Lüshun prison
The prison in Lushun ( Chinese 旅顺监狱旧址 , Pinyin Lǚshùn Jianyu Jiùzhǐ ) is a former Russian-Japanese prison in today Lüshunkou , Liaoning , China .
Erected by the Russian colonial government in 1902, the Japanese colonial administration systematically expanded it into a labor and extermination camp from 1907.
history
Through the Lüda lease of March 27, 1898, Russia leased Lüshun and Dalian from China for 25 years. On May 7, 1898, the Qing government made further concessions regarding Russia's rights. The governor of Guandong Prefecture was given permission to set up a prison in Yuanbaofang, Lüshun.
In 1904 the Russo-Japanese War broke out. After the city was taken over by the Japanese troops on January 2, 1905, the prison, which had not yet been completed, also fell under Japanese administration. The Japanese colonial administration expanded the prison from 1907 and converted it into one of the largest concentration camps in northeastern China.
On August 22, 1945, Red Army troops landed at Tuchengzi Airport in Lüshun and Zhoushuizi Airport in Dalian . On August 27, 1945, the prisoners in Lüshun Prison were released.
Facilities
The prison extended over an area of 26,000 m² and was surrounded by a 725 m long and 4 to 5 m high wall. Of the 275 cells, 253 were ordinary prison cells for up to ten inmates, 18 cells were for sick inmates, and four cells were used as a dungeon. The prison complex also had body search rooms, interrogation and torture rooms, and 15 workshops where inmates had to do hard work. The prison had a brick kiln, forestry business, fruit plantations and vegetable fields as outdoor facilities.
The inmates had to pass through the search room every morning on the way from their cell to work. They had to take off all of their clothes and then climb over a wooden barrier. Behind the barrier they had to endure a search of their bodies for hidden objects with their mouths open. The same procedure took place in the evening on the way back to the cell. During the cold winter in particular, many old, sick or weakened prisoners died as a result of this procedure.
As forced laborers in the workshops, the inmates had to do ten hours of hard work a day. The prison produced military equipment. The profit from this work in 1936 was 86,000 Japanese yen, which at that time was the equivalent of 40,000 sacks of flour.
Anyone who did not confess or violate prison rules during interrogation was taken to the torture room. Fixed on their stomachs on a bench in the shape of the Chinese character 火 ( fire ) or tied to a pole under the ceiling, the inmates were mercilessly beaten with a cane - a bamboo cane filled with lead - to the point of unconsciousness, and in some cases to death .
The dungeons were prisons within a prison. Dark and damp, they offered just 2.5 square meters of space. In addition to the shackles, the inmate was put on a leather harness that held his hands on his stomach and made it difficult for him to sit, stand up, or lie down. This type of torture could result in death within a few days.
The infirmary consisted of a “clinic” with 18 cells for inmates who were no longer able to work in the workshops due to torture or illness. In fact, the purpose of the infirmary was either to get the prisoners delivered to work again as quickly as possible, or to kill them by injecting them or forcing them into a special leather corset.
The execution room was in the northeast corner of the camp. In 1934, for fear of rebellion, the Japanese prison authorities relocated the execution site, which was originally located in the center of the prison. Between 1942 and August 1945, over 700 people were secretly executed in the two-story building and pressed into wooden barrels with broken bones. These wooden barrels were buried on the slope of a nearby hill.
Tago Jirō , a Japanese war criminal, was the last director of the prison. Two days after the unconditional surrender of the Japanese, he ordered the execution of six communists and destroyed a large number of incriminating camp documents. He was captured by the Red Army in October but later pardoned by the Chinese government.
Treatment of inmates
In order to break the personalities of the prisoners, the Japanese introduced a hierarchical system geared towards denunciation. Those who cooperated rose in the camp system and received perks or relief from detention.
- Loss of identity
- When they were admitted to prison, inmates were given a number. From then on they were no longer a personality with their own name, but just a number.
- Food rations
- The food rations were divided into seven levels. The 7th grade - the smallest ration - was only 50 grams.
- Clothing color
- Depending on the prisoners' willingness to cooperate, they were given different colored prisoner clothing (red or blue).
Known inmates
Deng Hegao
Deng He Gao (1902–1979) was an early Communist Party of China (CPC) functionary in Dalian District. He was betrayed to the Japanese in 1927 and sent to Lüshung prison. After his release in 1934, he continued his revolutionary activities.
Shin Chae-ho
Shin Chae-ho (1880–1936), author of the Korean Revolutionary Manifesto , was arrested in 1928 while in exile in China and sentenced to ten years in prison. He died in Lüshun prison in 1936.
To Chung-gun
An Chung-gun (1879-1910) was a Korean independence fighter. On October 26, 1909, he shot Hirobumi Ito, the chairman of the Japanese cabinet and First Governor Chosens. He was arrested in Lushun on November 3, 1909 and executed in his prison cell on March 26, 1910.
Ji Shouxian
Ji Shouxian (1910–1942) was the general director of a militant anti-Japanese organization that set up arson attacks against the colonial occupation. He was arrested in Shanghai in 1940 and transferred to Lüshun in 1942, where he was murdered that same year.
Wei Changkui
Wei Changjui (1906–1938) was an official in the Dalian District Early Communist Youth League. He was arrested in 1927 and taken to Lüshun. After his release in 1933, he became the director of the Political Section of the 9th Division of the Anti-Japanese United Forces.
The prison today
After a renovation in 1971, the prison was opened to the public. In 1988 the Chinese government placed it under state protection as a national cultural monument.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Note: Lüda is made up of the first letters of the cities Lü shun and Da lian.
- ↑ Contract for the lease of the Liaodong Peninsula , signed on March 27, 1898 by the representatives of the Russian Emperor and the Emperor of China
- ↑ Convention For The Lease Of The Liaotung Peninsula (English)
- ↑ Additional Agreement defining Boundaries of Leased and Neutralized Territory in Liaotung Peninsula (English)
- ↑ Hong Wencheng: An Unforgettable Scene - The Former Lushun Prison. Chapter 1.
- ↑ a b Hong Wencheng: An Unforgettable Scene - The Former Lushun Prison. Chapter 2.
- ↑ Other spellings: Ahn Chung-kun , Ahn Chung-gun , An Zoong-kun
- ^ Korea Times (Seoul, Korea): Execution Chamber of Freedom Fighter Ahn Found in Lushun. Published July 8, 2000.
- ^ Korea Times: Trial and Execution of Ahn. 14 August 2009.
- ↑ also known under the name Ji Xingzhou
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hong Wencheng An Unforgettable Scene - The Former Lushun Prison. Chapter 4.
literature
- Hong Wencheng: An Unforgettable Scene - The Former Lushun Prison . 1st edition. People's Fine Arts Publishing House, Beijing 2002, ISBN 7-102-02421-5 .
Coordinates: 38 ° 49 ′ 28.3 " N , 121 ° 15 ′ 35.2" E