GUIYANG, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — More than 20 descendants of the International Medical Relief Corps are at present visiting southwest China’s Guizhou Province this week to hint the footsteps of their forebears who risked their lives to supply medical assist through the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
Since Aug. 24, the delegation has launched into a week-long journey to go to historic websites, together with the Guiyang Tuyunguan Memorial to the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps within the provincial capital of Guiyang and the 24-Zig Road in Qinglong County.
More than 80 years in the past, Tuyunguan served as a key medical rescue base, coaching middle and provide hub in southwest China through the conflict in opposition to Japanese aggression, a vital entrance within the World Anti-Fascist War.
Dozens of international medical employees labored alongside 1000’s of their Chinese counterparts from the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corps to save lots of lives and supply medical coaching underneath harsh circumstances. Today, these international medical employees are collectively remembered because the International Medical Relief Corps.
On Tuesday, the delegation attended a commemoration close to the Guiyang Tuyunguan Memorial to pay tribute to their forebears and mark the eightieth anniversary of the victory within the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Joseph Somogyi from Germany, son of Hungarian doctor George Schoen (who later modified his identify to Gyorgy Somogyi), informed Xinhua that though he had lengthy recognized of his father’s work in China, it was not till his first go to to Guizhou in 2019 that he realized how deeply his father’s heroic deeds have been remembered and honored there.
At Tuesday’s commemoration, Joseph and his brother Peter Somogyi donated pictures and stamps saved by their father to the memorial. “The Chinese keep the memory of my father and all the other doctors who were working for China at that time. China keeps the memory, upholds it, appreciates it, keeps it for future generations and tries to teach that peace is not given,” Joseph stated.
“As descendants of the International Medical Relief Corps, we are incredibly grateful to you for keeping our ancestors’ memory alive,” Peter stated. “For them, as international anti-fascists, this was not just China’s war; it was their own.”
“It is essential for future generations to understand the fight against fascism and the struggle for freedom,” Peter added.
Dmitrii Kamenetskii from Russia paid tribute to his grandfather Leon Kamieniecki, a Polish physician, at Tuesday’s ceremony. Running his fingers over his grandfather’s identify on a monument on the memorial, Kamenetskii was notably moved and struggled to carry again his tears. He stated that touching the monument and searching on the previous pictures and relics within the memorial, he felt as if he have been touching actual historical past.
For descendants of the International Medical Relief Corps, the journey has additionally impressed them to additional carry ahead their ancestors’ spirit.
Anton Agov, the 36-year-old great-grandson of Bulgarian physician Ianto Kaneti from the International Medical Relief Corps, got here to China in 2014 to review conventional Chinese medication (TCM). After commencement, he returned to Bulgaria and opened a clinic offering TCM therapy. Now head of the Bulgarian-Chinese Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Culture, he regards his work as an effort to inherit the legacy of his great-grandfather.
Through our work in Chinese medication, we hope to hold on the spirit of the International Medical Relief Corps, Agov stated.