世界のひとたちの幸せのために
杉浦 藍
捕虜、そして第2次大戦の意味を考えるひとは多いだろう。第2次大戦は６０年前に終わって、その戦争の犠牲者はどんどん亡くなっている。おまけに日本は憲法で戦争放棄をした。だからもう戦争、戦争捕虜について心配する必要はない。これらを考え合わせると一見したところ捕虜について勉強することはさして重要でないように見える。しかし、そうだろうか？答えはノー、である。これは捕虜にかかわる当事者にとって大切な問題であり、また捕虜について学ぶことはよりよい未来につながる。
もし家族、友人の誰かが捕虜として辛酸をなめ、負傷し、あるいは戦争中になくなっているとしたら、私たちは捕虜について見過ごしにはできない。私の祖母の従兄弟は第2次大戦中、シベリアで抑留された。シベリア抑留についての私の知識が捕虜にたいする学びに役立った。
日本では第2次大戦で監禁状況を経験した者のうち、シベリア抑留が最も身近な問題として知られている。戦争終結直後、民間人、3万人の韓国、中国人を含む、６0万以上の日本兵がソ連軍に捕らわれ、スターリンの秘密命令により8月２３日、ソ連邦再建計画の一端としてソ連領のシベリアに送られた。収容所の数は２０００以上、抑留者たちは強制労働をさせられた。6万2千人が飢え、寒さ、伝染病などで死亡した。生存者のほとんどは１９５０年四月までに帰国した。
祖母の従兄弟は幸運にも生還した。彼はひどい体験をした。日本軍に捕らわれた捕虜のように重労働を課せられた。知られるとおりシベリアは極寒の地で、抑留者たちは劣悪な環境におかれた。彼は手指の凍傷に悩み、その一本はいまだに壊疽している。６０年たらず以前のことだが、しかし、体験は胸のうちに収めてしまった。私に話してくれたのは祖母だが、自身はごく少数のひとに話したのみで、彼から体験をきくことは不可能である。
さいわいなことに私は日本軍捕虜だった数人のオーストラリア人と会う機会に恵まれた。祖母の従兄弟の例からみて、苦しい日々を思い出すはつらいことだろう。でもこの元捕虜たちは私に多くの体験を話し写真も見せてくれた。日本の捕虜となった彼らの体験を尋ねることにためらいがあったが、彼らはとても親切で気さくで、私は感謝しきれないほどだ。高校ではシベリア抑留は勉強したが、連合軍捕虜については学ばなかったので、関心を持ち、本やウエブサイトを読んだ。「捕虜 日米の対話」は米捕虜について役立ち、複数の国の視点で捕虜について考え、また事実を述べる書物と違い個人の感情までも知ることができる。
日本兵が米軍捕虜にしたことを読んでぞっとした。彼らを殴り、肺に水を注ぎ込んだ。食べさせないまま、気絶するまで気をつけの姿勢で立たせた。サーシャ・ジーン・ジャンセンの記事はショックだった。マニラで日本兵たちがフィリピンの少年を芝生においた風呂桶でおぼれさせ、その子の息絶えた濡れた体が運び去られあいだ、笑いはやし立てて飛び回ったというのだ。
こうした行動はナチスのしたことと同じぐらいに残酷だ。米国だけでなく日本の人びともこれらの事実をしっかり認識するべきだ。しかし、たいていの日本人は歴史をちゃんと知ろうとしない。私は原爆投下、東京大空襲、ミドウェイ空襲、南京の大虐殺を習った。でもそれは歴史の一部に過ぎない。すべての日本人が日本軍の捕虜取り扱いをふくめて真実を知るべきだと思う。歴史をしっかり評価するうえで、日本政府が第二次大戦中の日本がしたことを認めることがまず第一だろう。
アメリカ軍の捕虜となった日本兵と、第一大戦中に日本に捕らわれた捕虜について読んだことがある私は、このウェブサイトの記事を読んで驚いた。アメリカ兵たちは日本人捕虜にちゃんとした環境を整えた。十分な食べ物、怪我や病気は治療し、捕虜たちは十分の睡眠を与えられた。その環境の故にアメリカ人捕虜にくらべ米軍に捕らえられた日本人捕虜の死者は少ない。日露戦争と第1次大戦では日本はもっとよい環境を捕虜に整えた。日露戦争ではロシア軍捕虜を優遇したとも言われる。しかしながら第2次大戦ではまるきり違っていた。
米軍捕虜にたいするひどい態度は単純ではない。しかし戦争という状況がひとつの理由だ。日本は第2次大戦中、米軍に劣勢で日本は負けそうだった。
第2次大戦後、ポツダム宣言のなかで連合軍捕虜の扱いについて日本兵たちは非難された。しかしごく少数の日本人しかこのことを知らない。私たちはこの事実を知り、各国捕虜の歴史を比べる必要がある。このようにすることでわたしたちは真の歴史を認識することができる。
日本は内向的になりがちでときとしてひとの意見を聞かない。それが日本と他の国々のあいだに壁をつくる。最近面白い記事が目にはいった。ナチについての次の記事である。
ホロコーストを否定し牢獄へ
2006年2月21日 ウィーン発
2006年2月20日、オーストラリアの首都ヴィーンの法廷は英国人歴史家に懲役3年の刑を言い渡した。彼がナチスのホロコーストを否定したためである。オーストリアでもドイツでもホロコーストの否定は法律により禁じられている。
この姿勢と日本のそれはいかに対照的なことか。この記事は極端な例かもしれないが、日本はこの例にならい事実は事実として直視することができると私は思う。歴史の真実を知ろうとしないかぎり、日本は他の国々と友好的な関係はつくれない。
日本軍捕虜について学んだら私たちは未来にむけて何かしなくてはならない。真実の歴史を認識することがよりよい関係に欠かせないのはいうまでもない。しかし、事実を知るとおなじくらい他国の人びとの気持ちや考えを知ることも大切だ。私たちは、第2次大戦の歴史にたいする彼らの思いを理解せずに自己満足的な考え方をしがちである。日米の若者たちがあの戦争についてすべてを知ることはできない。けれどフランクに意見を交わすことでより良い世界をつくりあげることができる。私たちは平和な世界をつくらなくてはいけない。それは私たちしだいなのだ。
敵対しているとき、若者たちは次々と新しい機械を発明するだけのエネルギーがあるものだ。それが人間を傷つけるために用いられたのは残念だが、この大きなエネルギーを世界のひとたちを幸せにするために用いようではないか。私たちにはできる！そしてどんな値をはらってもやりとげなくてはいけない！
To make all the people in the world happy
Ai Sugiura
A lot of people may consider the meaning of POWs and World War II. World War II was over about 60 years ago, so more and more victims of the war have been passing away. Moreover, Japan decided to renounce war in the Constitution, so we don’t need to worry about future war or POWs any more. Apparently, the study of POWs doesn’t seem to have so much meaning when considering these things. However is it true? The answer is no. It is very important for people involved with the POW issue. In addition, studying POW issue should lead to the better world in the future.
If one of our family or friends were a POW and suffered from injuries or died before the end of the war, we couldn’t overlook the issue of POWs and would try to know about the truth of it. In fact my grandmother’s cousin was interned in Siberia after World War II. That’s why I’ve been very interested in the Allied POWs. The issue of Siberian internment is partly different from the issue of POWs, but they have something in common. So my knowledge about the Siberian Internment helps me study POWs.
In Japan, the Siberian Internment is the most familiar issue concerning about people who were held in captivity related to World War II. After World War II, the Japanese Army were taken prisoner by the Soviet Army. As soon as World War II is over, about 600,000 or more Japanese soldiers, including some civilians and about 30,000 Koreans and Chinese, were taken to Siberia, which was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics territory. The number of concentration camps was no fewer than 2000, and internees were forced to work. This internment was carried out following the Stalin’s top secret order on August 23th, 1945, and it was executed as a part of the reconstruction plan of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Eventually 62,000 people died in this internment because of starvation, the severe cold, or infectious diseases. Other people were released at last, and almost all of them came back to their hometowns by April, 1950.
My grandmother’s cousin was lucky to come back. He had such a bitter experience. He was imposed compulsory labor just like the POWs held by the Japanese Army. As you know, Siberia is freezing cold and the internees were in a terrible environment. He was suffering from frostbite in his fingers. One of his nails has still gangrene. It occurred 60 years ago, but he has tucked the memory into himself. He has never told me the story about the internment, and I heard this story from my grandmother. He told this story to only few people. I want to know more about it, but it’s impossible.
However, I was very lucky to have an opportunity to meet some Australians who were Japanese POWs during World War II. As I think of my grandmother’s cousin, who would never tell us the story about his internment days, it must be very painful for him to recollect the experience. However, those Australian former POWs told us a lot about their experience and they also showed us pictures. At the beginning of that day when I met them, I hesitated to talk about POWs or ask about their experience considering their feelings. In addition, they were taken prisoner by the ‘Japanese’ Army so I was very nervous about it. However, they were very kind and talked with us very friendlily in spite of my worry. I can’t appreciate enough for that they gave us a lot. At high school, I had studied the Siberian internment but had never studied the Allied POWs held by Japan, so that opportunity was very precious. They made me more interested in POWs. After that, I read some books and articles about POWs. The content of the website, US–Japan Dialogue on POWs, is very useful for me in my studying American POWs. It’s difficult to study the issue of POWs from the viewpoint of more than one country, but this website enables me to do it. It was also more shocking to read it rather than reading books which contain only facts but not personal emotions.
I was especially horrified to read what the Japanese soldiers did to American POWs. They beat POWs. They pumped water in POWs’ lung. They keep POWs standing in attention without food till the POWs became unconscious. I was shocked to read the Sascha Jean Jansen’s story in the website, which included the story that the Japanese Soldiers had just drowned a young Filipino boy in a bathtub on a lawn in Manila and they laughed and jeered and hopped with joy on their feet as the wet, lifeless body of this child was taken away.
These actions were just as cruel as what the Nazis did during World War II. Not only the U.S. people but also Japanese should recognize the facts properly. However, most Japanese don’t try to know the real history. I learned about the atomic bombs, the Great Air Raid of Tokyo, Japanese air raid on Midway, and a wholesale slaughter in Nanking. But they are only a part of the real history. I think the most important thing is that all Japanese appreciate the true facts, of course including what the Japanese did to the Japanese POWs. In order to appreciate the history, it may be essential that the Japanese Government admit what Japan did during World War II completely.
I’ve read some books about the Japanese POWs held by the US and the POWs held by Japan during World War I, so the essays on the website surprised me very much. The American soldiers gave respectable environment to the Japanese POW’s. They gave enough food, they cured the Japanese POWs if they were sick or injured, and the Japanese POWs could sleep enough. Because of this environment, the death rate for Japanese POWs held by America is less than American POWs. Besides it is famous that the Japanese soldiers gave the better environment to POWs during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. It is also said that Japanese soldiers meet the Russo POWs at hospitality during Russo-Japanese War. However, it was absolutely different during World War II. The reason of the horrible attitude to the American POWs may not be simple, but the war situation is one of the reasons. Japan was inferior to America during World War II and Japan was about to lose. Japan couldn’t afford to comply with the international law. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were blamed for the attitude to the American POWs in the Potsdam Declaration. However, very few Japanese know this fact now. We have to know this fact and compare the POW history of each country. We can appreciate the real history by doing that
Japan tends to be “introverted,” and sometimes won’t listen to others’ opinions. It leads to creation of a barrier between Japan and other countries. Recently a very interesting article caught my eyes. It was an article about the Nazi. It read as follows:
Making A Denial of Holocaust Leads to Prison
February 21 2006 /Vienna
On February 20th, 2006, the Court in Wien, capital of Austria, condemned a British historian to 3 year-imprisonment, because he made a denial of Holocaust by the Nazi. In Austria and Germany, making a denial of Holocaust is prohibited by law.
What a contrast there is between this attitude and that of Japan. This article may be an extreme example, but I think Japan can follow this example and face the facts as facts. Japan can’t establish friendly relations with other countries until Japan tries to know the truth of the history.
After studying about the Japanese POWs, we have to do something for the future. It goes without saying that appreciating the truth of history is indispensable for much better relationship, but knowing feelings or ideas of people of other countries is as important as knowing the facts. We tend to shape a self-satisfying idea without understanding their feelings toward history of World War II. Young people in the U.S. and Japan can’t know all about the war, but can make the world better by exchanging opinions very frankly. We must not let another war break out. We must make a peaceful world. It depends on us.
During hostilities, young people have enough energy to invent new machines one after another. I regret that they were used in order to hurt people, but let’s make the best of this enormous energy to make all the people in the world happy. We can do it! And we must do it at all costs!