"That place had been a pretty big secret..." "If any unauthorized Japanese aircraft, or any military, was to fly over the area its pilot was immediately brought back to Earth and shot without a trial." "At least, such incidents took place in the documents I had a chance to see." "I was born in Harbin, or rather, in the suburbs where the steamboats were repaired." "I was at a suburban school until I moved into town in the fifth year of my studies." "I finished the seventh grade and went to "4th middle high school" as the Japanese used to call it." "I was 8 when the Japanese came to Harbin in 1931." "All I can recall is a Japanese soldier treating me to sweets." "That's all I remember!" "What changed after that?" "All the Chinese warriors ran away..." "It only took two Japanese divisions to take over Manchuria..." "China had millions of soldiers all of whom dropped their weapons, changed out of uniform and vanished." "The Japanese put everything in order, at least in Harbin." "All the street crime just stopped." "They were very good at that!" "The collected all the scum and sent them off to strengthen the defense lines." "None of them came back alive." "These things were known to happen in Manchuria." "With the fortification work complete, they were simply shot so word didn't spread." "The Japanese were familiar with cremation." "The corpses were burned, and that was it." "We met some Chinese prisoners around 1943, or 44, I don't remember the exact date..." "We were shown the so-called "sacrificial works"..." "They were to build a mountain road to the Amur River." "We weren't far and would go out a few times to look at the other river bank, the Soviet side." "Next to us, the Chinese were working on another construction site..." "Obviously, after the construction, they didn't go anywhere." "After finishing middle school, I studied at the electrical mechanics faculty at North Manchurian University." "There were two faculties there, the other was economics." "I spent half the year studying there, was given a grant and studied another year..." "When I finished that, I saw an advertisement saying:" ""Russian students wanted to enroll in the Medical University."" "As you must understand, being a doctor abroad is a decent living." "If I became an engineer, my employment wouldn't be guaranteed..." "as I doctor I need not worry about it." "Naturally, everyone rushed over..." "While there were plenty of candidates, only four were admitted." "Including myself." "I'd always liked sports, ever since my years at the gymnasium." "I didn't train regularly." "I didn't have the time." "I just participated once in a while, and little by little, became the Harbin champion at the age of 16." "There was no match for me in town." "They called it 'Kamu Butai', "Wild Geese Squadron"." "It was a square building with a two story prison inside, 4 stories in all." "The prison entrance was underground." "Around the camp was an electric fence, and the second, outer zone was under constant military watch." "You had to keep quiet about Soviet citizens and emigrants sympathetic to them..." "It was very serious, so it was essential to watch your tongue." "Chinese and Russian people would come to town and then suddenly vanish..." "You could report it to the police, but it was no use..." "The police had no idea where they were." "They were quietly brought to the unit area and taken underground..." "A square construction, with a two level prison inside..." "Four stories high, with an underground entrance..." "If someone was finished, either dead or of no further experimental use they were disposed of in the crematorium." "There's something I should tell you..." "Then they gathered the contaminated rats, they were already dead..." "But they still had to remove the fleas somehow." "They couldn't just sit there picking them with tweezers..." "So they projected bright lights at them, leaving a dark hole for the fleas to escape into." "And all the fleas would run straight into the trap." "The trap would shut, and they could then attach it to an airplane finally releasing them at the necessary place." "They discovered that they could only drop a flea from a height of 250 meters." "If it was dropped from 300 meters, it would die on impact." "So when they started an operation against the Chinese military the plane would fly high under darkness, gain speed and then quickly lower itself over the target area." "When they went back to their hangers, they were met by groups wearing protective suits with special disinfectants." "If just one or two fleas were left, an epidemic would break out in Harbin." "There were no epidemics because the operation was so well planned." "And proof of their success?" "A Chinese microbiologist questioned the origins of contaminated fleas, as there were no epidemics among rodents." "This newspaper was delivered to Unit 731, and General Ishii was so proud of the article he gathered all of his officers so he could show it to them." "It all went very well for them." "The officers I met at the time of their capture and trial didn't look like monsters." "They were officers who obeyed their orders." "They knew no other way, commit harakiri or keep working!" "But to say that makes them monsters?" "Of course, they'll say anything on TV..." "Since ancient times, prostitution has flourished in China." "You could arrive at any Chinese village, and for the right price could have an innocent girl brought right to you." "There were Chinese brothels you could catch all sorts of diseases from, like syphilis but in decent Chinese brothels, they celebrated the 'Flower Holiday'." "Regular clients would participate in a lottery to decide who'd have the newest girl." "In pre-war Japan, parents would send daughters to brothels, to earn their keep." "We bumped into Unit 731 once, because my friend lived in Old Harbin." "About 25-30 meters away was a beautiful wood, with lots of things to offer." "We went mushroom picking there." "My mother sometimes went and got plenty, so we decided to go there ourselves." "As we went deeper into the woods, someone yelled at us" " STOP!" "We did." "It wasn't a good idea to mess around with the military..." "Another step and there would be a gunshot." "A member of the patrol approached us, asking: "Why have you come here?"" "Being medical students, we already knew Japanese." "We explained, showing him the mushrooms we'd already picked." "naturally he was surprised:" ""Why are you speaking Japanese?"" "We said we were students of Harbin University." ""Oh, I see... well, you're not allowed here." "Go back, and don't let us see you here again!"" "We said: "Yes sir!", turned around and left." "We didn't have the faintest idea who and what they were." "It was only later on that I remembered this incident." "In this business, anyone can make mistakes." "The scary thing is, in this case, that mistake sends you to Heaven." "That was it." "Some accidents did happen in the unit." "There were few of them, but they did happen." "Concerning the freezing experiments..." "they did take place." "What for?" "To find a cure for the Japanese army's soldiers." "That's what it was for." "That's why they froze arms and legs." "They had a polygon out in the open, surrounded by a rather high mound." "Inside there were scattered erect metal poles." "Subjects were tied to these poles, and the bomb was placed in the center which was detonated with an electrical charge." "The shrapnel would fly everywhere, hitting all the subjects." "Of course, they were taken back to the lab and observed how many got infected, how badly, and so on..." "Everything was based on scientific methods there, because Isshi was a microbiologist of the highest class." "He had studied in Germany, and eventually surpassed them." "That's why he was interested in very deep matters." "How does man react, react as an organism?" "Why did Japanese medicine get such a boost after the war and exceed everyone else?" "Because they had that data in their hands." "How this medicine affects a man, not a cat, or dog, or monkey." "It makes a huge difference." "Official working hours were 9 am to 6 pm, just like everywhere else." "But, due to the fact that Mr. Ishii was a night-owl he frequently held his assistants very late before he let them go." "But they had to come back at 9 in the morning." "He came too, but he'd lock himself in his study and sleep while they all worked!" "One officer complained, saying "he's a night owl..."" ""He keeps us until late, and then is back at nine..."" ""...but then locks himself in his study, ordering not to be disturbed for 3-4 hours!"" "But who'd dare go to the general?" "You had to be there working wither you'd had enough sleep or not!" "Look at what Americans are forced to do these days..." "The Japanese still hate Americans for Hiroshima and Nagasaki they don't even try to conceal this hatred." "In order to help this situation, Americans have in recent years, attempted to spread a version of the story that said the A- bomb was dropped at the request of the Soviet Union and no one believed them." "On the 9th of August the war started..." "Our army violated the pact they had with Japan." "According to the pact we had the legal right to attack them in one year's time." "But we attacked in 1945..." "that's not to our credit." "We violated international law without a lot of talking." "The Japanese usually have two religions, Shinto and Buddhism." "The burial ceremony is Buddhist, the rest is the Shinto way." "Why didn't General Ishii commit suicide?" "As a real samurai, he would have." "If our people had stopped the train, he would have done it." "But they didn't stop it, so there was no reason to commit suicide..." "Someone resorts to suicide only if there's no other way out..." "He saw the way out and got away, alive and with all his materials." "What would he commit harakiri for?" "They boarded an ordinary train meant to take refugees home." "Obviously the military men changed into plain clothes." "There was no need for women or children to change." "They took their records and left quietly..." "They got a green light all the way to the end of the Pusan port and when they got there, a ship was waiting for them." "They got on, and I think it was an American ship because they took General Ishii straight to America." "We could have had all that research if our military wasn't so silly!" "All of Manchuria was taken over by Russians at that point..." "On the way to the Pacific Ocean and Korea..." "That train went the whole way from Harbin disguised as one for refugees!" "No one even checked that train to see who and what was on board." "General Isshi was on board, with all of his assistants and all of their documents." "They passed us by, right before our eyes!" "They calmly got aboard the ship, and no one paid them any attention." "While en route to Japan lshii warned them that anyone who said more than was allowed would be listed among suicide victims." "Then the Americans got hold of all those materials, and the general himself." "Perhaps the Americans were expecting him..." "But I know he managed to pass everything to the Japanese first." "Was it used for military purposes?" "I doubt it..." "They obviously used them to give their medicine a boost." "We didn't see any open warfare in Harbin because the Japanese surrendered before the regular army got there." "First the MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and MGB (Ministry for State Security) arrived to pick up the records of the so-called "Russian Emigrants Bureau"." "Those records were suspect, so they got taken away." "The Japanese knew of their surrender, and didn't take any offensive actions." "The Soviet consulate suggested we work as interpreters in POW camps." "We had such a patriotic mood and outlook back then that we helped our homeland to recover after the war..." "But when I got there I was viewed as a Japanese agent sent to the USSR!" "I had to prove that information wrong with my fists on two officials I smashed their faces, especially the second man's, pretty badly." "He spent two weeks in the hospital..." "I told the head of the department I'd simply kill the third one..." "So he warned his officials to be less talkative!" "I was a document translator in the government safety department of Khabarovsk." "I understood Japanese writing, so I worked on translating the Kwantung army headquarters archive other translators." "We didn't translate just anything, you know..." "We didn't pay attention unless something of interest came up." "Our focus was on Biological War Preparation and the like..." "That was very interesting..." "There were only two interpreters familiar with medical terminology:" "The late Platon Platonovich Plyachenko, and myself." "We had to put together a dictionary so the other interpreters could use it." "They were divided into two groups, and taught terminology for about two weeks." "Without understanding the terminology, further research would have been redundant." "They didn't understand a thing on those papers..." "To avoid mistakes, microbiology experts were sent from Moscow." "They all had degrees as doctors of science, and many of them were researchers." "An investigator, a microbiologist, a prosecutor, an interpreter and the accused..." "That was the team that attended the process." "And no one could have questioned them without special preparation so Platon Platonovich and I got more than our share of work!" "If there was any misunderstanding, one of us was sent over immediately..." ""Make this clear, now!"" "It was easy teaching a bacteriologist, he'd grasp medical terminology fast." "Meanwhile a prosecutor had to write down everything being said..." "All the experts from Moscow were very displeased..." "Their research had been interrupted because of some Japanese people..." "But when the Japanese started talking, the experts' eyes would suddenly widen..." ""Oh, right, we were on the verge of discovering that..."" "But the Japanese had known for several years then..." "Generals were kept at a place called Object 45, where Platon used to work." "They were generally kept in good conditions over in POW Camp 16 the attitude towards prisoners, the food, everything was exemplary for other camps." "They were fed better than Soviet Army soldiers, I know that for sure..." "Prisoners had a hospital set up especially for them in Pereyaslavka." "They were accepted into the hospital for treatments, whatever the case may be." "It even had an Ambulance service." "Prisoners were always in good shape." "And how did interrogations go?" "The interrogation would start at 9 am, after two hours tea and biscuits were served to everyone, including the suspects." "After 10-15 minutes, when everyone had their tea waitresses would collect everything and the interrogation would resume until 1 o'clock, when there would be a lunch break until two." "No other interrogation took place in the evening, or any other time!" "The trial was held following international rules and conventions." "The suspects wore their uniforms, minus ranks of course." "Officers had on their jackets, and privates wore their shirts." "There was only one other private there, a co-student of Platon - and myself of course." "We knew he was receiving financial support from the military..." "But who was paying for him, and how?" "We only knew his surname, Ozaki." "We only knew he was a student, and left to get his money... who knows where he went?" "When he was found in one of the camps he was brought to Platon and I..." "He denied everything, said he didn't know a thing..." "But when he saw us his eyes nearly popped out of his head!" "He thought we worked for Soviet intelligence while posing as students..." "We were just Russian civilians, but when he saw us, he started talking immediately!" "As a rule General Yamada would say that he didn't remember certain things." "When presented with a document he had signed himself he'd read it and then say:" ""Oh yes, I remember now."" "It can't be said that they were sincere about their activities..." "They admitted to things that could be proven by documents, there was no way of avoiding that, but they didn't passionately share their discoveries..." "I didn't work with the commander of the Kwantung army much." ""Mr. Investigator" was a man about 33 years of age, 35 at the oldest." "He was either a major or a colonel, he was sent over as an investigator." "He was supposedly very capable, very knowledgeable." "He asked Commander Yamada all of these questions..." "Commander Yamada answered:" ""Perhaps it happened, I don't recall."" "The investigator then asked if the Commander's memory was weak." "He answered: "Please, ask Mr. Investigator how old he is."" "I'm not sure, I think he answered "35"." "So I translated it for him." ""I'd like to see what his memory's going to be like when he hits 70."" "Again the investigator was displeased, he wanted the commander to say "yes"." "The investigator started to swear quite exquisitely..." "I asked him: 'Shall I translate?" "' "Go on!" he said..." "So I gave the commander a literal translation..." "He became thoughtful, chewing his moustache, and then said:" ""I'm 70 now, my mother is 92 or 91." "The sort of pleasure Mr. Prosecutor could have with her isn't clear to me."" ""Don't they have swear words?" The investigator asked me." "'That's right, they don't.'" ""Why didn't you warn me?" 'Why didn't you ask?" "' I answered." "He thought I'd address him officially as "Sir", but I didn't." "Our government demanded this topic be included in the Tokyo process..." "It was attended by 5 great countries:" "The USSR, USA, China, the UK, and France." "The Chinese said "It was all aimed at us, and we don't think it's necessary to include it."" "When we started the Americans asked, "What's there to talk about?"" ""Is there any evidence that bacteriological weapons were used against you?"" "'Well, no.' "So why do you bother bringing it up?"" "That was the tone of the conversation, and consequentially this subject wasn't covered in the Tokyo trial." "They only had one successful operation against the Chinese dropping fleas... nothing else." "We had no right to prosecute any of those Japanese people, because they'd done nothing to us." "There are secret bacteriological laboratories in the United States, even today but we can't arrest the lab assistants and say "You're plotting against Russia!"" "You can plot all you like, as long as you don't take action." "We had no right to prosecute them because they weren't our citizens." "We can prosecute criminals who kill each other or one of ours, as that's subject to international jurisdiction." "Not a single correspondent was admitted..." "You know how they pulled that off?" "They announce the process begins today, but the process actually started yesterday!" "No one was admitted into the process..." "The correspondents would raise their voices for sure, but none of them were ever actually allowed in." "That's the way it was handled!" "Understand that if the process was kept within regulations, crowds of correspondents would have been invited." "To be honest, it was a closed trial..." "Only relatives of agents who worked for the MVD, MGB, and the like were admitted." "When I worked for the MGB, I left the MVD because so many Japanese had already been sent back to Japan." "I got my hands on documents that the head of a POW camp wrote to his supervisors, asking how to deal with captured American officers because they all considered themselves to be on vacation." "I read it several times, unsure if it was slang or what..." "I went to the head of the department..." "He said "Think of it this way, being captured is an excuse to take a break!"" ""In America, 50% of your normal salary will be transferred to your bank account for the duration of your capture."" "He gave me an example:" ""They'd drop their bombs on Japan and then, instead of traveling 4000 miles to Guam;"" ""They'd head for Petopavlovsk, 1000 km away and land at Eleninsky aerodrome."" ""They'd be shipped back home about two and a half years later, and all the while money's going into their accounts."" "But in certain camps there was brutality." "An American might be stripped naked and if a Japanese guard used a sword, he'd have a live practice subject." "That did happen..." "But no one would bother to drag them to unit 731, as that was miles away." "There were more than enough locals." "In 1956, many Japanese people were found guilty of killing each other in POW camps." "All the bacteriologists were dressed up neatly and brought from Moscow to the House of Officers here in Khabarovsk where they had a trial, and then went back to Japan." "It was when we were about to give them back their islands." "Those people were given back, but the islands weren't... just in case." "It was done with a very long-term perspective." "When there was a Japanese exhibition in Niigata in 1968, we were invited over there because our cities were twinned." "Many former Japanese POW's attended that exhibition." "They were interested less in the exhibition itself than in seeing Russians." "I remember one of them, who served as a cook while in Russian prison and his friend remembered what a great time they had." "A Japanese man standing by wondered..." ""Was everything in the Soviet camps really that nice?"" ""What's so strange about it?" "Many people were in it."" ""I was sent to the American camp." "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy..."" "The Soviets had the right attitude back then." "In POW camp 16 there was a copy of Stalin's order on display:" ""Intolerance towards physical abuse of prisoners by acting officers."" "If an officer was caught fighting he was punished and only had a glass of water and 200 grams of bread, for 10 days." "This food was served by the soldier who got beaten up." "After 10 days, the offender was sent to solitary confinement in the officer's camp." "There used to be a newspaper called "Nihon Shimbun" for prisoners of war, which was published in Khabarovsk." "All such incidents were described so all camp departments knew the situation." "That made a good impression on those who stayed there."