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发表于 2025-11-25 05:13 AM
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In 1943, a 22-year-old Belgian youth, Rogger, was sentenced by the Germans to hang him. The execution date was set for three days later. He was convicted of:
They joined the resistance and blew up a German arms train.
Rogge's mother knelt outside the German command for the whole night, in exchange for a cold rejection.
The village chief tried all the connections and even had the King of the Belgians contacted. The King himself wrote a letter to the German headquarters asking for mercy for the young man, but the German replied with only four words: "The sentence is upheld."
Just as the villagers were about to leave for Rogge, a small, eastern woman walked into the village office. Her name was Qian Xiuling, 31, and she was the only Chinese doctor in the village. She said to the village chief:
"Let me try, I have a way.」
Ms. Qian turned to a yellowish photo of her cousin, Charlene Qian, standing shoulder to shoulder with a German officer, both wearing military uniforms and smiling.
It was taken in Nanjing in 1936, when Cheung was a staff officer at the National Government's military council, and the German in the picture is the current top German commander in Belgium: Alexander von Fakenhausen.
Qian Xiuling wrote a letter overnight, filling it entirely with three pages with a German and English worker.
In her letter, she mentioned that Charlene had repeatedly mentioned in her home letter the integrity of General Fagenhausen and believed that the general would not let an innocent young man die in the madness of war.
The next morning, Xiuling Qian traveled alone to Brussels. The distance from Elbermont to Brussels was 120 kilometres, and there were seven German checkpoints on the way.
All she had with her was the photo, the letter and a petition signed by 326 villagers across the village.
At the German army headquarters in Brussels, Xiuling Qian was blocked from the door. The guards pointed a gun at her and told her to leave immediately. She held up the photo and said:
"Please tell General Faganhausen that Charlene's sister is in urgent need of assistance.」
The guard took the photo suspiciously and disappeared inside the gate.
For two hours of waiting, Qian Xiuling stood in the rain. Her blue gown was soaking wet, but she did not move. Finally, a deputy came out and took her into command.
Fagenhausen sat behind a huge desk and studied the photo closely.
"How's Charlene now?"」
He asked in plain Chinese.
Qian Xiuling replied:
"My cousin is in Chongqing and still serving in the army, and he often mentions the general in his letters.」
The general was silent for a long time and then said:
"Do you know that youth blew up our military train? Under military law, this is a capital crime.」
Qian Xiuling produced a petition:
"General, the whole village guaranteed him that he was just a young man of blood and that the war had taken too many lives.」
Scrolling through the thicket of signatures on the petition, ranging from the shaky handwriting of an old man to the childish typeface of a child, Fagenhausen looked up at Xiuling Qian:
"Why would you, a Chinese, risk saving a Belgian?」
Qian Xiuling said calmly:
"I am a doctor and my job is to save people regardless of nationality.」
Three days later, the German army announced that Rogge had been given an eight-year sentence. When the news came, Rogge's mother fainted at the scene and woke up and cried in her arms. The whole village boiled, and people flocked to Qian Xiuling's clinic, bringing flowers, bread and homemade wine.
She made six trips to Brussels over the next two years. Each time, carrying detailed materials and village petitions, she never returned empty-handed, saving 97 Belgians sentenced to death or heavy sentences.
One of the most dramatic occurred in the summer of 1944, when 12 college students were arrested and all sentenced to death for distributing anti-war leaflets. When Qian Xiuling learned the news, the execution was only 24 hours away. She rushed to Brussels all night and waited outside the command post all night.
At dawn, Farkenhausen's deputy told her that the general was not at the command. Xiuling Qian said:
"I know he's here. Please tell him that if these 12 children died, Charlene would be ashamed to have such a friend."」
An hour later, the death penalty for 12 college students was changed to hard labor. One of the young men, named Pierre, went on to become a famous Belgian physicist, writing in his memoirs:
"The courage of a Chinese woman gave me the opportunity to live to this day.」
When the war ended in 1945, Fagenhausen was taken back to Belgium to stand trial as a war criminal. Prosecutors accused him of carrying out Nazi policies that resulted in the deaths of a large number of civilians. On the third day of the trial, Qian Xiuling appeared in court.
She brought a thick stack of letters and photographs, all thank you letters from the people she had saved, and she told the judge:
"I do not defend his political stand, but allow me to speak the truth. Under the weight of power, this man retained a glimmer of humanity.」
In court, 97 Belgians who had been rescued by Chiu-ling stood up and testified in her testimony. In the end, Farkenhausen was sentenced to 12 years in prison instead of the death penalty demanded by the prosecution.
After the war, the Belgian government awarded Qian Xiuling the National Hero's Medal.
Across the city of Aixing, a street in the city centre was named Qian Xiuling Street. In 2008, Xiaoling Qian died in Belgium at the age of 96. At her funeral, thousands of people came, many of them white-haired old men, who had been saved by her or their descendants.
A 93-year-old said at the funeral:
"With a photo, a letter and incredible courage, she changed the fate of all of us."」
Text and images: Memoirs of the Republic of China era |
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