Voices of "Comfort Women"
This exhibit was developed by the University Library Exhibits Team in cooperation with the Washington Coalition of Comfort Women, Society for Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China, AU Chinese Students and Scholars Association, and AU Taiwanese Student Association in an effort to give former "comfort women" back the voices denied to them by history.
Background Information on "Comfort Women"
Personal Stories of Former "Comfort Women"
Feedback on the Exhibit
The Exhibit at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
Background Information on "Comfort Women"
"Comfort Women" is a euphemism for the thousands of girls and women forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. "Comfort houses" were established as early as 1931, when the Japanese Army invaded Manchuria. These early houses were few in number and often staffed by Japanese prostitutes. However, the number of "comfort houses" increased exponentially after the so-called Nanking Massacre of 1937, and the ensuing international outcry about the number of women raped by the soldiers there. "Comfort houses" were justified by officials as a way of satisfying the sexual desires of Japanese soldiers and thereby preventing them from raping local populations.(i)
These "comfort houses" were set up everywhere the Japanese Army went from the border of Siberia to equatorial New Guinea. Estimates on the number of "comfort women" vary greatly from 80,000 to as many as 200,000.(ii) These girls and women came from diverse nations, including Taiwan, China, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and most significantly Korea. It is estimated that 80% of the "comfort women" came from Korea.(iii) The ages of these girls and women ranged primarily from 15 to 19, although a minority was as young as 11 years old and some were older than 19 and married. Most however were virgins. In fact, their recruitment was commonly termed "virgin recruitment." (iv)
These girls and women were "recruited" in a variety of ways, both through dissemblance and force. Many volunteered, believing they were being sent away to work in factories or in hospitals, or to attend school. Others were simply kidnapped. When they arrived at their true destinations, they were all actually held under heavy guard and raped. Most "comfort women" report being raped between 10 and 50 times a day while they were held in the houses. The soldiers generally paid by coupons, which were charged on a scale dependent on rank. These coupons went primarily to the houses, not the women.(v)
Many "comfort women" became infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Although supplied with condoms, some soldiers preferred not to use them and the women had no way to force them. If a woman became infected with a sexually transmitted disease, she would be injected with a drug called "#606," which could result in sterilization. If the disease became incurable the woman would never be seen again.(vi) In Okinawa, Japan, when the "comfort women" became sick, they were poisoned and then placed in a cave, which was blown up.(vii)
After the war, many felt ashamed and feared being looked upon as "dirty" to talk of their experiences. Some attempted the arduous walk home, where they felt compelled to lie about their wartime experiences. Others felt too overwhelmed even to go home and stayed working where they had been taken. Those few that did marry also lied about their experiences. Only now, 50 years later are many of these former "comfort women" starting to feel free to tell their stories. As they have come forward a political battle has developed, as they call for acknowledgement and reparations.(viii)
In January 1992, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa admitted (after Professor Yoshiaki Yoshimi uncovered irrefutable evidence) that the Japanese government was involved in the "comfort woman" business throughout the war (1931-1945.) Accordingly, in August of 1994, Japanese Prime Minister Tomichi Murayama set up the Asian Women's Fund, which offered $18,200 in atonement money to each surviving "comfort woman." This fund however, is not from the Japanese government, and all but four Filipino "comfort women" have refused to accept this money. They feel that the Japanese government must officially assume responsibility for these acts and that to accept the privately raised money would make them prostitutes; not the victims of war that they are. Former "comfort women" continue to seek redress in the courts in Japan; however, as late as March 2002, the Tokyo District Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by two Chinese former "comfort women."
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(i) Yoshiaki Yoshimi, Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II. (Columbia University Press: 1995) 49-51.
(ii) Ibid p. 91
(iii) George Hicks, "The "Comfort Women," in The Japanese Wartime Empire 1931-1945, edited by Peter Duus, Ramon H. Myers, Mark R. Peattie. (Princeton University Press: 1996) 312.
(iv) "What Were Comfort Women?" Internet article, accessed April 5, 2002.
(v) "What is 'Comfort Woman?'" Internet article, accessed April 5, 2002.
(vi) George Hicks, The Comfort Women. (W.W. Norton & Co.: 1994) 94
(vii) "What is 'Comfort Woman?" accessed April 5, 2002.
(viii) Kim Choi, Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism. (Routledge: 1998) 123
Personal Stories of Former "Comfort Women"
Kim Sang-hi
"I was just 14 years old. . . . The first night, an officer came into my cubicle at the 'comfort station.' He said something to me but I didn't understand his Japanese. His body language suggested that I should not fear him. He took off his clothes, and then grabbed my body. I was so scared that I hung onto my long underwear that my mother had sewn for me. I must have fainted right then, because when I came to, my underwear was ripped and stained with fresh blood. I was a virgin until that moment. I screamed in pain. . . .
The soldiers were allotted 30 minutes each for sex, and they queued up in long lines in front of the cubicles at the 'comfort station.' If a soldier was even one minute longer than his allotted time, the next soldier in line would pound on the door fiercely. These soldiers were so greedy that if they couldn't have sex with women, they would have sex even with dogs. . . .
I was born into a good family and was raised properly. I never went outside the house much until I was so suddenly abducted that evening. . . . Whenever I see a lady of about my age walking hand and hand with her grandchild, my heart wrenches. I became a Catholic, but I still cannot find solace in religion. I should forget and forgive, but I cannot. I try and try, but I cannot let go of it. When I wake up every morning, my head subconsciously turns east toward Japan, and I curse her. I cannot help it"
Kim Bun-sun
"One day when I was 15 years old, I went to a nearby field to gather edible wild greens with my four-year old brother. A man dressed in a Japanese policeman's uniform approached us. Suddenly he seized me with force, put me on a truck, and drove off to Tageu City from the field. . . .When the truck arrived at a strange place in Tageu, I saw about ten young Korean girls like me who had already been forced to go there. . . . They boarded us on a ship for Japan. . . . Soon more and more Korean girls were brought there, and for a week we were all taught the Japanese language. . .
Taiwan was the first place we were forced to serve as 'comfort women' for three months. After that they took us to Manila where we were joined by Filipino 'comfort women.' This kind of life lasted four years until I was 19 years old. . . .
I was infected with venereal diseases a number of times. . . . I cried often and ran away several times. Each time guards caught me, brought me back, to the house and physically punished me. The beating was so severe that my back was permanently injured, and my face became mangled. People used to tell me I was pretty until then."
Hwang Keum-ju
"[T]he Japanese sent us a draft notice for girls. . . . I wasn't kidnapped, I was officially drafted. . . . All of the girls thought that we were going to work at some kind of factory. But when the guards finally let us off the truck, we saw only Japanese soldiers on horses and motor vehicles in a vast Manchurian field. . . .
I saw so many deaths, so much illness. The Japanese injected us with so many drugs like '#606' that we would have miscarriages. Sometimes our bodies would swell up like balloons but the Japanese soldiers did not care. They would line up for sex day after day. They did not care if the girls were bleeding or what. The would still force sex on them."
Pak Ok-nyon
"I was 21 years old when a man visited me at my home in Ahyon-dong, Seoul, and suggested that I volunteer as a military field hospital nurse. . . . Three days later he brought me a custom-made nurse's uniform, a pair of shoes, and handbag and instructed me to come the following day to the Seoul Railway Station dressed in the new uniform. I went to the station with 50 other young girls. . .
We got on a train for Pusan, a harbor city at the southern tip of our peninsula. From there we sailed in a big ship bound for Shimonoseki, a harbor city at the northern end of the Kyushu Islands, Japan. . . . All 50 of us from my community were then led to a large empty building. . . .
The following morning the manager woke us up and summoned us all to his office. Only then did we find out that we were brought here as sex slaves and not as military nurses."
Jin Kyung-paeng
"I was a 'comfort woman' between the ages of 14 and 19. Most of the girls were 16 to 19 years old. They all had been abducted and brought to the camp like me. During those years I received about 12 soldiers by midnight. After midnight one soldier often stayed with me through the night. Weekends were much worse. I was forced to service men from early in the morning to late at night with almost no time to rest, and then spend the rest of the night with yet another man. Frequently I did not have time for a meal. On days like this, I became feverish. Some girls serviced up to 50 men a day."
Kim Young-shil
"It was 1941. One day I encountered a well-dressed man in western clothes. He asked me if I wanted to have a good job. Thinking that any job would be better that working as a maid, I accepted his offer and followed him to where there were already eight other girls ahead of me. They were all about 14 or 15 years old.
So we all got on a truck. . . . A soldier came up to me and put a name tag on my chest. It had a Japanese name 'Eiko' written on it. He then told me, 'From now on, you must not speak Korean. If you do, we will kill you. Now your name in Eiko. . . .'
I was totally exhausted. I could keep neither my sense of humiliation nor my dignity. I felt like a living corpse. When soldiers came to my room and did it to me one after another, it was done to a lifeless body. Again. And again. And again…"
Kang Duk-Kyung
[After the war ended] a Japanese woman . . . took me to Osaka, and helped me board a boat bound for Korea. While on the boat, I realized that I was pregnant. I was happy that I was finally going home, but extremely scared and depressed about carrying the baby. I jumped from the crates and hit my stomach with fists to get rid o the baby. I even tried to kill myself in the bathroom. Since I was watched closely by a Japanese woman, all attempts failed.
I finally arrived in Korea and went to Namwon, Cholla Nambo Prinvince. A Japanese woman delivered the baby there. It was a boy, and I felt that I was at peace with myself for the first time in my life. I named him Young-ju. The Japanese woman kindly took me and the baby to my home in Taegu before returning to Japan. I left the baby at home under the care of my relative and went to work as a waitress in a nearby city. . . .
One day at work, I got the news that Young-ju had died of pneumonia. I hurried home but found out that Young-ju was already buried. . . . .
Over the years, I had several marriage proposals. But I did not have enough strength to overcome my low self-esteem, guilt , and past nightmares to get married and raise a family. . . . I often say to myself, 'but I had every right to have gotten married and lived a happy life!'"
These oral testimonies are from Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military (2000) and were used with permission from the Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues, Inc., which produced the book.
Feedback on the Exhibit
"Unreal,… I never even heard of this, I was attracted to the exhibit by a picture of a pregnant woman standing in the pit. I thought she was a worker. After reading the comments, I am moved to read more literature about the story of these women. Silent history is dangerous..."
- Anonymous
"It's surprise that AU displays this exhibit. In Japan, most people tries to erase this incident from our history. So, I'm so glad someone keep informing..."
- Anonymous
"I had the chance to stay with the seven hijmoni in S. Korea for two days and protested w/ them at the Japanese Embassy a few years ago. It was like listening to my grandmother tell a horrifying story. They were/are somebody's daughter, girlfriend, and friend…we need to remember them as they pass on so as to keep their story alive. This cannot continue to occur. History does repeat itself when we do not speak up! Never forget!"
- Jackie Vorhauer
"Thank you for this exhibit - I think we in the United States have a tendency to narrow in on and be concerned about, only a few, select, "politically correct" tragedies (eg the Holocaust, wars that effect middle class white Europeans like Bosnia etc.) while overlooking other tragedies that also must be decried (comfort women, genocide in Rawanda, etc). It's good to see an exhibit like this one that pushes people to see beyond the self-imposed boundaries of their world."
- Anonymous
"GOD I LOVED THIS EXHIBIT… SO TOUCHING, SO MOVING, IT MADE ME WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD."
- Anonymous
"Thank you for this exhibit. These crimes are atrocious but in this display, you are honoring the courageous women who survived this cruelty. These women and their stories should not be censored, suppressed or forgotten. Thank you for reminding us of this part of history and for honoring these women."
- A. H.
"This display is heart wrenching and a sad example of the human rights abuses and violence against women that occur daily around this world. Unfortunately, abuses like these have not ended…Sudan, Thailand, etc. When is it going to stop? Thank you for showing this display and reminding us of the terrible atrocities that women have and are facing."
- Anonymous
"The exhibit is historically informative, evocative, visually appealing, and skillfully arranged."
- Anonymous (Translated from Chinese by Wenshing Ho)
* All feedback is from a comment book made available while the Exhibit was shown.
The Exhibit at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library
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| Thanks to the response that the "Voices of 'Comfort Women'" exhibit received at the American University Library, it was installed during September 2002 at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, the main branch of the District of Columbia Public Library system. The photograph on the left is of Elena Tscherny, coordinator of exhibits and programs at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library; Helen Wang, cataloging coordinator at Washington College of Law Library and liaison for the group of student and community organizations that proposed the exhibit; and Siobhan Doucette, the American University Library Exhibits Team coordinator for the exhibit. The photograph on the right is of the exhibit as it was presented at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. |
