Harbin: Unit 731 Experimental facility
WARNING - THIS BIT IS QUITE DISTRESSING
The Japanese had approximately 32 different types of medical experiments that they conducted on prisoners of war and also on Chinese civilians that they plucked out of nearby villages.
Injection of toxins, poisoning of food, different methods of spreading diseases, poisons, effect of pressure/vacuum on the human body, hanging upside down, how long it takes a healthy human to die when deprived of water, how long it takes a healthy human to die when deprived of food, infection of toxins in powdered form, how long it takes a healthy human to die when electrocuted, how long it takes a healthy human to die when burnt with boiling water or fire, how long it takes a human to die when exposed to water, frost bite experiments, toxic gas, using different liquids like horse blood in humans, watching blood loss, how long it takes a healthy human to die when his/her organs are removed while they're conscious, effect of gunshot on different parts of the body (timing for death), exposure to radiation, artificial insemination of animals/animal foetuses in humans, testing of different chemicals and medicines, removing of intestines and stomach while alive and how long a human can survive, removal of eyes etc. They were particularly interested in anthrax and the bubonic plague so infected several villages in the area to see the effects on the civilian population. They conducted vaccine reserach and pathogen experiments on living humans. The experiments were very methodical with different groups of test subjects, the results were recorded meticulously.
The Japanese called Chinese people and POWs "marutas" which means 'log of wood'. It was their code word for a healthy person who was a test subject. The delivery of the people was called "special delivery".
At the end of the war, although some of the Japanese doctors and soldiers were prosecuted, the top doctors were given immunity from war crimes prosecution when they gave the results of their medical research to the US military. Shiro Ishii the head doctor went back to Japan after giving orders for evidence to be destroyed. Unlike Germany, many of the war criminals went back to Japan to hold positions in government and went unprosecuted.
I think the results of the medical research were thought to be too valuable - when else would the US have the opportunity to see for themselves how a healthy human reacts when he is in a vacuum chamber? Exploding organs and eyeballs :P When I read about the frost bite experiments .... it is so bloody cold here. Leaving the prisoners out in the snow to see the effects of the cold on their bodies is just ..... beyond cruel. :(
It's such a sad place and there's a room dedicated to all the Japanese soldiers who came forward to confess what they had done. They were never prosecuted and weren't forced to tell but they came forward because they said that they couldn't live with themselves anymore. In fact if it wasn't for donations from Japanese peace groups - the museum could not have been built. One doctor confesses that he is haunted by nightmares because he conducted an 'autopsy' on a living Chinese woman who was pregnant. While he was cutting her to pieces, she begged him to spare her unborn child - but he continued. Others confessed to removing the heart from a still living, conscious human. They are all very kindly looking old men - grandfathers, great grandfathers ..... I find it interesting how some people walk away from it unscathed yet some people cannot live with themselves.
END OF DISTRESSING BIT
What gets me? At least 7 of the doctors at the top went back to Japan to work as top doctors in hospitals. How horrific is that? :P
In the final hall, there are thousands of origami cranes folded by Japanese people. Lots of messages of peace written in Chinese and in Japanese.
The woman in the museum asked me: "Are you Japanese?"
"Eek no!" I exclaimed. "I doubt I'd dare to come here if I was Japanese," I told her.
"They come here all the time .... many many Japanese. I often bump into them standing there crying silently as they read," she told me.
"Old people or young people?"
"Young people," she told me.
I guess it must be awful. Back in Japan they learn nothing about their war past and then to go overseas and find out what is in your past - it must be awful.
The Japanese had approximately 32 different types of medical experiments that they conducted on prisoners of war and also on Chinese civilians that they plucked out of nearby villages.
Injection of toxins, poisoning of food, different methods of spreading diseases, poisons, effect of pressure/vacuum on the human body, hanging upside down, how long it takes a healthy human to die when deprived of water, how long it takes a healthy human to die when deprived of food, infection of toxins in powdered form, how long it takes a healthy human to die when electrocuted, how long it takes a healthy human to die when burnt with boiling water or fire, how long it takes a human to die when exposed to water, frost bite experiments, toxic gas, using different liquids like horse blood in humans, watching blood loss, how long it takes a healthy human to die when his/her organs are removed while they're conscious, effect of gunshot on different parts of the body (timing for death), exposure to radiation, artificial insemination of animals/animal foetuses in humans, testing of different chemicals and medicines, removing of intestines and stomach while alive and how long a human can survive, removal of eyes etc. They were particularly interested in anthrax and the bubonic plague so infected several villages in the area to see the effects on the civilian population. They conducted vaccine reserach and pathogen experiments on living humans. The experiments were very methodical with different groups of test subjects, the results were recorded meticulously.
The Japanese called Chinese people and POWs "marutas" which means 'log of wood'. It was their code word for a healthy person who was a test subject. The delivery of the people was called "special delivery".
At the end of the war, although some of the Japanese doctors and soldiers were prosecuted, the top doctors were given immunity from war crimes prosecution when they gave the results of their medical research to the US military. Shiro Ishii the head doctor went back to Japan after giving orders for evidence to be destroyed. Unlike Germany, many of the war criminals went back to Japan to hold positions in government and went unprosecuted.
I think the results of the medical research were thought to be too valuable - when else would the US have the opportunity to see for themselves how a healthy human reacts when he is in a vacuum chamber? Exploding organs and eyeballs :P When I read about the frost bite experiments .... it is so bloody cold here. Leaving the prisoners out in the snow to see the effects of the cold on their bodies is just ..... beyond cruel. :(
It's such a sad place and there's a room dedicated to all the Japanese soldiers who came forward to confess what they had done. They were never prosecuted and weren't forced to tell but they came forward because they said that they couldn't live with themselves anymore. In fact if it wasn't for donations from Japanese peace groups - the museum could not have been built. One doctor confesses that he is haunted by nightmares because he conducted an 'autopsy' on a living Chinese woman who was pregnant. While he was cutting her to pieces, she begged him to spare her unborn child - but he continued. Others confessed to removing the heart from a still living, conscious human. They are all very kindly looking old men - grandfathers, great grandfathers ..... I find it interesting how some people walk away from it unscathed yet some people cannot live with themselves.
END OF DISTRESSING BIT
What gets me? At least 7 of the doctors at the top went back to Japan to work as top doctors in hospitals. How horrific is that? :P
In the final hall, there are thousands of origami cranes folded by Japanese people. Lots of messages of peace written in Chinese and in Japanese.
The woman in the museum asked me: "Are you Japanese?"
"Eek no!" I exclaimed. "I doubt I'd dare to come here if I was Japanese," I told her.
"They come here all the time .... many many Japanese. I often bump into them standing there crying silently as they read," she told me.
"Old people or young people?"
"Young people," she told me.
I guess it must be awful. Back in Japan they learn nothing about their war past and then to go overseas and find out what is in your past - it must be awful.