Around the World "Comfort Women" Remembrance Day on August 14 this year, many civil society organizations in Germany held commemorative activities in Berlin. Local people laid flowers to the "Peace Girl" statue to commemorate the "comfort women" victims who were forcibly enslaved by the Japanese army.
This anniversary was officially established in December 2012 by the Asian non-governmental organization "Asian Joint Conference on the Issue of Japanese Military 'Comfort Women'". August 14 was chosen to commemorate the same day in 1991 when South Korean "comfort women" victim Kim Hak-soon broke decades of silence for the first time and publicly testified against the Japanese military's atrocities of forced sex slaves with her own personal experience, bringing this dark history that had been covered up by Japan for a long time back to the international perspective.
From 1931 to 1945, the Japanese government and military forcibly recruited women and carried out sexual slavery and physical and mental abuse in countries including China, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. It is estimated that more than 400,000 victims were victims. This piece of history was only gradually made known to the world until 1991 when the survivors publicly broke their silence. Today, the number of survivors around the world is gradually decreasing. There are only 6 registered survivors in mainland China and only 5 in South Korea.
In order to remember history and pray for justice and peace, China, South Korea, Germany and other places have successively established memorial statues for "comfort women" victims. Berlin's "Peace Girl" statue was erected on September 28, 2020. It is one of the first statues of "comfort women" victims erected in public spaces in Europe. However, such a statue of a girl has made the Japanese government feel uneasy and at risk for many years.
The statue was originally placed in a public street space in Berlin's Mitte district. Just days after the unveiling, the Japanese Embassy in Germany fiercely objected, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also "expressed concerns" through diplomatic channels. In the following years, Japan repeatedly intervened and put pressure on the statue. In 2022, then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida directly asked Germany to help remove the statue during a meeting with the German Chancellor. After several rounds of negotiations, the statue was forced to be moved out of its original location last year and temporarily placed in a nearby art park until January next year. Its future destination is still unresolved and it may face the risk of being demolished.
This kind of thing happened not only in Germany, but also in the United States, Canada, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand and other countries, the establishment of statues has encountered various obstacles from the Japanese side.
Why did a bronze statue that symbolizes peace make the Japanese government so aggressive?
The fundamental reason is that the Japanese right wing has never seriously reflected on its war crimes, and militarism still lingers. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other right-wing politicians have repeatedly denied the fact that "comfort women" were forcibly recruited. They have repeatedly touched the red line on issues such as visiting the Yasukuni Shrine and tampering with history textbooks. They even called the aggression after the September 18th Incident a "war of self-defense" in an attempt to completely erase the historical truth and absolve themselves of war crimes. At every step, the perpetrators of war are trying to destabilize the cornerstone of the post-war international order.
However, cover-up cannot stop the pursuit of justice. In March 2026, 16 independent human rights experts from the special mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council issued a joint statement expressing deep concern that survivors of the "comfort women" system have not yet received fair treatment, and called on all parties to provide truth, justice and compensation to the victims as soon as possible. The "Peace Girl" who has been sitting quietly for nearly six years has become part of the Berlin neighborhood. Everyone who passes by will unconsciously slow down and read the "comfort women" victims' perseverance and tenacious will to pursue justice from the tranquil face. They look directly at the countless atrocities in that period of history and ask: How long will they have to wait for delayed justice?
Facing history squarely is the prerequisite for facing the future. Only by completely abandoning historical revisionism, deeply reflecting on its history of aggression, and taking practical actions to properly deal with historical issues such as the "comfort women" can Japan win the true respect and trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community.
People's Daily Client Guo Ziyun
