Yan Baochang: The Japanese Invaders Arrested Brothers and Went to Prison Tragically - Suiyuan Province's "43 Tragedy" (1)
阎葆昌
In the early hours of July 12, 1943, I was awakened by a frenzied slamming of the door, and then seven or eight devils, gendarmes, and policemen pounced on my house like wolves.
"Who is Yan Baochang, who is Yan Peichang?" A vicious traitor shouted. My brother and I answered, and the wolves pounced on our brothers, tied us up, put two numbered strips of cloth on us, and pushed us out.
My elder brother, Yan Yanchang, came out of another room and was discovered by the enemy, and he was also taken away.
Watching the three sons being taken away. Our old mother sat on the ground ......and cried bitterly. In an instant, our family of five was left with only an old mother in her fifties and a three-year-old nephew. We walked far away, and we heard the old mother's angry cry.
We were taken to the Xincheng Police Station (north of Xincheng West Street Road, the same yard now occupied by the West Street Public Security Police Station). When I got there, I saw that Guan Hezhang, Qi Weide, Guan Guoding, Guan Guobi and others were also arrested. In just one morning, more than two dozen people were arrested at the New Town Police Station.
At this time, I learned that the devil's claws not only extended to our small courtyard on Court Street (now Limin Street) in Xincheng, but also extended to all corners of Hohhot; It is not only our three Yan brothers who have been unjustly imprisoned, but also a large number of suffering compatriots of our Chinese nation.
Later, I heard that in the early morning of 12 July 1943, the Japanese devils gathered a large number of military, police, constitutional, and special forces to arrest more than 90 people from the educational circles in the old city, new town, and railway station of Hohhot (as far as I know, there are more than 90 people who can be counted, and some people say more than 100 people). For a time, Hohhot was overcast, people were panicked, schools were closed, and children dropped out. Because this case occurred in four or three years, it is called the "43 tragedy".