Hideo Shimizu, a Japanese veteran who served in the notorious Japanese germ-warfare Unit 731 during World War II, offered an apology on Tuesday in front of a monument at the unit's former headquarters in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Shimizu identified the crimes of the Japanese aggressors in China at the site where he served 79 years ago.
Now 94, Shimizu was among the last Unit 731 Youth Corps members sent by Japan to Harbin, China, where he spent more than four months witnessing the war crimes committed by the unit, including the cultivation of pathogens, human dissections and human experiments. He fled China with the retreating Japanese forces on August 14, 1945.
On Tuesday morning, Shimizu arrived almost half an hour earlier than scheduled. He visited buildings at the former headquarters of Unit 731, including the sentry post, the specimen room and the office of the unit commander, while admitting to the crimes of the Japanese aggressors at site.
According to Shimizu, the strong scent of formalin in the specimen room remains fresh in his memory.
"At that time, when I entered the room, the pungent smell of formalin was so strong that it kept bringing tears to my eyes. I only took a quick glance around. My sight was obscured by the tears that kept falling. I don't remember anything else," he told Jin Chengmin, curator of the Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by Japanese Army Unit 731.
He also recalled that in the specimen room, he had seen a variety of dissected human organs soaked in formalin-filled bottles.
"There were specimens of pregnant women with children in their bellies, human hands, gastrointestinal organs and brains," he said.
Shimizu then visited the site of a bacteriological laboratory, a special prison and a frostbite laboratory, which he identified by comparing the derelict buildings to old photographs.
Shimizu then went to the Monument of Atonement and Peaceful Non-War where he bowed to the monument, approached to touch it, and then apologized for the atrocities the unit committed.
"I'm really sorry. I offer my condolences to the deceased victims, as our atrocities have brought great sufferings to the Chinese people, and we are deeply sorry for that," he said.
This visit is Shimizu's first return to Chinese soil in 79 years.
In 2016, Shimizu revealed his identity as a former Unit 731 member and began to expose the atrocities of the Japanese aggressors through public speeches and interviews, aiming to tell historical truths. Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing in China during World War II. The unit is estimated to have killed between 200,000 and 300,000 people. It was based in the Pingfang District of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast China, formerly named Manchuria) and had other detachments posted throughout China and Southeast Asia.
Unit 731 was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes committed by Japanese troops. It routinely conducted tests on people who were dehumanized and internally referred to as "logs". Experiments included disease injections, controlled dehydration, biological weapons testing, hypobaric pressure chamber testing, vivisection, organ procurement, amputation, and standard weapons testing. Victims included not only kidnapped men, women, including pregnant women, and children but also babies born from the systemic rape perpetrated by the staff inside the compound.
Former member of Japanese germ-warfare unit apologizes for past war crimes in China
Former member of Japanese germ-warfare unit apologizes for past war crimes in China
Former member of Japanese germ-warfare unit apologizes for past war crimes in China
