Unit 731 and Germ Warfare

For those of you who haven't heard of Unit 731 it was a Japanese military base in northeast China used for germ warfare development before and during World War II.

Over 3,000 people, including civilians, Russians, Mongolians and Koreans, were killed between 1939 and 1945 in biological weapons tests and other experiments. Biological weapons killed more than 200,000 Chinese during the Japanese occupation.

The base has been turned into a museum with a daily pilgrimage of tourists visiting the gruesome site which contains such horrors as a sculpture that depicts Japanese soldiers holding a Chinese man down as a doctor injetcs him with what could be bubonic plague, cholera or anthrax. Another shows a picture of a Japanese doctor observing a person lying in a glass walled chamber as the air pressure inside is raised to lethal levels.

Wang Peng, Curator of the Museum is leading an effort to have the Museum recognised by UNESCO as a memorial to Japanese war crimes. Peng states "Unit 731 did any kind of experiment they could think of and harmed a huge number of people. They committed all manner of cruel acts. This a unique aspect for a world heritage site".

Peng also says "We feel a growing sense of danger because Japan does not understand history correctly. "We fear the militarism of that time could reappear, that the historic tragedy will be replayed. "

More on Unit 731 can be found here:

www.chinadaily.com.cn...

www.centurychina.com...

powmia.webshare.ca...




.