This undated photo shows some Russian-provided archive copies related to the infamous Unit 731, a Japanese germ-warfare unit that operated during World War II. China has received a batch of Russian-provided evidence related to the infamous Unit 731, China’s Central Archives said on Saturday. The archive copies from Russia include trial records of Unit 731 members, investigation reports on the unit’s crimes, and internal official correspondence of Soviet authorities, covering the period running from May 11, 1939 to Dec. 25, 1950. (Xinhua/Li Xin)
BEIJING, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) — China has received a batch of Russian-provided evidence related to the infamous Unit 731, a Japanese germ-warfare unit that operated during World War II, China’s Central Archives said on Saturday.
The archive copies from Russia include trial records of Unit 731 members, investigation reports on the unit’s crimes, and internal official correspondence of Soviet authorities, covering the period running from May 11, 1939 to Dec. 25, 1950.
During World War II, the Japanese invading forces established a biological warfare network across multiple Asian countries, with Unit 731 located in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, serving as a top-secret base for biological weapons and human experiments.
At least 3,000 people from China, the Soviet Union and other countries and regions were used in human experiments conducted by Unit 731.
According to China’s Central Archives, the archives provided by Russia reveal the Soviet investigation process during the early stage of the Khabarovsk War Crimes Trials in 1949, identifying more than 200 individuals linked to the crimes of Unit 731, and ultimately singling out 12 war criminals for public trials.
These individuals confessed to violating international conventions and to preparing and carrying out biological warfare.
Experts believe that these archives provide concrete historical evidence of Japan’s biological warfare crimes in China, further confirming that Japan’s biological warfare was a top-down, state-organized war crime and offering irrefutable proof for restoring historical truth.
Many of these materials contain information previously unknown to us, serving to complement and corroborate the contents of our existing archival collections, said Zhou Zhenfan, an official with the archive preservation department of China’s Central Archives.
The interconnected evidence “leaves no room for dispute,” he stressed. ■
This undated photo shows some Russian-provided archive copies related to the infamous Unit 731, a Japanese germ-warfare unit that operated during World War II. China has received a batch of Russian-provided evidence related to the infamous Unit 731, China’s Central Archives said on Saturday.
The archive copies from Russia include trial records of Unit 731 members, investigation reports on the unit’s crimes, and internal official correspondence of Soviet authorities, covering the period running from May 11, 1939 to Dec. 25, 1950. (Xinhua/Li Xin)
This undated photo shows a staff member from China’s Central Archives arranging some Russian-provided archive copies related to the infamous Unit 731, a Japanese germ-warfare unit that operated during World War II. China has received a batch of Russian-provided evidence related to the infamous Unit 731, China’s Central Archives said on Saturday.
The archive copies from Russia include trial records of Unit 731 members, investigation reports on the unit’s crimes, and internal official correspondence of Soviet authorities, covering the period running from May 11, 1939 to Dec. 25, 1950. (Xinhua/Li Xin)
