Unit 731

The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz

By: Derek Pua, Danielle Dybbro, Alistair Rogers

Narrated by: Cathi Colas

Length: 1 hr and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

"Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz, by Derek Pua, is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, for anyone wanting to more clearly understand the extent of Imperial Japanese war crimes. This brief, dispassionate, and factual book outlines the creation and development of Unit 731, an organization that employed thousands of Japanese scientists who conducted nightmarish experiments on an untold number of human guinea pigs, all in the name of medical research.

"Even if one cannot stomach the details included in Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz, a basic knowledge of these atrocities should be more widely known, if only in the hope that history will never repeat itself in this horrific manner." (Kathryn Atwood, author, kathrynatwood.com)

The Japanese invasion of China during the Second Sino-Japanese war has left a strong legacy of hate and disgust among many Chinese today. Much of the atrocities committed by the Japanese are now known to most historians. By far, the most despicable and forgotten act against humanity committed by the Imperial Japanese government was its covert biochemical weapons program. Euphemistically labelled as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department" of the Imperial Japanese Army, the Japanese conducted a wide range of cruel and inhumane experiments on prisoners who were often innocent.

Under the leadership of Dr. Shiro Isshi, the department subjected three thousand to 250 thousand innocent men, women, and children to cruel experiments and medical procedures that were carried out by the brightest medical students and staff that Imperial Japan had to offer. In a bid to develop its own germ warfare capability, the government of Imperial Japan resorted to incredibly deprived and inhumane methods of experimentation, like infecting prisoners with virulent strains of anthrax, plague, cholera, and other diseases. These prisoners were often subject to excruciating vivisections without the use of anesthesia in order to observe the real-time effects of these deadly diseases.

In this edition, we expanded on the background info of Unit 731 and expanded on the findings of the remains of Unit 731.

©2017 Pacific Atrocities Education (P)2018 Pacific Atrocities Education

Very good speaker but story is very short

Very interesting but unfortunately too short. Also The transition between chapters is not very smooth.

Very basic telling of a complex moment

This is more of a quick summary of the events that occurred and not a detailed informative book

Horrifying

A brutal look at a dismaying part Japanese evil during WWII. We all must never turn away from such evils however grotesque--lest we think ourselves above such evil. We must recognize that we too are capable of such dark sins. Indeed, our own government is complicit in preventing justice being satisfied.

This is necessary and more than this, especially for our young people to understand the past, that we might not dare to repeat such horrors...

An unbelievable glimpse into Satan on Earth

Mind boggling injustice to humanity!!! To think that people can be so abjectly evil is hard to wrap my mind around!!! Excellent book for the little spoken about historical content

Good information, but delivered flat

The information is thorough, but it's delivered fast and flat, as though the information is being read AT you.

Eye opening

Very good information, i never knew of this. However this book leaves you wanting more, alot of the information is sporadic and all over the place, like a five-year-old child with ADHD trying to tell you a story. The narrator makes it a lot worse. The best part about this book other than the knowledge is it only an hour long.

Proof that evil exists.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana. All walks of life can learn from the harsh lessons from this book.

The story of the most evil scientific unit in hist

The evils of Japan in WWII are truly under reported and overlooked, but this book brings to light the unit few know about, Unit 731, a truly wicked and twisted group that tortured and experimented on countless people for the sake of science and Japanese ultranationalism. Derek even shines the spotlight on the rampant denialism and ignorance seen in Japan today on this group. Thank you, Derek.

1 Hour of Thought Provoking Truth

Cathi Colas, I know the subject matter is and was horrible, horrifying and frankly still terrifying considering some of the current and future ramifications...but girl, take a breathe or two, maybe three. It ran together, sometimes so badly, I had to relisten a few times. I did get the audiobook of "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang immediately after you stated the name. Frankly I would have rather heard the evidence of your tears then to think your reaction was going to cause you to expire too.

To the authors, my heartfelt thanks to you for writing this book. I didn't know!! Had no clue, thank you for opening my eyes. I live in California, have many Asian American friends. Even live somewhat close to where 1 of the internment camps were originally located. I could never understand why the government would do such an awful thing!! Now, knowing about Unit 731, the San Diego incident and the people, willing and unwilling, being made to bring medically created disasters to different places during WW2 with such long term consequences, I at least have a clearer understanding of the thought process that went into the camps creation. Not saying I agree with what happened (if you don't know, listen to the book) but...

Being from a military family I now have a better idea what some were exposed to, saw or heard about that they could not voice. This is important to know, especially in this time (2022) of pandemics. Thought Provoking to say the very least!

Something we should all know

A hard hitting reminder of just how evil a person can be given enough power and just how simple it is to collaborate and appease the evil doers in the name of progress (read research not permissible in the appeaser's country)