Japan digs into horror of Unit 731
Source: Agencies |
February 22, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Japan began excavations at a former army medical school yesterday in a search for human remains linked to a notorious World War II program that conducted biological warfare in China and live experiments on foreign prisoners of war.
There is no certainty the excavation will unearth anything, but it is a sign that the government is open to the possibility of facing its long-kept wartime secrets, including the experiments conducted by the military's shadowy Unit 731.
The excavation is the first government investigation of the Tokyo site and follows a former nurse's revelation that she helped bury body parts there at the end of the war.
"If the bones or organs with traces of live medical experiments are found, the government would have to admit a wartime medical crime," said Yasushi Torii, head of a civil group which has been investigating the case for decades.
"This is a start, although we probably need more evidence to prove Unit 731's role," said Torii, as he watched a machine and workers using hand-held shovels carefully dig part of the plot.
From its wartime base in Japanese-occupied Harbin in northeast China, Unit 731 and related units injected prisoners of war with typhus, cholera and other diseases that they mass-produced to research germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 is also believed to have performed vivisections and to have frozen prisoners to death in endurance tests.
Historians estimate the number of the unit's victims from the thousands to as many as 250,000 - mostly Chinese but they also may have included other nationalities. They believe some bodily remains of victims were transferred from China to Tokyo for analysis.
A Japanese court in 2002 acknowledged the unit's germ warfare in China but ruled that Japan had no obligation to atone to the victims. After years of denial, Tokyo acknowledged Unit 731's existence but has never disclosed details of its activities.
Unit leaders were spared prosecution in exchange for turning over information to the United States, and given top posts in Japan's pharmaceutical industry, medical schools or the health ministry.
The excavation was promised about five years ago but authorities had held off until residents were relocated.
There is no certainty the excavation will unearth anything, but it is a sign that the government is open to the possibility of facing its long-kept wartime secrets, including the experiments conducted by the military's shadowy Unit 731.
The excavation is the first government investigation of the Tokyo site and follows a former nurse's revelation that she helped bury body parts there at the end of the war.
"If the bones or organs with traces of live medical experiments are found, the government would have to admit a wartime medical crime," said Yasushi Torii, head of a civil group which has been investigating the case for decades.
"This is a start, although we probably need more evidence to prove Unit 731's role," said Torii, as he watched a machine and workers using hand-held shovels carefully dig part of the plot.
From its wartime base in Japanese-occupied Harbin in northeast China, Unit 731 and related units injected prisoners of war with typhus, cholera and other diseases that they mass-produced to research germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 is also believed to have performed vivisections and to have frozen prisoners to death in endurance tests.
Historians estimate the number of the unit's victims from the thousands to as many as 250,000 - mostly Chinese but they also may have included other nationalities. They believe some bodily remains of victims were transferred from China to Tokyo for analysis.
A Japanese court in 2002 acknowledged the unit's germ warfare in China but ruled that Japan had no obligation to atone to the victims. After years of denial, Tokyo acknowledged Unit 731's existence but has never disclosed details of its activities.
Unit leaders were spared prosecution in exchange for turning over information to the United States, and given top posts in Japan's pharmaceutical industry, medical schools or the health ministry.
The excavation was promised about five years ago but authorities had held off until residents were relocated.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
