Horrific Japanese war crimes - UNIT 731
Discussion
Somehow found myself down the weird part of YouTube a few nights ago and stumbled upon some videos which to be honest, have turned my stomach and I cant stop thinking about. During WW2, the Japanese set up a secret camp (UNIT 731) which was brought about to develop chemical and biological weapons using live test subjects to "further the knowledge of medicine". What actually came about was some of the most depraved and sickening acts of human torture and experimentation that I had the misfortune of learning about.
some of the experiments that happened involved Korean, Chinese, Russian and other men, women & children being injected with viruses such as plague, herpes, syphilis etc just so that they could be monitored and observed before becoming violently ill or dying. Once they had got bored injecting, they forced the already infected males to copulate with the females instead. Vivisections & amputations without anaesthetic to remove organs and reattach incorrectly were common practice, holding prisoners arms in cold water then exposing the limbs in freezing conditions for hours before they would be hit with poles to either shatter the limbs or the limb would make a "reverberating" sound like wood when hit. Prisoners locked in pressure chamber and pressure increased until explosion. prisoners tied to poles and exposed the grenade blast to see how effective the weapons were.
It seems as though what went on in these camps was washed away following the end of the war as there were no human survivors of these camps, and from what I understand, the US made a deal with the Japanese torturers that provided they handed over all data, there would be no prosecutions! Even now, Japan deny these camps and practices existed and no formal apologies have been made.
How can something like this be so unknown until recently, especially with all we were taught about Nazi Germany and the holocaust? I certainly didn't know about this kind of thing and none of my relatives learned about this through school? Its kind of stained my soul knowing that humans were capable of performing these experiments which up until now, I thought were reserved for the minds of twisted horror movie directors.
some of the experiments that happened involved Korean, Chinese, Russian and other men, women & children being injected with viruses such as plague, herpes, syphilis etc just so that they could be monitored and observed before becoming violently ill or dying. Once they had got bored injecting, they forced the already infected males to copulate with the females instead. Vivisections & amputations without anaesthetic to remove organs and reattach incorrectly were common practice, holding prisoners arms in cold water then exposing the limbs in freezing conditions for hours before they would be hit with poles to either shatter the limbs or the limb would make a "reverberating" sound like wood when hit. Prisoners locked in pressure chamber and pressure increased until explosion. prisoners tied to poles and exposed the grenade blast to see how effective the weapons were.
It seems as though what went on in these camps was washed away following the end of the war as there were no human survivors of these camps, and from what I understand, the US made a deal with the Japanese torturers that provided they handed over all data, there would be no prosecutions! Even now, Japan deny these camps and practices existed and no formal apologies have been made.
How can something like this be so unknown until recently, especially with all we were taught about Nazi Germany and the holocaust? I certainly didn't know about this kind of thing and none of my relatives learned about this through school? Its kind of stained my soul knowing that humans were capable of performing these experiments which up until now, I thought were reserved for the minds of twisted horror movie directors.
My late uncle Bennie was a PoW to the Japanese for most of the war. He survived many didn t.
He obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little b
ds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.
He obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little b
ds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.Edited by HarryW on Wednesday 2nd September 11:38
STe_rsv4 said:
How can something like this be so unknown until recently, especially with all we were taught about Nazi Germany and the holocaust? I certainly didn't know about this kind of thing and none of my relatives learned about this through school? Its kind of stained my soul knowing that humans were capable of performing these experiments which up until now, I thought were reserved for the minds of twisted horror movie directors.
Locality; we learned European WW2 history because it was close to home. I have a Korean friend who was taught about Japan's evil deeds during WW2 and everything else going on in SE Asia because that was 'local' to them but only know of the Nazi regime by learning about it outside of school. TBH Japan has a very dark past all the way up to their surrender in September 1945; not just U731 but also the 'comfort camps' and other atrocities they inflicted on their population. But I dare say they weren't the only ones at it with the experiments on live subjects; every country has its secrets when you're at war; there is a reason the US used Gitmo in Cuba post 9/11, and more recently what's going on in the middle east and Israel and Palestine and how they 'handle' prisoners of war reminds you the brutality of war is never changes.
Kwackersaki said:
Yes, the Nazis were bad but the Japs were on another level. Read up about the rape on NanKing and what they did in Singapore at the military hospital.
They used Chinese prisoners, including babies for bayonet practice and slaughtered tens of thousands in a matter of days.
literally just watched a video on my lunch break on the Nanjing massacre. Fair to say the food didn't taste too good.They used Chinese prisoners, including babies for bayonet practice and slaughtered tens of thousands in a matter of days.
The account of one survivor who's family were graped and butchered in front of her -Absolute evil
HarryW said:
My late uncle Bennie was a PoW to the Japanese for most of the war. He survived many didn t.
He obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little bds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.
My Grandad fought in WW2. He never explained why he hated the Japanese so much, but you got the idea that he didn't want to talk about anything that had happened during that time.He obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little b
ds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.Edited by HarryW on Wednesday 2nd September 11:38
My understanding was the Japanese have been always been generally honourable and decent, but those few years during the war did something to them. Apparently, they left Japan civilised and gentlemanly, then just went primal.
I only found out about the rape of Namking fairly recently and I was shocked to my core. Literally hell on earth.
I only found out about the rape of Namking fairly recently and I was shocked to my core. Literally hell on earth.
My mum was born in Indonesia and when the Japanese invaded all their neighbours and family were put in camps.
She, her brother and her mum only escaped imprisonment because her dad was Hungarian.
She still has the little stove that some of the imprisoned family used to heat up rice.
Many of my older relatives refused to have anything Japanese in their houses after the war right up until they died.
Odd that having also suffered under the Germans they were happy to have German cars but certainly no Datsuns.
As a people, the Japanese are so polite but just underneath their skin there's something that unnerves me.
Look at their TV programmes that have contestants undergoing mild torture and humiliation for a start.
She, her brother and her mum only escaped imprisonment because her dad was Hungarian.
She still has the little stove that some of the imprisoned family used to heat up rice.
Many of my older relatives refused to have anything Japanese in their houses after the war right up until they died.
Odd that having also suffered under the Germans they were happy to have German cars but certainly no Datsuns.
As a people, the Japanese are so polite but just underneath their skin there's something that unnerves me.
Look at their TV programmes that have contestants undergoing mild torture and humiliation for a start.
HarryW said:
My late uncle Bennie was a PoW to the Japanese for most of the war. He survived many didn t.
He obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little bds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.
My ex wife's grandad was a POW, he worked on the Burma Railway. He refused to talk about it, except one Christmas, he'd had a drink too many and he started crying and telling us how after working all day, 'those bHe obviously never went into detail but as a Black cab driver in London after the war and until his death he hated them. He nearly lost his Hackney license more than once by refusing or throwing out any Japanese tourists from his cab. Likewise he would never buy anything Japanese.
All I recall him saying about it was they were evil little b
ds. I think you d have lived in his shoes to understand.Edited by HarryW on Wednesday 2nd September 11:38
ds' would make you bury your mates before they'd feed you. He weighed 6 stone when he was released. He too refused to buy anything Japanese, hardly surprising. I saw the scars on his back, they told me all I needed to know. Evil.
I remember reading a book about the rape of Nanking years ago and one Japanese guy spoke of growing up in the 1930s and he was a bit squeamish at school about cutting up animals in a biology lesson and one of the teachers said ‘you’ve got to go and kill chinese soon - don’t worry about animals’. It’s as if they were inculcated from an early age.
It's been fairly well documented, wiki;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
There have been a couple of films made too;
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093170
Reading about the atrocities is enough, i've no desire to watch the films.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
There have been a couple of films made too;
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093170
Reading about the atrocities is enough, i've no desire to watch the films.
Well, the people the japanese were (by and large) killing were non-western people so most people weren't so fussed by comparison to what had happened in Europe being much nearer in theatre with the terrible treatment of captured soldiers in Burma/Singapore/Phillipines as prisoners of war tends to have been the main thing that has garnered a lot of distaste rather than the vast number of people they killed all across east asia. the distance made it that much easier to be out of sight and out of mind I suppose with enough happening over in Europe anyway as well....
That senior japanese politicians even today are tolerated to go to yasakuni has always been remarkable as if any of CDU or senior german politicians had visited a WW2 memorial commemorating Goring//Keitel/Hess, the outrage would be off the chart.
That senior japanese politicians even today are tolerated to go to yasakuni has always been remarkable as if any of CDU or senior german politicians had visited a WW2 memorial commemorating Goring//Keitel/Hess, the outrage would be off the chart.
isaldiri said:
Well, the people the japanese were (by and large) killing were non-western people so most people weren't so fussed by comparison to what had happened in Europe being much nearer in theatre with the terrible treatment of captured soldiers in Burma/Singapore/Phillipines as prisoners of war tends to have been the main thing that has garnered a lot of distaste rather than the vast number of people they killed all across east asia. the distance made it that much easier to be out of sight and out of mind I suppose with enough happening over in Europe anyway as well....
That senior japanese politicians even today are tolerated to go to yasakuni has always been remarkable as if any of CDU or senior german politicians had visited a WW2 memorial commemorating Goring//Keitel/Hess, the outrage would be off the chart.
Yes, they still visit the memorial annually as if they are paying homage to legends, not murderous psychopathic sadists.That senior japanese politicians even today are tolerated to go to yasakuni has always been remarkable as if any of CDU or senior german politicians had visited a WW2 memorial commemorating Goring//Keitel/Hess, the outrage would be off the chart.
It seems that Japan are just content to let this part of their history be whitewashed rather than acknowledge what went on and maybe show some empathy for their neighbours.
My grandfather was in Hong Kong when the Japanese invaded, he was a doctor and a group of maybe 20 English men stood on the waterfront armed with nothing more than sweeping brushes and garden spades. The Japanese captured them and marched them up the Peak, highest part of Hong Kong.
They pushed the men off the cliff edge to their deaths, they said that they were not worth a bullet.
They pushed the men off the cliff edge to their deaths, they said that they were not worth a bullet.
Edited by K87 on Wednesday 2nd September 16:20
It amazes me that Japan went from a relatively liberal society in the Taisho era, to a militarised and aggressive one.
Partly due to the military being unchecked and partly due to the way society devolved control to the Emperor, who was effectively controlled by the military.
I see parallels with the US right now. Not the rape and killing, obviously, but the quasi military way in which the Government is run, using almost unchecked propaganda, othering their opponents and engaging in wars and skirmishes to divert attention away from home, secure resources and tighten the control of aggressive interior ministers.
Partly due to the military being unchecked and partly due to the way society devolved control to the Emperor, who was effectively controlled by the military.
I see parallels with the US right now. Not the rape and killing, obviously, but the quasi military way in which the Government is run, using almost unchecked propaganda, othering their opponents and engaging in wars and skirmishes to divert attention away from home, secure resources and tighten the control of aggressive interior ministers.
Castrol for a knave said:
It amazes me that Japan went from a relatively liberal society in the Taisho era, to a militarised and aggressive one.
Partly due to the military being unchecked and partly due to the way society devolved control to the Emperor, who was effectively controlled by the military.
I see parallels with the US right now. Not the rape and killing, obviously, but the quasi military way in which the Government is run, using almost unchecked propaganda, othering their opponents and engaging in wars and skirmishes to divert attention away from home, secure resources and tighten the control of aggressive interior ministers.
Yep, read a book about the Battle of Tsushima not that long ago written by one of the Russians imprisoned by the Japanese and he described them as being very humane, far more humane than his Russian superiors who didn't even bother to repatriate them until over a year after the war had finished (but first demanded the prisoners turn on any subversives).Partly due to the military being unchecked and partly due to the way society devolved control to the Emperor, who was effectively controlled by the military.
I see parallels with the US right now. Not the rape and killing, obviously, but the quasi military way in which the Government is run, using almost unchecked propaganda, othering their opponents and engaging in wars and skirmishes to divert attention away from home, secure resources and tighten the control of aggressive interior ministers.
It's difficult to see how a people can go from being humane to barbaric in just a generation but I guess that civilisation is a thin cover on the worst excesses of human nature... and we're not immune either, it can happen here.
ChevronB19 said:
Pixelpeep Electric said:
My uncle survived both Mustard gas and pepper spray experiments. Witnesses said he must have been a seasoned veteran
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