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Minister of Slavery
Aso Mining POWs seek redress

Australians recount beatings, starving, rags in lieu of
clothes

By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer, The Japan Times

Former Allied prisoners of war who were forced to
work for a company run by Prime Minister Taro Aso's
family during World War II said they were placed in
extremely dangerous conditions with very little food
or clothing.

[ Photo ] .. check The Japan Times web site.
COURTESY OF TONY GRIFFITH AND YUKIHISA FUJITA

Slave laborers: Arthur Gigger
(second row, fifth from left) poses in late August
1945 with other Australian POWs who had been
put to work at a company run by Prime Minister
Taro Aso's family.

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa
Fujita released transcripts Friday afternoon of
recent phone interviews he conducted with three
Australian POWs who worked for Aso Mining Co.
Fujita urged Aso to recognize their hardships and
to apologize.

One of the POWs, John William Hall, 90, said
beatings in the mines were "common."

"I forgot to salute or something, some little thing
like that (would anger the Japanese staff),"
Hall told Fujita. "The last (beating) I got was for
not saluting a Japanese soldier."

Arthur Gigger, another former soldier, said he did
not witness any physical violence.

All three former POWs, however, stressed that
the working conditions were terrible and that they
were "working in rags" with little food.

"The clothing we wore didn't exist, really," Gigger
said. "That was the biggest thing that we
missed . . . and food, food and clothing."

Joe Coombs, the third interviewee, said he worked
12-hour shifts and due to the lack of food his
weight dropped to about 51 kg. He said he
normally weighed 82.5 kg.

Until recently, the government and Aso refused to
acknowledge that Aso Mining had used POWs as
workers in the company mine in Fukuoka Prefecture.
However, last December the health ministry found
buried documents backing the allegations.

The documents revealed that Aso Mining used 300
Allied POWs — 101 Britons, two Dutch and 197
Australians, including Hall, Gigger and Coombs.
Two POWs died while working at the mine,
but neither their names nor cause of death were
released for privacy reasons.

The use of POWs as laborers was not illegal,
and at that time Japan was not a party to the
Geneva Conventions, which forbid forced labor
and maltreatment.

One of the experts who attended the news
conference explained that while there seemed to
be fewer acts of violence at Aso Mining compared
with other camps, the harsh conditions under
which the POWs worked should be viewed as
"forced labor."

The three veterans, according to Fujita, plan to send
a letter to Aso and the government to demand an
apology for the hardships they endured at Aso
Mining and for ignoring the facts for so long that
POWs worked at the mine. They also plan to claim
the wages they should have received for their labor.

Fujita also stressed that Aso needs to express regret
and apologize to the former laborers, as well as pay
their wages if he cannot prove that money was paid.
The three Australians have stated that they received
compensation from the Australian government,
but nothing from Japan or Aso Mining, Fujita said.

In response to a series of questions submitted by
Fujita, the government said Friday it paid
compensation to the Allied POWs in accordance with
the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in 1951
through the International Committee of the
Red Cross.

"The money was not a payment of wages but for
the government to express its intention to
compensate for the unjust hardships that the
Allied POWs suffered while they were prisoners in
Japan," the government said in a statement,
adding that while the money was allocated to 14
countries, including Australia, it does not know
how each country distributed the cash.

On the many past occasions Aso was asked
about the Allied POWs and their treatment at
Aso Mining, he would reply that he was a young
child and doesn't remember what went on.

"If we were to follow (Aso's reasoning), that
would mean that the prime minister does not
need to take responsibility for anything that
happened before or after his term," Fujita said.

"As a prime minister of a nation who represents
the country, Aso needs to take responsibility for
the past as well as the future."

The Japan Times: Saturday February 7, 2009
(C) All rights reserved
by fighter_eiji | 2009-02-08 12:25 | English
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