Mr. Aeba Hideo Talks about his Internment Experience in Siberia Part II
-Experiences in Siberia and Thoughts -
Interview Date: Aug.26, 2010
Place : Office of Japan Association of Forced Internees in Kudan, Tokyo
Interviewee： Mr. Hideo Aeba
Born in 1923. While he was working for an iron manufacturing company, he was drafted in 1943.
He was taken to Siberia for forced labor after WWII from the middle of August in 1945 to July 1949. After coming back to Japan, he worked for the same manufacturing company until retirement. While serving as a board of trustee for Japan Association of Forced Internees, he became the director of the association. His responsibilities include publication of the newsletters, visitation of the tombs in Siberia, memorial services in local districts as well as in Tokyo, exhibitions, holding meetings between Japan and Russia for the purpose of compensation for the forced labor, consultation from the forced internees, holding meetings for sharing oral histories by the internees.
http://zaidan-zenyokukyo-com.ssl-xserver.jp/
Planning/English Translation/Interviewer: Haruko Oshima Sakakibara
Born in Tokyo. She has been a lecturer of Japanese in East Asian Language and Culture at University of California, Davis since 1986. She published the bilingual website, “Japanese in Siberia” in 2015. Her uncle was interned in Siberia.
japaneseinsiberia.ucdavis.edu
Excerpts 2
As soon as I joined the military engineering section of the army in Feb, 1944 at Takatsuki in the Osaka city, I was transferred to Manchuria. The war ended on August, 15th.
After that, I obeyed the direction of the Russians and stayed at the internment camp in the city of Harbin in Manchuria. In other words, I was in Manchuria from August to November.
On Dec. 4, I arrived at the city which is called now Khabarovsk. It was at a camp 217 in Khabarovsk where I was forced into various labors first.
I think I was engaged in over twenty different forced labors: cutting woods, sawing, road repair, carrying items in and out of trucks and cargos, office work inside the camp, coal mining, levee protections works, and mechanical engineering, etc.
The most difficult thing was that I did not have physical power. It was not my sickness itself that gave me a tough time, but the lack of food and how they treated people in weak health.
The most difficult condition was the quota for our work.
Then they extended our working hours, and in some camps, the labor was forced during the night to reach the added quota. We really suffered from these things.
In addition to the bad food condition that did not give us any energy, the amount of our expected labor was arbitrary changed.
I left Nakhodka on July 29, 1949. When I arrived at the port of Maizuru, Japan was August, 2nd.
However, the reality was that people around me were falling down one after another and dying due to malnutrition, and we were told to carry the bodies for their burials. It is true that did think about home, but in such a circumstance, as I repeated such actions, I began to feel I had no control over my future.
As for me, I have been telling myself not to think I was the only victim that suffered. People who were inside Japan at that time must have gone through similar hardships.
My parents worried about me to death. In addition to what they had to struggle to get through with the basic daily living, bombing, evacuation and such, they had their own shares of difficulties. That is what I heard after I came home.
Interview 2
Sakakibara: Let me ask you about your experiences in Siberia now. First of all, would you tell me how things happened from the point you joined the army for WWll, defeated in the war and then were taken to Siberia for detainment?
Aeba: As soon as I joined the military engineering section of the army in Feb, 1944 at Takatsuki in the Osaka city, I was transferred to Manchuria. I entered the unit called Heiyo in the state of Koan. Since I passed the test to become candidates for leadership, I was a high official. Unfortunately I was a little sick, so the special prep school for that purpose was delayed a little bit, and it was July, 1945 when I first went to that school. The war ended on August, 15th. I saw the official announcement of Japan’s defeat in the war when I arrived at Harpin where I was transferred to go to the school there.
Aeba: After that, I obeyed the direction of the Russians and stayed at the internment camp in the city of Harbin in Manchuria. Russians were sending two thousand people at a time from the camp to Siberia from there, but we did not know where they were taken back then. It was November, 1945 when I left the camp I was kept. In other words, I was in Manchuria from August to November.
Aeba: The reason why my transfer was delayed so much was because I was in a special unit for the graduates of soldiers of higher rank. During the transfer, we were in the cargo trains, so I could not see the scenery outside at all. On Dec. 4, I arrived at the city which is called now Khabarovsk. It was at a camp 217 in Khabarovsk where I was forced into various labors first.
Sakakibara: Would you describe the forced labors you experienced in Siberia?
Aeba: I think I was engaged in over twenty different forced labors: cutting woods, sawing, road repair, carrying items in and out of trucks and cargos, office work inside the camp, coal mining, levee protections works, and mechanical engineering, etc.
Aeba: Depending on the camp I stayed, I was engaged in certain types of work longer than others.
As I had a personal case of unique kind of appendix, I was moved around six times. I had two surgeries for that during the time in Siberia. In such a case, patients are sent to lighter work than others during the recovery period. After getting out of a hospital, we can not go back to the previous camp, but are sent to anywhere that was necessary. Depending on the specific work each camp was engaged in, the nature of our forced labor changed.
Aeba: The most difficult thing was that I did not have physical power. It was not my sickness itself that gave me a tough time, but the lack of food and how they treated people in weak health. If the condition was not obviously visible such as having a fever, they did not treat us as sick people. If you have nerve pains or rheumatism, we are treated as having a healthy body. As we are sent to the day’s labor, we go in a group, and if people of weak health are in the group, all others also had to suffer. In a normal condition, we should be able to help the ones who are weak, but even the “healthy” people were already extremely weak due to the mal condition of living.
Aeba: The most difficult condition was the quota for our work. The normal quota was allocated based on common sense. However, that was easily changed by the supervisors at the sites in order to raise the efficiency of their own sites. Those supervisors were prisoners who were sent to underpopulated areas.
Aeba: For example, if they raised the quota from 100% to 120%, they hit us even if we completed 105 % of the job. Then they extended our working hours, and in some camps, the labor was forced during the night to reach the added quota. We really suffered from these things.
In addition to the bad food condition that did not give us any energy, the amount of our expected labor was arbitrary changed.
Aeba: However, I had a different situation because I used to teach abacus before I joined the army.
Russian soldiers who were sent to Siberia as our supervisors were really weak at numbers.
They were criminals themselves and were sent out there for their penalty, so there were not any smart people. They really liked my ability to handle numbers and viewed me like a god of numbers at one point. For me, it was just an ordinary matter, but it became useful. As a result, I was placed for various office work inside buildings after my surgeries.
Aeba: I was actually in charge of prisoners’ clothing. I was able to help them sometimes in that job. When I saw someone’s clothing was in a terrible condition, I could exchange it to a better one behind the supervision of the Russian soldiers in higher ranks. Because I was in charge of such work, I probably had less experience of hard labor outside compared to others.
Sakakibara: When did you come back to Japan ?
Aeba: I left Nakhodka on July 29, 1949. When I arrived at the port of Mizuru, Japan was August, 2nd. There were some strife on the boat, and we could not land until August 4th. So on the official document, I came back to Japan on August 4th, 1949.
Sakakibara: What went through your mind right before you landed on Japan and actually stood on your home land?
Aeba: Actually, I was just vaguely thinking about various things such as what would happen after that. I was not able to focus on the future or current situations. I really did not have room to think about beautiful things like the mountains and the rivers of the homeland. I was just at a loss without any focus.
Aeba: However, something really made me awake. As I was staring at where the ship was going to be landing, I saw a small boat going around and around our ship, Meiyumaru. Because the deck was rather high, I could not really see well, but I thought the person in the boat looked like my father, and yes it was. My parents were there to greet me ! At the arrival on the port, I still did not know how to get to my parents. We had not met each other for six or seven years. Although my voice would not reach them in the crowd, the realization of the reunion with my parents made me feel it was real. Until then, I still could not truly believe we were going home when we got into the boat at Nakhodka. I wondered if we were on our way to another camp somewhere. It is true that we met Japanese nurses and sailors in the boat, but still, everything looked suspicious. That is why I was not focused even when the ship was pulling close to the port of Maizuru.
Sakakibara: Did you think you would be able to go back to Japan alive?
Aeba: Well, until the third year or so, I had a firm belief I would go home alive. From time to time, we had information about who were going back to Japan. The announcement was made regarding who were on the next list to go back home. Good people tended to be
sent back one after another, but we had no way to make sure they were actually sent home.
However, the reality was that people around me were falling down one after another and dying due to malnutrition, and we were told to carry the bodies for their burials. It is true that did think about home, but in such a circumstance, as I repeated such actions, I began to feel I had no control over my future.
Aeba: I had another difficulty. As I have mentioned, I had to move around many camps due to my health conditions, so I had nobody I could become close to--I did not have anyone to talk to.
Although “going home” was my first concern for the first few years, it gradually became a distant idea. That is why I was unfocused even though I saw faces of Japanese nurses on the deck. It was not a particularly joyful event even when I saw them.
Sakakibara: Since your return, what kind of work have you been engaged in?
Aeba: There was a problem. Before I entered the army, I used to work at a bank, and then moved to an iron manufacturing company. When the mobilization order came out, there was a tendency we might be moved to help defense industry. My uncle who was working in the iron manufacturing company told me to come to his company to avoid such a chance. I thought I would be able to go back to the job once I finish serving in the army. After my return, I was invited to the company, but the president did not allow me to come back.
Aeba: When I asked him why, it was because of the influence of the riot that happened at Kyoto station that was caused by the returnees who came back from Russia in 1948. They screamed everyone should go to the communist headquarters etc. The labeling of “red: communist” was a very scary one. You see, I came home one year after them. So the president was afraid I was also one of them.
Aeba: Then my uncle who was an executive member made a clear statement saying, “By any chance he ever gets involved in anything like that, I will resign at the same time. So please help him go back to work in this company.” That was the condition of for me to go back to work. Because of that reason, my uncle made sure I was working in the area I was visible in his eyes. He was in sales, so I was put into sales force for three years. At that time, movements for union were becoming popular, but I was told not to become active with them. I continued to work in that company until sixty years old.
Sakakibara: It is already half a century since the experience you shared with us. Now as you look back to your experience of detainment in Siberia, what kind of thoughts do you have in your mind?
Aeba: As for me, I have been telling myself not to think I was the only victim that suffered. People who were inside Japan at that time must have gone through similar hardships. It is all right to explain the situations I went through, but I wanted to stay away from asking for sympathy to focus on my own hardships. For example, I am an only child. My parents
worried about me to death. In addition to what they had to struggle to get through with the basic daily living, bombing, evacuation and such, they had their own shares of difficulties. That is what I heard after I came home. So I think it goes both ways. Well, listening is important though. I would like people to have listening ears to remember what really happened because it should not be forgotten. However, I am not interested in going out there and look for sympathy myself.
Aeba: I receive various phone calls from the former detainees. At such times, I listen to them and say, “I understand you. I feel the same way, but if you keep thinking you are the only one who suffered, you will feel miserable. Instead, it will make you feel better if you try to think all of your family members suffered with you. Let’s not think we were the only victims. ” If they can not change how they feel, I accept it, but I try my best to influence them to think that it was an reciprocal experience. I believe it is better for us to think that way.
Sakakibara: Based on your experience, what kind of messages do you have for the future generation?
Aeba: I would like people to remember the history that happened in the past. However, I realize the time is changing. People have a right to live in the given time they live through, so I don’t believe in telling them that our hardships have to be recognized and appreciated. I just want them to know the facts and recognize it. The time is changing and the way of thinking changes as it goes, so people in the current time may have a little different opinions from ours. However, I talk with them with such a belief I have.
Sakakibara: Thank you so much for sharing such a valuable story today.
Aeba: Sorry that I could not summarize things very well, but I feel did tell you my feelings. Thank you.
Sakakibara: Thank you very much.