Tell us about one of the strangest Olympic Games in history.
How strange is that?
Time Oddity:
It was held during the Korean War and lasted 12 days from November 15 to November 26, 1952.
Location:
It was held at the Bitong Prisoner of War Camp, located in Bitong County, North Korea, just across the river from Kuandian County, China, and more than 1,000 kilometers from the 38th Parallel.
Contestant Qi:
More than 500 allied prisoners of war participated in the competition, from 14 countries and regions such as the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Colombia, Australia, the Philippines, and Turkey.
This is the only time in the history of human warfare.
Detailed records restore only this one piece.
Bold, shocking, Douban score as high as 9.6.
And look down.
Prisoner of War Camp Without Barbed Wire
2004.11
The full name of this Olympic Games -
Chinese Olympic Games in the Bitong Prisoner of War Camp of the People's Volunteer Army.
Don't underestimate it.
From the purpose to the process to the refereeing standards are in accordance with the provisions of the Olympic Charter, cheerleaders, orchestras, logistics are not lacking, and the preparation period alone is as long as one month.
There are individually designed posters, emblems and slogans.
The tournament is even more exciting.
There are as many as 27 competitions.
A black American PRISONER of War ran 10.6 seconds in the 100-meter race, only 0.4 seconds slower than the world record at the time; the 200-meter race and the champion of various ball events were also won by american prisoners of war.
A British prisoner of war won the 1500m race walk; Turkish prisoners of war had the upper hand in wrestling, with a wrestling king setting a record of seven consecutive wins.
South Korean prisoners of war also have two brushes, excellent long-distance running ability, won the 3000 meters running championship, no wonder our volunteer army complained that "Korean prisoners are not easy to catch, too able to run."
There are also anecdotes.
An American prisoner of war stole the rice wine of the cooking class before participating in the boxing match, which was actually better than the stimulant, the wine came up, won the championship, and was reported by other prisoners of war, the results were canceled, and then he was punished to feed the pigs.
More advanced.
Every day, the conference publishes an Olympic Express to track the daily schedule, take stock of the gold medal list, and let the Players of Niu X shine.
It's cooler to win.
The prizes are rich, cloisonné vases, silk umbrellas, sandalwood fans, necklaces, silk scarves, etc., which were procured by our volunteer army, costing a total of 600 million old coins, equivalent to 60,000 yuan now.
The prizes are exquisite, and the foreign prisoners of war are very precious, and some even want to use them as wedding gifts.
At the same time, the Battle of Shangganling in the front has been going on for more than a month.
Tanks, artillery, and aircraft were in battle, the fighting was fierce, the artillery was constantly under fire, and the volunteer army and the "United Nations Army" repeatedly fought for land 59 times.
The front fights the rear Olympics.
What the hell is going on here?
>>>> be equal and not abusive
From the beginning.
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army went to Korea to carry out the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and with the increase of prisoners of war, it was inconvenient to manage, so a prisoner of war camp was established in the rear.
The Bitong Prisoner of War Camp is one of them.
At first, the captured soldiers were terrified, and they had heard that the volunteers were cruel, and in addition to being tortured and abused, they were also sent to the northeast or Siberia to dig coal.
scold.
"In the process of China's revolution, how many rumors this American has created for us."
There is indeed abuse.
The volunteers ate rough grain.
Yankees eat canned bread butter without eating rough grain, and lazy, soybeans are not ground only boiled in water to eat, eat straight and thin, and then think of a way, pay for workers, two dollars to hire Turkish prisoners to grind a bag of beans.
What kind of laziness can American prisoners be?
Pull thin, pull this side and then fold over, pull the other side and fold it again, and throw it when the blanket is folded. Some British captives could not stand the stench of American captives and threw them directly into the pool.
At that time, an old comrade said: "This bear-like, how to fight a war." ”
Preferential treatment of prisoners of war is both a tactic and a matter of human nature.
To solve the meal.
The volunteers distributed vegetables to prisoners of war, and each prisoner of war could buy 4 kilograms of meat per month, sugar, oil and salt, and sometimes even fruit, beer and tobacco.
Eat better than the captive cadres.
Even more incredible—"
Unconditional release of a group of prisoners of war.
The group consisted of 27 prisoners of war, each of whom was issued prisoner passes, informed of their transit routes and precautions, and confessed that "if they cannot go back, they can come back again".
The prisoners of war were dumbfounded and then moved.
The whole thing shocked China and foreign countries with a thunderclap on the ground, not only our propaganda, the New York Times and other newspapers have reported it, but the US military also knows about China's policy toward prisoners.
Two incidents of collective surrender occurred in a short period of time.
Not only did the captives go home, but they also healed them.
A British captive named Peter suffered from typical lobar pneumonia and was in a critical condition of shortness of breath.
There were only 10 penicillins in the entire camp.
Medicine is a scarce resource, penicillin was originally reserved for the wounded soldiers in China, but the battalion commander still decided to give him medicine, 2 penicillin down, the next day Peter had a fever, followed by another 8.
In order to take care of Peter, a doctor was specially arranged to live with him.
The British government was blind and claimed that all prisoners of war, including Peter, had died.
As a result, the Workers' Daily learned of Peter's cure, published it in the newspaper, slapped him in the face, and public opinion was in an uproar. The British government ordered the Daily Workers to be suspended, but it was too late.
Anti-war sentiment among the population has been detonated.
>>>> want entertainment, not politics
The captives, of course, had hostility towards the volunteers.
Sugar-coated shells, you don't want to attack me, and political ideology also wants to brainwash me.
The POW camp did not have barbed wire, only the door was guarded by soldiers, and some prisoners of war twisted their brains and ran away, but these people did not dare to enter the village, the Korean people had long hated them to the bone, entering the village was a death, and it was better to live comfortably in the POW camp in the ice and snow.
It's back again.
Give prisoners of war big lessons, don't listen, run a dozen toilets in one class, and draw portraits of women on the ground.
Some prisoners of war launched underground organizations, named "real Americans", but did not dare to really resist, mainly to form gangs, exclude non-organizational members, and take advantage of some small advantages in life.
Both provocative and bad.
Later, the superiors instructed that there was no need to forcibly carry out political education, but to carry out recreational activities and democratically organize prisoners of war clubs.
It's all talent.
Blowing and playing and singing are readily available, what black pipe guitar saxophone violin specially bought, and even got a piano.
In addition to bands, there were various ball games, regardless of each other, volunteers and prisoners of war playing together.
Debate tournaments are also organized.
Once the debate was "who fired the first shot in the war", this matter is not clear from the point of view of whether the war is justified or not, the Chinese side said that the US military is interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, the US prisoners said that they came to carry out police operations, the Chinese side asked me if it is okay to send troops to Hawaii, and the US prisoners immediately objected.
Old double standard.
In the autumn and winter of 1951, US aircraft bombed prisoner-of-war camps five times, and 3 prisoners of war were killed.
This caused great resentment among the prisoners of war, who cursed the United States and sent telegrams condemning them to the outside world.
More ridiculous.
As early as early October 1950, MacArthur, the commander of the Coalition Forces, promised his soldiers that he would be able to return home for Christmas by the end of November.
By 1951, Christmas for coalition prisoners had been spent in a prisoner-of-war camp.
There are dinner parties, there are dance parties, where North Koreans dance North Korean dances, black people dance tap dances, some people dress up as women, and some people put on white cotton wool and carry a red bag to dress up as Santa Claus and share sugar.
It's not busy.
Love.
Some people ran to the high platform and shouted: "Chinese respect religious beliefs, and if Chinese undermine religious freedom, that is not the truth." Others raised their hands and cheered: "Long live the Chinese People's Volunteer Army." ”
On the battlefield, blacks charged into the battle and blacks died first.
In prisoner-of-war camps, blacks and whites were treated equally. There were black people who said, "In this world, only in this place are whites and blacks are equal." ”
Turn the years.
In the armistice negotiations, the US side openly violated the principle of how many prisoners to send and how many prisoners should be sent under the Geneva Convention, proposing to repatriate prisoners one-on-one, and if the number of prisoners of war on one side is not enough, it will be exchanged for local civilians (more than 100,000), which is extremely disgusting.
The heart of the people will bear its sins.
>>>> want peace, not war
The prisoners of war in the Bitong prisoner-of-war camp were extremely angry.
Many soldiers were tricked into going to war.
American recruitment advertisements have repeatedly rendered North Korean girls beautiful, full of gold tweezers, and American prisoners of war holding copper bowls for dinner and not letting go, foolishly thinking that it is gold.
Many of the soldiers had just turned 18 and were not even adults.
They already hate war.
Hate death, hate war, hate to leave home, hate to meet strangers who have never met, hate to be a victim of political ambitions.
The prisoners elected peace committees, organized peace conventions, gave speeches, launched an anti-war signature campaign, and wrote joint letters to Truman and Churchill calling for an end to the war.
They held a parade, they held high flags with wings spread and peace doves flying on them.
Everyone, regardless of nationality or color, sang the International Anthem with their arms around their arms.
This is the voice that belongs to human beings.
PRISONERS were allowed to correspond with their families.
According to statistics, in the past two years, prisoners of war have sent a total of 120,000 home letters, an average of more than 30 letters sent by each person, and they send photos and letters to each other.
Major American and British newspapers devoted large sections to the matter.
In May 1952, a british prisoner of war family member brought a letter from a loved one to the U.S. Congress to petition for an early end to the war, and another prisoner's father took the letter and organized a million anti-war signatures over three weeks.
In November, the Olympic Games were held.
The opening ceremony consisted of four agenda items, the first of which was to mourn the loss of all the soldiers killed in the Korean War.
Chronicles of history.
At the closing ceremony, U.S. Corporal Welling Came to the stage to recite a poem.
The poem says:
Why the war continues
Why peace cannot yet become the main theme of the world
Sports games here are so fun
The race against death is still going on there
It was not until July 27, 1953, that the armistice was formally signed.
At the scene of the exchange of prisoners of war at Panmunjom, many coalition prisoners of war cried and cried, although they were eager to go home, they also had feelings of parting.
They sang "Friendship Lasts Forever" and said goodbye later.
A regiment of the Volunteer Army alone received more than 1,000 letters of thanks.
True feelings are hard to go.
Then came a surprising news.
There were 21 American and 1 British prisoner of war who refused to be repatriated and were willing to remain in China.
The U.S. government was greatly annoyed.
The U.S. military has adopted close surveillance and isolation for the soldiers who were released, and Ricky, a black man who served as chairman of the peace committee, was repatriated and sentenced to 20 years in prison for collaborating with the enemy.
An American named Winneres really stayed in China all his life.
He settled in Jinan, Shandong Province, and worked as an English teacher at Shandong University until his death in 2004.
Footage captures images of him before his death, saying:
"Don't fight, I hate war."
The Bitong prisoner of war camp represents an impossible possibility.
A mastery that is stronger than hatred.
An empathy that penetrates artillery fire.
When the camera faces the old people who went through the war seventy years ago, these witnesses still retain their childish innocence and the sincerity of detachment from calculation.
In 2021, when the whole world is trapped in a downturn.
People are full of hostility, prejudice and dissatisfaction.
Maybe we are still willing to be touched by the Olympics.
Acknowledge real, not virtual, tears and sweat.
As Stetson writes:
What is the fire burning on Mount Olympus? It was not for one person to defeat another, but for the opportunity to show off human indomitability to the gods. The limitations of destiny can be eternal, but the indomitable challenges cannot be ignored or lacking.
The world retreats and survival narrows.
but.
The fire of God burns forever, and mankind is indomitable.