Many of the war crimes committed during World War II in Nazi concentration camps are well known.
Many of the war crimes committed during World War II in Nazi concentration camps are well known. However, the war crimes committed by the Japanese are less known, and some would argue that they are more brutal. One of these locations of grotesque human experimentations was Unit 731, or the “Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department,” which operated from 1938-1945. Located in Japanese-occupied China, many of the victims were Chinese, but there are indications that some of the victims were Korean, Russian, Mongolian, and possibly a few American POWs. These victims, none of whom survived, were referred to as “logs,” as the lab was located near a logging center. Estimates of those killed at Unit 731 range between 3,000 and 12,000, a widely varying number since most of the documents written here were destroyed It was believed that anesthesia or bodily decay would alter the results done in experimentation; thus, live humans were necessary. Victims were expo...