Japanese threw Chinese into furnaces during WWII
Japanese authorities killed sick Chinese miners by throwing them into iron ore furnaces during World War II, according to a war criminal's confession put up on China's State Archives Administration (SAA) website on Thursday.
The confession was written by Yuichi Kashiwaba, a Japanese officer stationed in China from 1932 to 1945, reported the official Xinhua news agency.
In September 1942, acting as police chief, Kashiwaba ordered that Fushun Coal Mine be cordoned off to contain an epidemic outbreak there. Ninety-seven people were isolated in a dormitory and 54 died, according to Kashiwaba’s confession.
“In Yongantai No.25 Isolation Station, there were no adequate supplies. People in isolation were in poor health, and many of them were thrown into the iron ore furnaces in the repair workshop and burnt to death,” he wrote.
Shot some, arrested some
Kashiwaba also wrote that when about 250 Chinese slave labourers in a local coal mine escaped in September 1941, he and his subordinates pursued them. They encircled the escapees, “shot some dead with handguns and arrested the rest of them”.
During his tenure as Fushun police chief, Kashiwaba ordered that local beggars be arrested and dispersed, in batches of about 200 to 300, into nearby mountains once or twice a year, according to his confession.
The SAA has been publishing one war criminal confession a day since July 3.
Source: Xinhua
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now