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| A foreign "Eighth Route Army" soldier |
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He was a journalist, but he died as a soldier in the battlefield; he was a European, but he shed his last drop of blood in the Chinese anti-Japanese war battlefield. There were many foreigners supporting the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japan, but he was the first European who, dressed in the Eight Route Army uniform and holding a gun in hand, died in the battle against fascist. He was well-known journalist Hans Shppe.
Meeting Mao Zedong in Yan'an
Shppe was born in a place of Poland, later he studied in a university in Germany and joined the German Communist Party. He understood English, German, Russian, Polish and Chinese languages well. Shppe was not his original name. His original Polish name was CRZYB; his German name was Muller, and his English name was Hans Shppe. After coming to China, Health Minister of the New Fourth Army Shen Qizhen suggested the English name Hans Shppe for him.
Cherishing profound feelings for the Chinese people and Chinese revolution, Shppe came to China for several times. He edited an English journal and wrote a lot of political essays. He joined in succession the National Revolutionary Army, the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army till he died in the Yimeng Mountain area.
In the fall of 1932, Shppe again came together with his wife from Germany to Shanghai, where he initiated the establishment of an international Marxism-Leninism studying group, with members including Agnes Smedley, Ma Haide (George Hatem) and Rewi Alley. In the subsequent five years, he carried out extensive activities in Shanghai, calling for the establishment of a world anti-fascist united front. In the US "Pacific Affairs", the "Asian Magazine", the German "World Stage"and some other newspapers and magazines, he published a lot of articles on China and Far East issues, making him a world-famous anti-fascist political commentator.
In the spring of 1938, Shppe came to Yan'an where Mao Zedong met him cordially. In 1939, in the capacity as reporter of the monthly "Pacific Affairs"of the US Pacific Institute, he came to Yunling of Jingxian County in southern Anhui Province, the location of the headquarters of the New Fourth Army, where he met Zhou Enlai, Ye Ting, Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi and other leaders. In northern Jiangsu Province, he completed the 80,000-worded book "The Eighth Route army and the New Fourth Army United in the Chinese War of Resistance".
News covering deep in battlefront
In order to report to the world's people on the Eighth Route Army's deeds of fighting heroically in the enemy rear area of Shandong Province, in September 1941, Shppe decided to go to cover in the anti-Japanese revolutionary base in Shandong. The New Fourth Army leader told him that the enemy's "mopping-up operations"would be started very soon in Shandong, he was persuaded not to go for the time being because the situation there would be very dangerous. But Shppe said, "Precisely because of this, I should all the more go there! Since there have never been foreign journalists going there, I would all the more be needed there! Only after I go there can I find out answers to many of the problems."
After Shppe arrived in the coastal area of Shandong (present-day Junan County, Linyi City), he was untiringly engaged in covering and writing. He was often seen carrying a leather bag containing maps, a telescope, an enamel cup and towels, moving about among the army units and villagers. He not only covered Party, government and army leaders, soldiers and peasants and Japanese prisoners of war and attended various rallies, but also participated in night attacks, on the spot he observed how the fighters attacked the enemies. Before long, he wrote out these lengthy news reports "Travel in the Japan-Occupied Region", the "Eighth Route Army in Shandong"and "Fight for the Recovery of Shandong".
In the article "Travel in the Japan-Occupied Region", he wrote: "The Japanese imperialists declared 'occupation' of Shandong, but I, an anti-fascist pressman, am traveling freely in this 'Japan-occupied region' and I have met in this region thousands upon thousands of armed anti-Japanese fighters and people. I saw everywhere in this region damaged helmets and broken armors of the 'imperil army' and tattered 'Sun flags'. It is unimaginable to many foreigners that I have personally experienced these things, if some people who do not believe these facts, then someday when the Chinese people completely recover their lost lands, these people will feel astonished at it."
Died a hero's death in the bloody battle against Japanese troops
On the eve of Japanese troops' "mopping-up operations" in early November 1941, the department concerned decided to let Shppe and his wife temporarily return to Shanghai for evasion. But Shppe resolutely disagreed, saying, " I agree to letting my wife go back, but I absolutely will not leave Shandong. A journalist with a will to accomplish something will never be afraid of guns and bullets!"
On the evening of November 29 when Shppe followed the more than 3,000 people of an institution in the rear for a shift, he was encircled by massive Japanese troops. Shppe's interpreter and several bodyguards all died in order to shield him. Shppe rose to take up arms to fight a bloody battle with the enemy. After killing several Japanese soldiers near Huanzigou below Wudaogou of Daqingshan Mountain, he died in the battlefield at the sage of 44. He was in Shandong for only 78 days at the time of his death.
Marshals Xu Xiangqian and Nie Rongzhen wrote inscriptions respectively for Shppe, which read: "Great internationalist fighter Comrade Shppe lives forever in the hearts of the Chinese people", and "Great internationalist fighter, close comrade-in-arms Comrade Hans Shppe of the Chinese people lives forever in our hearts."
By People's Daily Online
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