Zhao Xuzhou: Providing Empirical Evidence for the Atrocity of Unit 731 and Refuting Japanese Rhetoric Denying the Invasion of China
Recently, the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army (hereinafter referred to as the Unit 731 Museum) released for the first time in China the full version of the oral testimony video footage of Masakuni Kurumizawa, a former member of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Unit 731. Recorded in August 1991, the video has a total duration of 83 minutes. It consists of visual materials Kurumizawa prepared for the public to expose the crimes of Unit 731 during the "Shinshu War Exhibition for Peace" held in Iida, Japan. In August 2024, the museum collected this material from Motofumi Hara, a Japanese researcher on Unit 731 issues.
In the video, Kurumizawa confessed to numerous details regarding Unit 731’s crimes against humanity, including vivisection [1], human experimentation, and the implementation of germ warfare. For years, relevant domestic institutions, including the Unit 731 Museum, have continuously excavated, collected, and organized historical evidence of the crimes of the invading Japanese army, successively making public, publishing, and releasing a vast amount of historical evidence, archives, and research results. Recently, our reporter interviewed Jin Shicheng, a staff member at the Unit 731 Museum, regarding these issues.
Proving the Brutal Acts of Unit 731
Chinese Social Sciences Today: Which specific aspects of the Japanese army's crimes of invasion are corroborated by Masakuni Kurumizawa’s oral video materials?
Jin Shicheng: First, it confirms that Japanese germ warfare during the invasion of China was a top-down, large-scale, and organized state crime. In the video, Kurumizawa recounted how he entered Unit 731 through the Japanese Army Medical School and the Puppet Manchukuo [2] Continental Academy of Sciences. This provides further proof that the Puppet Manchukuo Continental Academy of Sciences was a collaborative criminal institution of Unit 731, maintaining business dealings and personnel transfers with the unit. Second, it confirms the atrocities of human experimentation, such as vivisection. Kurumizawa confessed to having dissected 300 people himself. He also mentioned the composition and efficiency of Unit 731’s human dissection teams, describing chilling details such as how "the person was still warm with blood spurting out" during the procedure. This corroborates the brutal acts of vivisection and other human experiments conducted by Unit 731, testifying to the unit’s extreme disregard for human life.
Chinese Social Sciences Today: In Seiichi Morimura’s book The Devil’s Gluttony, there was previously oral testimony from Masakuni Kurumizawa, but this content was deleted from subsequent revised editions. What was the reason for this?
Jin Shicheng: When Seiichi Morimura was writing The Devil’s Gluttony in 1981, he interviewed Kurumizawa. At that time, Kurumizawa recounted his criminal activities in Unit 731, including vivisection, germ experiments, and germ production, providing a wealth of core oral testimony for the book. However, as The Devil’s Gluttony became a sensation in Japan, Kurumizawa recanted his oral statements. Consequently, these sections were removed from the revised editions. In 1991, Kurumizawa once again recounted his criminal journey to the public and left behind a visual record. Thus, the 83-minute testimony released this time contains core content that was present in the first edition of The Devil’s Gluttony. This oral testimony provides a confession of the criminal details of Unit 731’s human experimentation and vivisection from the perspective of a perpetrator, exposing the unit's crimes against humanity from a micro-perspective.
Refuting Japanese Denials of the History of Invasion
Chinese Social Sciences Today: How do the materials released this time assist relevant academic research?
Jin Shicheng: First, they supplement historical research materials. As a dissection technician for Unit 731, Kurumizawa personally participated in the related crimes. His oral video is primary historical material that visually presents the criminal activities of Unit 731, such as human dissection and germ warfare. It provides precious details for research, effectively supplementing the data on Unit 731 and helping scholars understand the full scope of the unit’s crimes more comprehensively and deeply.
Second, they corroborate existing research findings. The testimony mentions that those experimented upon were called Maruta [3], including Chinese and Koreans, and that the "Special Prison" had a standing population of over 40 people that was constantly replenished. It also mentions details such as the production of two tons of bacteria per day. These points align with previous research findings on Unit 731, further confirming the unit's extreme disregard for human life and the authenticity of the crimes committed.
Third, they reveal the unit’s secrecy mechanism. Kurumizawa stated that "leaking secrets to the outside was prohibited, even to one’s family," reflecting the high degree of secrecy within Unit 731. This explains why the crimes of Unit 731 were covered up for a long time after the war and is of great significance for studying the organizational structure and operational model of Unit 731, as well as the attempts by Japanese militarism to conceal its crimes.
Fourth, they highlight the essence of crimes against humanity. From an academic perspective, this testimony reveals—from the perpetrator’s viewpoint—how Japanese militarism seriously violated international conventions and medical research ethics. The acts of Unit 731, such as human dissection and germ experimentation, were outright crimes against humanity, providing a classic case for the study of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Chinese Social Sciences Today: What is the vital value and role of these materials in refuting the denial of the history of invasion by the Japanese government and civil society?
Jin Shicheng: After World War II, the United States granted immunity to the members of Unit 731 for their crimes on the condition of obtaining their experimental data and research materials. Consequently, the vast majority of Unit 731 members remained in hiding after the war; only a few had the courage to stand up and expose the unit's crimes. Kurumizawa’s 83-minute oral testimony is an important historical source for exposing the atrocities of Japanese militarism and providing key evidence for restoring historical truth.
Its value lies first in its credibility and authenticity. As a dissection technician in Unit 731, Kurumizawa was a direct participant in the atrocities of the invading Japanese army. His testimony is based on personal experience and constitutes primary source material, providing a direct and truthful account of Unit 731’s criminal activities.
Second, the details are rich and comprehensive. The testimony elaborates on specific aspects of Unit 731’s human dissections—such as the number of people dissected and the composition of the dissection teams—and also mentions the production of biological weapons and the implementation of germ warfare. This provides rich details for studying Unit 731’s crimes.
Third, it reveals the essence and characteristics of Unit 731. The testimony introduces the organizational structure and changes in code names, which is significant for researching the unit’s organizational characteristics and operational mode.
Kurumizawa’s testimony encourages more people to face history squarely. it enables the Japanese public to understand the heinous crimes once committed by their own military and allows the international community to more clearly recognize the reality of the Japanese invasion of China. This testimony provides key evidence for scholars and organizations concerned with the history of the invasion and Japanese war crimes, helping the international community study and judge this history more objectively. It urges international public opinion to confront the brutal nature of Japanese militarism, using history as a mirror to face the future.
Excavating Evidence of Unit 731 Crimes Still Requires Depth
Chinese Social Sciences Today: In recent years, what work has the Unit 731 Museum done to collect and organize similar historical evidence of the crimes of the invading Japanese army?
Jin Shicheng: Unit 731 operated under a state of secrecy during the war. After the war, under the cover-up of the United States, it did not face war crimes trials. Its wartime crimes, war responsibility, and post-war impact must be excavated bit by bit.
Since the 1980s, we have successively carried out the investigation, confirmation, protection, and utilization of the Unit 731 crime sites. Currently, 27 sites are protected, 23 of which are listed as Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level. Particularly since 2014, we have completed projects involving the individual protection, restoration, and exhibition of sites in the core area, as well as the archaeological clearing and concentrated exhibition of seven sites, including the germ laboratory and the Special Prison. The protected and open area exceeds 248,000 square meters, and it is currently on the Tentative List for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.
Furthermore, scholars of Unit 731—represented by Jin Chengmin, the curator of the Unit 731 Museum—began conducting "transnational evidence collection" in Japan in the 1990s. They sought out former members of Unit 731, preserving and protecting over 400 hours of oral testimony. Simultaneously, scholars have traveled across China and to the United States, Russia, and Europe to collect criminal evidence. Currently, we preserve over 300,000 pages of archival materials related to Japanese germ warfare and gas warfare.
At the same time, relying on National Social Science Fund of China projects, we have united domestic and overseas research forces, including Japanese scholars, to organize, publish, and release materials. In recent years, we have undertaken 12 national and provincial/ministerial level social science projects, such as the "Organization of Evidence and Database Construction for Germ Warfare Crimes of the Invading Japanese Army" and "Research on Germ Warfare Crimes from an Interdisciplinary Perspective." We have published over 100 specialized papers and more than 90 compiled works. We have also proposed the conceptual framework for nominating the Unit 731 sites for World Cultural Heritage status and the Unit 731 archives for the Memory of the World Register, achieving an organic combination of content interpretation, value assessment, and the transformation of results.
With the strong support and specific guidance of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Heilongjiang Province, and Harbin Municipality, we have completed the construction of the new museum, exhibit curation, academic dissemination, and external exchange. Using the Unit 731 Museum as a "site of memory," we actively expose the crimes against humanity of Unit 731 and germ warfare to the public online and offline. This ensures that the special memory left to humanity by this cruel war rises from a local memory of Harbin to a national and ethnic memory. Our ultimate goal is to nominate the Unit 731 crime sites as World Cultural Heritage and the criminal archives for the Memory of the World Register.
Chinese Social Sciences Today: What further research will be conducted regarding Unit 731 and germ warfare?
Jin Shicheng: The historical facts and archives of the invading Japanese army’s germ warfare are characterized by wartime absolute secrecy, controlled destruction during retreat, post-war avoidance, and international maneuvering. The atrocities committed have only gradually come to light through several generations of investigation, evidence excavation, archival collection, and publication over many post-war years. Much work remains to be done to fully collect and present these historical materials.
In recent years, our research on Unit 731 has covered human experimentation, germ warfare crimes, war responsibility, and post-war impacts. We have also conducted applied research on the excavation, protection, utilization, and heritage application of the Unit 731 sites. Next, we will first continue to strengthen the collection, organization, and translation of newly discovered historical materials on germ warfare from home and abroad, especially items held by descendants of former Unit 731 members and Japanese civil groups. Second, we will strengthen the effective combination of academic research and public dissemination. We will further interpret the full value—historical, cultural, social, educational, and tourism-related—contained in the Unit 731 sites, exploring the relationship between wartime crimes and post-war social memory. We will fully utilize the museum’s advantages as a National Patriotism Education Demonstration Base to enhance the influence of historical narrative and academic dissemination. Third, we will improve the scholarly rigor and standardization of research results, especially by promoting their effective transformation and utilization. We will strengthen translation, publication, and overseas promotion, and enhance research on international communication discourse systems and improvement strategies. This aims to shift social perceptions in Europe and America and ultimately forge a global historical memory of Unit 731’s "crimes against humanity."