After the founding of the People's Republic of China, because the newly established state power had not yet been stabilized, coupled with the outbreak of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China at that time had no time to take care of the handling of the issue of war criminals, especially the war criminals who caused great damage to the party and the people.
However, just when all the war criminals thought that they were going to live their lives in prison, in the dark. With the basic establishment of the country's political and economic order, the handling of war criminals was once again on the agenda. In the period up to December 1975, under the instructions of Chairman Mao, our party successively amnesty and released seven batches of war criminals. At this point, all the war criminals in custody in China have been released, and the vast majority of the last batch of war criminals have chosen to stay on the mainland, and 10 of them have chosen to go to Taiwan in order to join their relatives and friends. So what happened to these 10 people? Who are they?
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Communist Party of China led the people of all ethnic groups to work hard together to heal the wounds brought to China. And quickly completed major measures such as land reform, suppression of rebellion, and the Korean War, and with the help of the Soviet Union, entered the primary stage of socialism. So far, Chinese mainland has basically been liberated.
When everything is on the right track. The issue of war criminals, which had been put on the back burner, was also put on the agenda by the State. The war criminals who have been reformed for more than 10 years in various parts of the country have gradually gained a sense of their crimes through continuous labor and study in prison, and while repenting, they also hope to do some good things within their power for the traumatized motherland to make up for their debts.
At the same time, during this period, China's political power was already largely consolidated. The vast majority of these war criminals who changed their ways were KMT executives and other figures before this, and although they were imprisoned, they still had great influence, so in order to shake and disintegrate these reactionary forces, ease the relationship between the Taiwan authorities, and set an example for future generations. In 1952, Premier Zhou instructed the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security to pay close attention to the study of the Japanese, puppet, and Chiang war criminal cases, and to put forward opinions on how to deal with them within a time limit.
In April 1954, Chairman Mao said in his speech "On the Ten Relationships"; Our party's policy is, primarily, to turn negative factors into positive factors in the form of spiritual influence. Therefore, for domestic war criminals, people such as Xuantong Emperor Puyi and Kang Ze will not be killed. Not because they are not guilty of killing, but because killing them is not good for our party.
Therefore, under Chairman Mao's instructions, for the better development of the country, our party put aside the hatred of the family and the country. In June 1956, after the first reforms of Chinese internment, 355 Japanese war criminals were released.
When the news broke, the whole world was shocked. And the magnanimous release of China, these Japanese war criminals who have brought great trauma and shame to their own country, are full of admiration. After Japanese war criminals were sent back to Japan from Tianjin, more and more prisoners saw hope that they could be reunited with their families.
At the same time, with the stabilization of the situation in China, the issue of liberating Taiwan, which our party has been thinking about, has once again entered the focus of our party's work. In 1955, at the Second Session of the First National People's Congress, the strategic policy of "liberating Taiwan by peaceful means" was proposed.
Therefore, the issue of the peaceful liberation of Taiwan is imminent, because the central authorities believe that the vast majority of the war criminals of the Chiang Kai-shek clique still retain their national stance and have a certain degree of patriotism. Therefore, at this time, the motion that these Kuomintang war criminals had a very important relationship with Taiwan and, if handled properly, had a very important relationship with the reunification and peace of the motherland.
However, because of the importance of the matter, our party has held many consultations on this matter. At the 19th enlarged meeting of the Second Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in 1956, the proposal to release war criminals was discussed.
Premier Zhou said that if these detained war criminals were sent to Taiwan, not only might Taiwan not accept them, but some of them would probably be killed by Chiang Kai-shek. Among these people, there are as many as 460 generals, and Sun Lianzhong, a second-class army general in Taiwan's National Revolutionary Army, has to rely on opening restaurants to make a living, and where can Chiang Kai-shek afford to send these people to Taiwan? Moreover, according to Chiang Kai-shek's suspicious personality, we rushed to send people over, which might make cross-strait relations self-defeating.
Therefore, in handling this matter, our party has decided to proceed step by step in an orderly and gradual manner, and to make good arrangements for their work and life after they are released; if they are willing to stay on the mainland, we will arrange for them to work, if they are willing to go to Taiwan or Hong Kong, we will send them there, and if they are willing to return, we will also gladly welcome them. Therefore, under such circumstances, the release of domestic war criminals began to be carried out in an orderly manner.
October 1, 1959 is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to celebrate the great contributions made by the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and communists in this period in the past ten years. On this solemn day, at the suggestion of Chairman Mao, the CPC Central Committee decided to take advantage of this great opportunity to release a group of war criminals who had been reformed relatively well.
On 17 September, the Ninth Session of the Standing Committee of the Second National People's Congress unanimously adopted this proposal. And the next day, on the front page of the People's Daily, the amnesty was announced. Soon, as soon as this major news was issued, it immediately caused a huge repercussion at home and abroad.
Because our party had already released the most vicious Japanese war criminals before this, the people's acceptance of these Kuomintang war criminals was relatively high. Among this group of amnesty war criminals were the last emperor Puyi, senior Kuomintang generals Du Yuming, Wang Yaowu, Chen Changjie, Song Xilian and others.
When instructing the first batch of domestic amnesty lists, when he saw that Pu Yi's name was not on the list, Chairman Mao once said, "If you want amnesty, release the emperor first, and our Communist Party must have this courage." Therefore, Pu Yi, who was called "Great Chiang Kai-shek" by Chairman Mao in China, was also released during this period.
Pu Yi
Among them, Du Yuming's release is beyond the imagination of countless people. As a general in the first phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, Du Yuming was deeply valued by Chiang Kai-shek in the Kuomintang, so he participated in many major battles in the War of Liberation, including the Huaihai Campaign, and he was the actual commander of the Kuomintang. In January 1949, when he was arrested, he was an out-and-out "thorn" and even refused to meet with the leaders of mainland countries.
So why was Du Yuming released? This is mainly due to the fact that he was greatly influenced by the imprisonment he received. As a high-ranking Kuomintang general, Du Yuming, despite his high and powerful position, could not resist the problems he fell behind in wartime.
However, Chiang Kai-shek was not unaware of Du Yuming's pain, but wherever there was consideration in the Kuomintang, it was just a tool to contribute benefits to the Chiang Kai-shek dynasty. However, when he was in prison, it was our party that did its best to treat Du Yuming's illness, and even spent a lot of money for him to buy imported medicine from Hong Kong and the United States to cure his illness, otherwise he would not have survived to be released from prison.
It is precisely because of this that Du Yuming's thinking has changed greatly while in prison, and he said that the Communist Party of China is his reborn parents. Later, under Premier Zhou's arrangement, Du Yuming, Pu Yi, Wang Yaowu, and other first batch of people who were granted amnesty came to Premier Zhou's West Flower Hall at the invitation of Premier Zhou to meet with Premier Zhou, and had a conversation with them for several hours on issues of stance, viewpoint, work, life, and future.
Du Lian-ming
After this conversation, everyone's minds were greatly shaken. Yang Botao, who attended the meeting, still kept the record of his conversation with Premier Zhou with him as normal, and he always insisted on doing work on Taiwan, and on many occasions persuaded his former colleagues and subordinates to return to their hometowns, and then he also wrote tens of thousands of words of important materials based on his own personal experience, thus making tremendous contributions to the mainland's work of winning over Taiwan. After that, Du Yuming, while working with others to compile the historical facts he had personally experienced, also wrote a letter to persuade his eldest son-in-law, Yang Zhenning, who had just won the Nobel Prize, to return to China and make great contributions to the cause of the reunification of New China.
Yang Zhenning
Under the attention of the central authorities, the work of amnesty for war criminals has been carried out in an orderly manner. In November 1960, our party granted amnesty to the second batch of war criminals, including Fan Hanjie, Li Xianzhou and other Kuomintang generals who were powerful on the battlefield. In December 1961, the third batch of 68 war criminals, including Liao Yaoxiang, was amnestied. And between 1964 and 1966, our party also granted amnesty to hundreds of war criminals, including Kang Ze, the head of the Kuomintang secret service.
Among these war criminals who were granted amnesty, they were freed and achieved a certain political status, and contributed their strength to the motherland through letters, broadcasts, and writing memoirs. And it is precisely because of these people who have regained a second life that they are grateful for the kindness of our party's reconstruction, and soon they brought the party's policies and their own situation to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas, and thus had a huge impact.
During this period, the period of national turmoil brought the amnesty to war criminals to a halt. At the same time, as time went on, more and more people were dying in prison because of their age.
In December 1974, when Premier Zhou flew to Changsha with his sick body to report to Chairman Mao on the work of the Fourth National People's Congress, Chairman Mao once again mentioned the issue of war criminals during the conversation. According to Chairman Mao's instructions, preparations for the amnesty of the last batch of war criminals were also put on the agenda.
In February 1975, when Chairman Mao asked the Central Committee for amnesty for war criminals, he said that "no one will be killed" and "forget it, and it is not good to force people to reform". Later, in terms of specific policies and special treatment, he explained that when they were released, they should have a farewell party, eat more fish and meat, give each person 100 yuan of pocket money, and everyone has the right to citizenship.
Therefore, on March 19, our party granted amnesty to all 293 war criminals, including Huang Wei, commander of the 12th Corps of the Kuomintang, and Li Jiusi, deputy commander of the 13th Corps.
As with the previous batches of amnesty war criminals, our party did not let them go. Instead, once again, we will carefully abide by the principle that those who have the ability to work will be arranged to work, and those who are incapacitated will be raised, and those who are willing to return to Taiwan will be given sufficient travel expenses, and those who are willing to come back after they go.
In such cases, a large number of people who have been granted amnesty have a new life of their own. Among them, the fate of some of the people released by amnesty is very tortuous. Among the last batch of people to be released, Wang Bingyue, Chen Shizhang, Cai Xingsan, Zhou Yanghao, Wang Yunpei, Duan Kewen, Yang Nancun, Zhao Yixue, Zhang Tieshi, and Zhang Haishang chose to go to Taiwan in order to reunite with their families and friends.
Because the relationship between the mainland and Taiwan was relatively tense at that time, they chose to go to Taiwan and received considerable attention. Before sending them to Taiwan, our party held a farewell party for them at a famous hotel, made new clothes for them, and distributed 2,000 Hong Kong dollars. and escorted them all the way to Luoqiao Lake into Hong Kong.
However, after arriving in Taiwan, not only were these people who had made meritorious contributions to the Kuomintang welcomed, but the Taiwan authorities also felt that it was our party's "united front conspiracy" and that they were "communist spies" and "inflationists," and refused to accept them back to Taiwan.
Not only that, but the Taiwan authorities have also done everything possible to obstruct their return to Taiwan. Despite a month-long stalemate between the two sides under pressure from various media, the Taiwan authorities still refused to relent, which made the 10 people who wanted to go to Taiwan to reunite with their families feel disheartened.
But fortunately, some people got in touch with their relatives and realized their wish for reunion in Hong Kong. Because of the impact of reality, Zhang Tieshi chose to commit suicide in Hong Kong after having no hope of reuniting with his family. After recognizing the reality, Zhao Yixue, Yang Nancun, and Zhang Haishang chose to return to the mainland and, with the help of our party, arranged their work, while Chen Shizhang, Duan Kewen, Zhou Yanghao, and Wang Bingyue crossed the ocean to the United States.