K08K, Hannah Song ‘02, Grandmother, c 1934, Korea
I interviewed my grandma. At first she couldn’t answer my questions, but then she remembered what happened during World War II.
Q: How old were you?
A: I was seven years old when the war began.
Q: Where did you live?
A: I lived in Taegu [central Korea], but I had to escape to the countryside. I was sad because I couldn’t learn anything at school. I couldn’t even have an English class.
Q: Why couldn’t you go to school?
A: Koreans weren’t allowed to learn Korean. Before, when I went to school, all of the classes were in Japanese.
Q: Were you scared?
A: No, but it was very hard, because the teachers told us to work at whatever jobs they ordered. My friend’s father had been killed in battle, and she had to go to the mountains to get oil from a pine tree, because they needed gasoline for the airplane. She had to collect the amount that the teacher told her to get. But none of the Japanese had any jobs to do.
Q: Did you have to change your name?
A: Yes, we had to change our names into Japanese names.
Q: What did you eat?
A: Rice, corn, barley, wheat, and big white beans.
Q: Did you get lots of food?
A: No, because there wasn’t enough of the food I just told you about. Only rice and sugar were left. Each person got a small amount, so it was hard to survive—just like North Korea right now.
Q: Did you have shoes to wear?
A: Yes, but there were about 70 students in the class. Only the top six students (in order of last name) got to wear the gym shoes. I was the last on the list in alphabetical order. Koreans couldn’t wear rubber shoes; only the Japanese. Instead of rubber shoes, I wore wooden clogs that I had to make myself.
Q: Was your house destroyed?
A: No, none of the houses in our village were destroyed.
Q: Did the government help you?
A: No, because Korea did not have independence or sovereignty. There was a Japanese military dictatorship, and we had to listen to the Army.
Q: Did anyone in your family die?
A: No, but my father was sent to jail. He was a really good Christian, and he didn’t believe in Shintō shrines, so he was put in jail. He was released one month later, because the war ended, and the American army came. If they hadn’t come, he would have died in jail.
It was very interesting to learn about my grandma’s life. Her family was rich, and she was lucky that her father didn’t die during the war.