were once about 160 such comfort houses on Gongping Road. But the vast majority of them have already been demolished. Some people would like to see the rest of them saved, or even turned into an exhibition site.
Professor Su is calling on the government to save the remaining comfort houses in Shanghai by including those with significant historic value in the existing categories of protected buildings.
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