The Nanking Massacre (This Page)

Medical Experimentation on Prisoners by Unit 731 (This Page)

Forced Sexual Slavery of "The Comfort Women"(Next Page)

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The Nanking Massacre

 
      "The Denial of Nanking," http://www.tw.org/ncacls/mag4-28.txt includes a brief plain text essay by Iris Chang, noted author of "The Rape of Nanking."  In the essay, Chang gives a brief summary of the horrors committed by the Japanese at Nanking, capital of Nationalist China, during the months of looting, raping, torturing and murdering by the Japanese army. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East estimated that the Japanese killed more than 260,000 in Nanking and some historians believe the figure may be as high as 350,000.  She also firmly rejects Japanese denials of the incident, citing innumerable primary sources including the reports of the testimony of survivors, Japanese war diaries, official Japanese communications, etc.  She sharply criticizes those who would deny these events and contrasts the behavior of the Japanese with the willingness of post-World War II Germans to accept blame for the Holocaust
 

       Nanjing Massacre, http://www.haozheng.com/NanjingMassacre.htm documents the happenings of the Massacre both through secondary sources and through photographs. It chastises the Japanese because "Sixty years have passed by" and the "Japanese government has never apologized for what they did."  It discusses the importance of a 1937 16mm documentary made by Reverend John Magee during the Massacre in 1937 and the manner in which it was eventually discovered, helping to disprove those who claimed these horrors never occurred.   Also included is an excerpt from Iris Chang's "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" which describes the massacre/ mass rape of the Chinese inhabitants of Nanking in lurid detail.  The site also alleges that the government has engaged in censorship of school textbooks to prevent their children from hearing the truth.  Finally, the site contains "Photo Documentation" of some of the horrors that occurred.  A warning is in order that "This site contains some very Disturbing graphic contents."

        If you are especially interested in the Nanking Massacre and would like to read more, the best source on the subject I've run across is Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II discussed in many of these sites. It is available from amazon.com and from barnesandnoble.com.
 

        Nanking Massacre, http://www.jazsoft.demon.co.uk/nanking/index.html is a substantive essay by Jason N. Yip essentially arguing that although there are good political and economic reasons why Japan, along with Germany, should be made a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, this should not be allowed to happen.  Unlike Germany, Japan has consistently refused to apologize for the atrocities it committed during World War II, most notably the Rape of Nanking.  This lack of remorse was recently highlighted by the successful suit of a World War II Japanese soldier for libel for publishing of his war diary which substantiated the occurrence of many of these horrors.  After highlighting these facts, Yip then includes a Reader's Digest review of Iris Chang's book.
 

         The Other Holocaust:  Nanjing Massacre, Unit 731 & Unit 100, http://www.interlog.com/~yuan/japan.html begins by arguing that "At a time when Japan is seeking the ultimate seal of legitimacy for its current resurgence of Militarism : a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Japan as a nation with a history of aggression, crimes against humanity, with NO signs of remorse, is NOT worthy of occupying a seat on the UN Security Council!"  It supports this claim with lurid descriptions of the horrors committed by the Japanese during World War II that have yet to be apologized for, namely the Nanking Massacre and the medical experiments on Chinese prisoners by Units 731 and 100.  In addition to the rapes and murders committed, the Chinese were infected with all manners of pathogens so that the Japanese army could evaluate their effectiveness of biological weapons.  The evidence is provided in great detail and appears to be well-supported although claims that the Nanking Massacre occurred at the direct command of prince Asaka Yasuhiko are rather controversial given the belief by scholars such as Iris Chang that these horrors were committed despite the orders of the Japanese government.  In general though, this site seems to be relatively accurate.  It also contains a number of links to other sources, both online and in text.
 
 

 
 

Medical Experimentation on Prisoners by Unit 731

 
         AII POW-MIA: Unit 731, http://www.aiipowmia.com/731mnu.html is a series of links to stories and pictures of the many horrors committed by Unit 731.  Authored by AII POW-MIA, this site describes in graphic detail many of the experiments performed by the Japanese scientists upon live prisoners. A number of gruesome pictures are also included, adding to the effect.  Also discussed is the alleged American cover-up of the Unit's activities as a means to secure the biological warfare know-how garnered by Japanese scientists through these experiments.  Although this discussion is a bit sensationalistic, some form of American cover-up did occur, as made public by a 1981 article in the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists" by John W. Powell, Jr.  Notwithstanding a few possible errors, this site appears to be factually accurate. And, through its graphic images and lurid descriptions, this site does bring home the horrors perpetrated by these army scientists.  Helpfully, the site also contains a nice bibliography of Unit 731 sources.
 

        731, http://bw.cea.edu/~natsuko/731e1.html is an eye-catching site devoted to discussing the experiments of Unit 731 and the subsequent American cover-up.  This site unabashedly asserts that the U.S. gave immunity to these doctors in return for the results of their research on germ warfare.  The most shocking of these allegations is that "[i]nstead of putting the ringleaders on trial, U.S. gave them stipends in order to have some germ warfare advantage over the communist Soviet Union."  Included are a number of pictures, including one of Lt. Gen. Shiro Ishii, director of Unit 731, and of the remaining building used by the Unit.  A breach of the "Code of Silence" by a doctor named Kamada is reported as is his story of their work.  Most striking is the apparent lack of remorse by these Japanese doctors which in many cases appears to be limited to regret that they wasted "the best years of their lives on medical research that could not be continued after the war."  The site argues that as many of these doctors went on to become prominent in Japanese society and as the Japanese government has yet to apologize for these atrocities, this has only added to the collective amnesia Japan possesses regarding the war crimes it has committed.  As  the facts alleged are not directly supported, however, a lack of credibility detracts from an otherwise good site.
 

        Unlocking a Deadly Secret, http://centurychina.com/wiihist/germwar/germwar.htm was written by Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times.  It is a very thorough site that provides superb facts and analysis on many aspects of Unit 731. Most startling is a section discussing a proposed Japanese plan to load huge balloons with biological weapons and float them to the West Coast of the United States; fortunately this idea was rejected "at a crucial meeting in late July 1944" by Hideki Tojo (later hanged by the United States for war crimes) because of fear of America's likely revenge. The discussion ranges from the experiments of the doctors on prisoners without anesthetics to the use of germ warfare against the Chinese, civilian and military alike.  The site also reports that, startlingly, "[s]cholars say that the research was not contrived by mad scientists and that it was intelligently designed and' carried out . . . [t]he medical findings saved many Japanese lives."  Obviously this in no way detracts from the horror of the acts; rather, it makes the actions of Unit 731 more chilling and the Japanese government more responsible.  This site appears to be well-researched and is very well-written.  Perhaps the best Unit 731 site I've come across.
 
 

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