A document containing detailed information about military personnel from Unit 731, a Japanese germ warfare unit during the World War II, was unveiled for the first time in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Saturday.
The 69-page document contains personnel files of 52 members of the unit, including names, places of origin, posts at the end of the war, units to which they belonged, resumes and so on.
The document was discovered in the National Archives of Japan. A copy of the document was brought back to the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of Japanese Imperial Army in China in 2023 after successful negotiations with the Japanese side.
The document suggests the 52 members of Unit 731 did not withdraw to Japan with their main forces. Fourteen of them were taken into custody in the former Soviet Union, while the rest hid in China.
After the World War II, they went back to Japan as individuals and filled in the personnel files, which were included in the document unveiled this time.
"The document of personnel files is the latest primary archive and key material in studying the Unit 731. It has important reference value for the research of the formation, personnel flow, war crimes and liabilities of the Unit 731," said Jin Shicheng, a researcher with the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of Japanese Imperial Army.
Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during the World War II.
At least 3,000 people were used in human experiments by Unit 731, while more than 300,000 people in China were killed by Japan's biological weapons.
New evidence further proves crimes of Japanese germ warfare unit
New evidence further proves crimes of Japanese germ warfare unit
New evidence further proves crimes of Japanese germ warfare unit
