Unit 731 Museum

Hey Friends,

I am heading off to Dandong (Chinese city next to the North Korean border!) in a couple of hours
and so I thought I would leave a quick post. Can't wait to share all about Dandong with you all when I return, and until then, please enjoy this post:

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Last weekend, I visited Unit 731 Museum here in Harbin. This museum exposes the past war crimes of the Japanese (specifically chemical weapons testing on innocent human beings).
Here's a 'Foreword' that I encountered in the museum (word for word)
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     "Early in the 20th century, the Japanese militarists flagrantly flouted the international conventions, and clandestinely plotted biological and chemical warfare in an attempt to realize the political ambition of dominating Asia and ruling the world. Very quickly such weapons were used in the battlefield, making the Japanese militarists the most vicious Fascist war criminals in human history.
     The Manchurian Unit of 731, which was entrenched in Ping Fang District, Harbin for 13 years, was the nerve center of the Japanese militarists in executing the plot. Not only did they conduct big-scale germ weapon research, tests and production here, but they also used healthy humans to conduct germ tests. Just between 1939 and 1945, at least 3000 people were cruelly terminated in the laboratories. During the whole germ warfare, at least 300,000 people were slaughtered or maimed.
     Forgetting about the history means betrayal. By exposing the criminal past of Unit 731, we want to preserve the facts in order to warn future generations. Let history usher in a peaceful, civilized and progressive human society, and prevent a recurrence of historical tragedy."
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Now please don't get me wrong. It's not my intention to say the Japanese are evil and cruel, but rather how I see it is that a group of people in the past (which just so happen to be Japanese) performed evil acts to fulfill zealous sin-filled ambitions. The bigger takeaways from this museum experience are that I could not only see first hand how evil HUMAN BEINGS can be, but also, after seeing these ghastly exhibits, I can swear to myself to do my best in the future to prevent this kind of evil from happening again. I really liked the last paragraph of the Foreword because it warns future generations to prevent such evil from occurring again.

Here are some pictures from my experience:

The Main Building of Unit 731
"The main building was the administrative headquarters of Unit 731, which housed the offices for the commanding officer and aides, the specimen display rooms, special office for gendarmes, and the infirmary. It was a 170-meter-long and 12-meter-wide brick and wood structure, with a total floor space of 4,080 square meters. The roof was burnt when Unit 731 retreated in August 1945. The place was later restored to its original form."

Germ and chemical testing/surgery on a woman

"Smoke billowed from the corpse incinerator of the Troop No.731 day after day after bacteria experiments, even including someone incinerated with dying breath."

"The Troop No.731 often carried out vacuum experiments at any time because the troop had a lot of living people as specimens. Other arbitrary experiments included heat endurance, stopping water supply, electric shock, upside-down hanging, amputation etc."

"A permanent lab of the Troop No.731 to research the formation, therapy and prevention of frostbite. Before 1939, the troop did frostbite experiments generally in the fields."

Bone saw used to cut and acquire human body parts

"The children of Beituan Village died a violent death as a result of the gas attack by the Japanese troops."

Context of above picture^^^
"On May 27th 1942, a part of the Japanese troops in China of the 163rd regiment of 110th division surrounded the Beituan Village of Ding county of Hebei province and fired lethal gases into a tunnel where the villagers hid, brutally killing over 800 innocent residences, which included over 30 households. This 'Beituan Massacre' shocked the nation."

His face is a testament to the terrible effects of a chemical attack 

SIDE 1: SMILING HARMLESS-LOOKING BUSINESSMAN

SIDE 2: SNARLING EVIL MILITARY GENERAL

Context of above two pictures^^^ (Businessman/General)

     "Zhong Hai Institution for Weapon Manufacture of Army Arsenal Gunpowder Factory:

     

     In 1927, the Japanese commenced on building the production base for toxic agents in confidence which was located in Kunoshima, Seto Inland Sea. In order to cover up the reality of the production of toxic agents, the plant was named Army Arsenal Powder Factory Zhong Hai Institution for Weapon Manufacture and begun its operations and production in May, 1929. According to statistics, it produced a total of 6,616 tons of varying types of toxic agents from 1931 to August, 1945 and was known as the 'Poison Gas Island'"

Remains of the boiler room site

To my knowledge, each tile is the name of a victim...