Japanese germ warfare irrefutable
Fifty-five years have elapsed since the end of War World II, but generations born in the postwar era are still shocked by the crimes committed by the Japanese army in China during the war. Among the worst Japanese crimes against humanity were those committed by medical units engaged in biological warfare research. "Factories of Death, Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45, and the American Cover-up," by Sheldon H. Harris, emeritus professor of history at California State University, details the secret research conducted upon humans in China by the Japanese Army and unveils the cover-up assisted by the United States in the postwar years. First published by Routledge in the United States, Canada and Britain in 1994, the book was selected by Choice magazine as one of the outstanding Scholarly books of 1995. A Chinese translation of the book was recently published by the Shanghai People's Publishing House. The translation was completed by four Chinese researchers, including Wang Xuan, 48, a close friend of Professor Harris and also a representative of the Chinese victims of germ warfare who filed a lawsuit against the Japanese Government in 1997. "It's the most detailed and comprehensive work by a Western scholar focusing on Japan's germ warfare," exclaimed Wang at a press conference held in Beijing in mid-October. Harris lived and lectured in China in 1979 and returned to China for extended periods in the following few years. Research starts He first heard the history of Unit 731 when lecturing at the Northeast Normal University in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, in 1984. He was horrified during his visit to what is left of the factory of death in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Ever since, Harris has devoted himself to the research of Japan's biological warfare. He has made frequent research trips to most areas in Heilongjiang, Jilin and East China's Zhejiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region where Japanese troops conducted germ experiments and infected people with the plague, cholera, anthrax and a dozen other pathogens. He also extended his research in the United States by visiting scholars and examining mountains of documents from a variety of sources in the United States. Result of a 10-year effort His work of 10 years finally resulted in his book "Factories of Death." "The book fills in a number of gaps, putting in one place a wealth of information to enable readers to come away with their own informed opinions," a critic wrote in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The first half of the book encompasses the diabolical operations of Japanese biological warfare research in major factories of death situated in Harbin, Changchun and Nanjing, in particular the activities conducted by Unit 731. Under the command of Lieutenant General Ishii Shiro, Unit 731 first erected secret bases throughout Northeast China and turned the region into "one gigantic biological and chemical warfare laboratory." In the bases, Japanese scientists conducted innumerable experiments involving the use of living people, who were called "logs," in tests that often cost the subjects their lives. Victims of these human experiments came from all walks of life in the occupied territory. Biological warfare research started the moment Japan occupied the region in 1931 and lasted until Japan's surrender in August 1945. Over the past decade, scholars from China, Japan and the United States have been engaged in the extensive study of Japanese germ warfare. Most of them believed that there were three major factories of death in China: the Harbin centre set up by Unit 731, the Changchun site set up by Unit 100 and the Nanjing one set up by Unit 1644. According to Harris' research, however, the actual number was much more than that. The Japanese army set up a strategic network of biological warfare centres, with dozens of factories of death that spread throughout the country, Harris writes in the book's preface. Harris also believes that there were at least 18 Japanese biological warfare units established during World War II. Of equal importance in the book is the discussion of the United States' cover-up of these inhuman practices in the postwar period and the motives behind it. "Most distressing is the fact that the ultimate disclosure in the middle to late 1940s of Japanese biological warfare human experimentation did not appal those individuals who were apprised of these criminal acts. Instead, the disclosures whetted the appetites of scientists and military planners among both the victors and the vanquished," Harris writes. Harris also shows in the book how the United States Government provided immunity from investigation for some of the scientists who thereby avoided war crimes trials, so that the United States could acquire the results of Japanese expertise in germ warfare and prevent the Soviet Union from gaining access to the data. "In spite of the extensive research conducted for decades, and the periodic public discussions, nagging questions concerning Japanese biological warfare remain unanswered. "Some of the questions cannot be resolved because archival depositories containing sensitive material are still closed to scholars in many countries," Harris writes in the epilogue. Consequently, the Japanese continue to deny this part of their wartime record, refusing demands for a clear apology. The average Japanese today is ignorant of his or her country's past brutality. "As a historian, I should tell the people the truth," said Harris during his visit to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, in June. Over the past few years, he has discussed his book on numerous radio talk shows and has given public lectures at a number of universities in the United States and abroad. He has been recruited by the BBC as a consultant for a six-part documentary series on Science and War. A Japanese translation of the book by Kondo Shoji was published in July, 1999, and caused a stir in the country. The Chinese translation also updates the information and data in the book and includes more photos, provided by Kondo Shoji, which help present the hidden history to readers. "As Chinese, we should know the truth," said Wang Xuan.
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