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The development history of human civilisation is written with bravery, perseverance and wisdom, as well as ugliness and darkness. In the early 20th century, big powers transformed from laissez-faire capitalism to imperialism and created an upsurge of dividing China. Suppression and resistance, good and evil intensified the struggles. In the flames of wars, “concentration camps” were invented.

In the wars that filled up the upper half of the 20th century, concentration camps—a kind of unlawful, unrestricted detention venue—witnessed the perishment of countless lives and extremely enlarged the darkness and ugliness in human nature.

When looking back upon this shady past, the Japanese concentration camps in China and the Asia-Pacific region and those in other places in the world are tough-provoking. What kind of hatred would make mankind invent such inhumane concentration camps. And what kind of conflicts would cause people to kill each other?

Past experience, if not forgot, is a guide for the future. The peace that we enjoy today has not come easily. Only by remembering history can we cherish peace more and steadfastly keep on walking on the anti-fascist road.

DISASTER HAS COME

In December, 1941, Japanese navy conducted a sneak attack on Pearl Harbour, causing the Pacific War to break out. The U.S., the U.K., the Netherlands, Australia and Canada chose to fight together with Chinese people, who had been fighting against Japanese imperialism alone for four years. The Anti-Fascist Alliance thus took shape, declaring war against fascism. The sudden war caught a lot of foreign expatriates from the allied countries in China unprepared. They were involved in the disaster before they could retreat. Japanese aggressors wantonly tracked down and arrested diplomats, missionaries, teachers and residents from the allied countries in areas occupied by the Japanese army and threw them into concentration camps.

THE COURTYARD OF THE HAPPY WAY

EXHIBITION OF WORLD ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLES

War is the most violent means to resolve disputes in the history of human civilization. In wars, human nature will be distorted and deprived. To achieve the ultimate victory, the darkest side of people will be demonstrated as they attempt to harm their opponents by any means.

Before modern times, the treatment for the "defeated" or the "prisoners of war" was simple and crude. They were released, enslaved, or ruthlessly killed. After the industrial revolution, human beings put on the coat of "civilized society", and the new concept of "total warfare" began to emerge. As a result, "concentration camp" ― a term which is still the pain spot for human civilization today, appeared for the first time in the 1900s.

At the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, colonists from the UK fought with the descendants of Dutch settlers on the land of South Africa for three years. The war on the African continent cost a huge price of the "the empire on which the sun never sets", which started to decline day by day. To escape from the quagmire of war as soon as possible, the UK "creatively" invented the "concentration camp", the cruelest and ugliest "cancer" in human civilization.

SCARS OF CHINA

CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN CHINA

Since the launching of the "September 18th Incident" in 1931 to being defeated in 1945, the Japanese imperialists brought tremendous disaster to the Chinese people through their aggressive war against China, which lasted for 14 years. But they were never able to conquer this great nation.

In the face of the unyielding struggle of 400 million Chinese, Japanese imperialists used various cruel means to persecute the Chinese army and people and the anti-fascist allies from around the world, including the establishment of concentration camps, the detention of prisoners of war and plundered Chinese laborers. In addition to the POW camps and shelter camps set up in various parts of China, the Japanese army also sent many people to designated places for forced work, so the Japanese concentration camps were not as ill reputed as Auschwitz Concentration Camp. However, the scale and cruelty of Japanese concentration camps were not second to their counterparts established by German Fascists.

DEMON'S DETENTION

The gunshots at Lugou Bridge started the all-round Anti-Japanese War of the Chinese nation. At the beginning of the war, with advanced weapons and equipment, the Japanese army invaded and occupied a large area of land in China. In order to effectively control the occupied areas and enslave, instigate rebellion with, suppress and kill the Chinese army and people captured. Japanese imperialists began to set up concentration camps in Chinese territory they had occupied. Later, with the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army had set up a number of concentration camps in other occupied areas in China to detain prisoners of war and migrants.

WHO ARE THE VICTIMS ?

The Japanese army had set up many concentration camps in China, and the composition of the detained was complex.

There were prisoners of war from the Chinese army and the allied forces who later became laborers, migrants from allied countries staying in China in wartime. Among the Chinese prisoners of war, there were include anti-Japanese armed forces led by the Communist Party of China, central army and local army of the Kuomintang government who were no longer trusted. There were also a huge number of anti-Japanese civilians and innocent people detained in those camps.

HELL FILLED WITH TRAGEDIES

In fact, the Japanese army began to enslave and torture POW laborers from the moment they were captures. The general treatment the Japanese would adopt to deal with the wounded and rebellious was killing. On the way to the concentration camps, the Japanese army would not provide enough water, food and medical treatment, nor would they treat the prisoners of war in accordance with international law. As a result, many prisoners of war died of illness and hunger, or even were brutally killed. After entering the concentration camp, they would be abused by the Japanese army.

PROLONGATION OF WAR

CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN ASIA PACIFIC

In the Second World War, the Asian and Pacific battlefields with China and Myanmar as the core battlefields were the frontlines of the world anti-fascist alliance against Japanese imperialism. At the beginning of the war, the Japanese army occupied a large area of land in China, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, captured many officers, soldiers and migrants from allied countries, and threw them into local concentration camps or concentration camps set up in the occupied areas throughout the Asia Pacific for cruel labor and abuse.

On the contrary, although the anti-fascist alliance also set up POW camps for the purpose of detaining war criminals, it always treated these war criminals with humanity in accordance with international law. It tried to transform these prisoners of war and help them regain humanity through positive means.

NEED OF THE WARFARE

In the early days of the Pacific War, the world anti-fascist allies were defeated. Malaya, Singapore, Philippines, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Wake Island and Guam were successively fell into the hand of the Japanese army. A large number of allied officers and soldiers became prisoners of war. They were taken on board of ships and transported to places like Japan, Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan, China for detention.

ANGEL AND DEVIL

During the Pacific War, the world anti-fascist alliance conducted a most courageous fight against Japanese imperialism. This war was like a battle between angels and devils. On the one hand, the Japanese army exercised their savage acts constantly, as they cruelly abused, even killed the captured allied officers and soldiers: on the other hand, the allies treated the Japanese prisoners who committed heinous crimes with humanitarianism. The good and evil of human nature were best reflected among the concentration camps and POW camps.

INDELIBLE MEMORY

CONCENTRATION CAMPS AROUND THE WORLD

Numerous concentration camps had been set up around the world, among which, the ones set up by Nazi Germany were the cruelest. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany carried out racism on the continent of Europe, and arrested and massacred Jews and anti-fascists. They set up many concentration camps in Germany and occupied areas to carry out brutal "ethnic cleansing", and millions of people lost their lives in those concentration camps. This was the darkest page in human history. Those concentration camps were like hell, and the long-lasting and tragic massacre is still the deep pain of all mankind to this day.

SAD CRIES OF HUMAN BEINGS

During the Second World War, Nazi fascists set up many death camps in Germany, Poland and other places such as Dachau Concentration Camp, Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Sachenhauser Concentration Camp etc., to detain political prisoners, prisoners of war and Jews. ( ... ?) to set up extinction facilities like gas chambers and crematoriums in the concentration camps. Millions of people were (... ?)

JUSTICE JUDGEMENT

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