Page 32 - Unit 731 Testimony

1938, a series of villages in the Pingfang area were seized by the Ishii
organization in acts of military eminent domain. Hundreds of families were
forced to sell their homes and land at the paltry sums decided upon by the

Japanese Occupation. Forced evacuation ended generations of attachment to
the lands and family graves. Often, land was confiscated at the end of the
short growing season, and families had to move out without even being
allowed to harvest their crops for the coming winter.
Surrounding buildings built by Chinese were limited to one story to

keep out inquisitive eyes, and anyone—Japanese, Chinese, or otherwise—
coming to Pingfang needed a pass. The airspace over the area was off-limits
to all aircraft other than Japanese army planes; violators would be shot
down. The headquarters was surrounded by a moat.

The Pingfang complex would grow into a sprawling, walled city of
more than seventy buildings on a six-square-kilometer tract of land. Work
was pushed ahead hard. During the months that construction was possible, a
Japanese construction company, the Suzuki Group, worked round the clock
in two shifts, day and night. At the coldest time of the year, the water,
ground, and concrete all froze, bringing work to a halt. Winter was so harsh

that the very first thing installed in the buildings, when they were still only
shells, was the central heating system. The complex was probably finished
around 1939, but the exact time remains uncertain, since construction teams
were still working well after experiments started.

The prison blocks in the Pingfang compound were called "ro
buildings." The term comes from the shapes of the Japanese syllabary
character ro and the cell blocks, both of which are square. The Number 7
block held adult male prisoners, while Number 8 contained women and
children. These prison blocks served the same purpose at Pingfang as cages
for guinea pigs at conventional laboratories.

Cells were either single- or multiple-occupancy, and were arranged
side by side, each with its window facing the corridor. An aperture that
could be opened from the corridor was provided so that prisoners could
extend their arms to receive injections or have blood samples drawn. The

window and opening of each cell were located near the floor so that
prisoners could extend their arms while in a reclining position; as the tests
progressed, victims became unable to stand. Each cell had a flush toilet to
maintain cleanliness, a wooden floor, and concrete walls heavier than