ID :
11878
Tue, 07/08/2008 - 15:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/11878
The shortlink copeid
Monument for 33 Chinese A-bomb victims in Nagasaki unveiled
NAGASAKI, July 8 Kyodo - A monument for 33 Chinese people forced to work in Japanese coal mines during World War II and killed in the wartime atomic bombing of Nagasaki was unveiled Monday in the city.
About 60 people, including three members of the bereaved families from China, paid silent tribute to the victims at the unveiling ceremony of the 1.9-meter high monument, completed with public donations, at the Nagasaki Peace Park.
''We erected the monument to compensate as much as possible for the sorrows of Chinese people caused by Japan's invasion,'' former Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, 86, head of the citizens group that erected the monument, said. ''It should have been erected right after Japan's defeat in the war.''Some 1,000 Chinese forced laborers were working at coal mines in Nagasaki Prefecture during the war, of whom 33 were being detained in a Nagasaki prison on suspicion of spying in violation of the now-defunct Peace Preservation Law when the A-bomb was dropped on Aug. 9, 1945.
The prison building was completely destroyed by the blast, and all 134 people inside, including the 33 and prison guards, died.
Qiao Aimin, 67, one of the family members, touched the name of her father engraved on the monument and cried. ''I think my father will rest in peace from now,'' she said.
Motoshima sustained serious injuries after being shot by a nationalist radicalin 1990.
About 60 people, including three members of the bereaved families from China, paid silent tribute to the victims at the unveiling ceremony of the 1.9-meter high monument, completed with public donations, at the Nagasaki Peace Park.
''We erected the monument to compensate as much as possible for the sorrows of Chinese people caused by Japan's invasion,'' former Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, 86, head of the citizens group that erected the monument, said. ''It should have been erected right after Japan's defeat in the war.''Some 1,000 Chinese forced laborers were working at coal mines in Nagasaki Prefecture during the war, of whom 33 were being detained in a Nagasaki prison on suspicion of spying in violation of the now-defunct Peace Preservation Law when the A-bomb was dropped on Aug. 9, 1945.
The prison building was completely destroyed by the blast, and all 134 people inside, including the 33 and prison guards, died.
Qiao Aimin, 67, one of the family members, touched the name of her father engraved on the monument and cried. ''I think my father will rest in peace from now,'' she said.
Motoshima sustained serious injuries after being shot by a nationalist radicalin 1990.
