The Foreign Residents In Weihsien Foreign Residents Concentration Camp

During Second World War, Japanese Invading Army separated and interned foreign residents from 21 countries, mainly from American, England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, who lived mainly in North China, in the areas occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese set up a foreign residents concentration camp in Weihsien Le Daoyuan, Shandong. The Japanese called it the"Civilian Assembly Center", but people generally called it"Weihsien Foreign Residents Concentration Camp". This article analyses three periods of the formation, continuation and disintegration of the concentration camp, and mainly explicates the foreign residents in Weihsien concentration camp.The whole discourse can be divided into three parts:I. The breakout of the Pacific War and the formation of the foreign residents concentration campThe first part of this article mainly discusses the reasons why the concentration camp was formed and why the Japanese chose Weihsien Le Daoyuan, Shandong as a site where foreign residents in China were interned. Although Weihsien was a county town, it had a developed economy and a good transport service. They chose this place for it was convenient and did not attract others'attention; Le Daoyuan was located in the suburbs of the town, with fine surroundings, good facilities and it was relatively separate; Le Daoyuan along with its church, hospital and schools belonged to the American Presbyterian Church and were basically preserved well during the war. All these conditions could meet the need as a place to intern foreign residents.II. The hard time in the concentration campThe second part is the main part of the article. This part mainly explicates the following aspects: the number of the internees, the way of management, the living conditions, the struggle and resistance and the assistance to these internees. (1). There were more than 2000 foreign residents interned in the concentration camp. One reliable document proved that there were 1644 internees on June 3, 1944. (2). Japanese managed the camp in the loose way which they maintained the Westerners' life style to some extent. (3).In the early days in the camp, the Japanese carried out rationing system. After1943, the internees had a hard time because of the lack of food supply. (4). The foreign residents in the concentration camp once used their own way to resist effectively in order to guarantee their legitimate rights and interests, and forced the Japanese to make concessions. (5) The local people offered these foreign residents all kinds of assistance by sending foods, raising donations and even helping some internees escape from the camp.III. The end of Second World War and the disintegration of the foreign residents concentration campThis part mainly narrates the disintegration of the foreign residents concentration camp and its remaining problems. American Army carried out a rescue plan named"duck"on August 17, 1945 and liberated the Allied prisoners in the camp. Later Americans took charge of the task which was properly to handle the remaining problems and helped all the foreign residents from different countries return to their own country.Being as the biggest concentration camp in China during the Anti-Japanese War, the existence of Weihsien foreign residents concentration camp makes it clear to the people all over the world that Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is an important and inseparable part of the World War of Anti-Fascists. These true stories happened in the camp are undoubtedly a stern warning to Japanese ultra-rightists who are trying to blot out the facts in history in order to shirk the responsibility of being guilty of historical crimes.