Unhealed Wounds: The Lasting Impact of Japan's Forced Labor in Manchuria

by Rebekah Fuller

The Imperial Japanese Army’s (IJA) practice of using forced labor and inhuman treatment on the Prisoners of war (POWs) in  Hoten-Mukden Camps, in Manchuria, has left lasting scars on the survivors. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo prosecuted some high-ranking Japanese officers for war crimes, including the mistreatment of Allied POWs and civilians, but many responsible for the specific atrocities in camps like Hoten-Mukden, as well as the broader suffering of Chinese, Korean, and indigenous Hezhen populations, faced limited or no accountability due to the tribunal’s selective focus. The men, women, and children who endured these horrors, many of whom did not survive, must never be forgotten.

The cruelty associated with forced labor in Manchuria began on September 18, 1931, with the Mukden Incident, marking the initial phase of Japanese dominion over Manchuria in China. The second phase commenced on July 7, 1937, when Japanese troops attacked Wanping near Peiping following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, escalating into the Second Sino-Japanese War. [1]
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE, Tokyo Tribunal), first convened on April 29, 1946, examined war crimes, including the injustices suffered by victims of forced labor in Manchuria. The trial prosecuted some high-ranking Japanese officials for their roles in atrocities, including the mistreatment and deaths of American, British, Chinese, and Korean soldiers and civilians, as well as the broader devastation inflicted upon populations in occupied territories, such as the indigenous Hezhen people. However, the tribunal’s focus on high-level war crimes meant that many responsible for specific acts of forced labor and neglect faced limited or no accountability. The lasting repercussions of enforced forced labor in Manchuria have impacted not only the survivors but also the families they left behind.
Most World War II veterans, former prisoners of war, and historians regard the Tokyo Trial as limited in scope and impact. Hodding Carter III remarked that the trials were “the dog that did not bark.”[2] This statement pertains to the prosecuted individuals and highlights the significant figures, such as Emperor Hirohito, who were not prosecuted and the tribunal’s failure to fully address the breadth of Japan’s war crimes.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) prosecuted twenty-eight high-ranking Japanese military and political figures, including former prime ministers, cabinet members, and military leaders, starting in 1946. These individuals faced fifty-five counts, including waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, such as torture and forced labor imposed on prisoners of war, civilian internees, and residents of occupied territories like Manchuria. The court dismissed ten charges, including some murder counts, as redundant or impermissible under the IMTFE Charter, but convicted defendants on the remaining forty-five counts.
The Tokyo Tribunal, lasting from April 29, 1946, to November 12, 1948, was twice as long as the Nuremberg trials and had a significant impact on the evolution of international law, with comparable tribunals not established until the 1990s. By its conclusion, two defendants had died of natural causes, and one, Shūmei Ōkawa (1886–1957), was deemed unfit for trial due to mental health issues. Kishi Nobusuke (1896–1987), a key administrator in Manchukuo who oversaw economic policies involving forced labor, was detained but not prosecuted. The Americans facilitated his release in 1948 to support conservative, anti-communist forces in Japan. The court convicted twenty-five defendants, with seven sentenced to death for Class A war crimes (crimes against peace) and other charges, sixteen receiving life imprisonment, and two receiving lesser sentences. Numerous “lesser” war criminals faced trials in domestic tribunals established throughout Asia and the Pacific by Allied nations, most of which concluded by 1949.[3]
During the conflict in Manchuria, the fatalities of Chinese and Koreans numbered in the hundreds of thousands, with additional losses among American and British prisoners of war (POWs) in the thousands. The Chinese suffered the greatest losses, while the indigenous Hezhen people, a small population, endured significant hardship with deaths likely in the hundreds or low thousands.
The atrocities that the Chinese had to endure were some of the most horrific treatments. From the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 until the end of the war in August 1945 the murder and rape alone was “the most inhumane and barbarous”[4] treatment practiced by the Japanese Army and Navy.
Many prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians in Manchuria were brutally killed by shooting, decapitation, drowning, torture, and beating. Some endured death marches or were forced to stand for long periods, while others worked in harsh conditions without adequate protection, resulting in severe injuries and pain. Sickness and disease, exacerbated by poor housing, sanitation, and medical care, combined with insufficient food, killed thousands of POWs and deteriorated their health.
During the conflict, the total number of POWs from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Korea who were captured by the German and Italian armies amounted to 237,473, with approximately 4 percent succumbing while in captivity. In the Pacific Theater, Japan apprehended 132,134 POWs from the United States and the United Kingdom, with a corresponding mortality rate of 27 percent among this group.[5] Hundreds of thousands of Koreans, conscripted as forced laborers by Japan, suffered tens of thousands of deaths, though precise figures are uncertain.[6] Among Chinese civilians in Manchuria, fatalities numbered in the hundreds of thousands due to forced labor, massacres, and medical experiments, with a significantly higher death toll than among Allied POWs.
Most deaths in Manchurian POW camps resulted from sickness, disease, and medical experiments, with forced labor contributing to the overall mortality rate of approximately 25–35 percent. Compared to other Japanese POW camps, such as those on the Thai-Burma Railway, Manchuria’s camps had a typical, not notably lower, death rate.[7] 
During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Hezhen indigenous group, with a pre-war population of approximately 4,000–5,000, endured significant devastation. Displaced from northeastern Heilongjiang Province, one of China’s smallest ethnic minorities, they likely suffered losses of 50–80 percent. By the 1982 census, their population was around 1,400, rising to approximately 4,200 by 1990, reflecting recovery and reclassification.[8]
The forced labor in Manchuria left a lasting impact on Allied POWs, Chinese, Koreans, and the Hezhen. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, concluding in 1948, had less impact than the Nuremberg Trials and failed to prosecute many responsible for war crimes, leaving survivors and civilians feeling cheated. The men, women, and children who suffered must never be forgotten, and their memory deserves recognition.




[1] Linda Goetz Holes, Unjust enrichment: how Japan's companies built postwar fortunes using American POWs, (USA: Konecka and Konecky, 2001), 127. 
[2] International Military Tribunal For The Far East, Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, [Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, ?, 1948], PDF: 521. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692613/.
[3] Sung Yoon Cho, “The Tokyo War Crimes Trial,” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 24, no. 4 (1967): 310. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29781286. 
[4] International Military Tribunal For The Far East, Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, [Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, ?, 1948], PDF: 1001. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692613/.
[5] International Military Tribunal For The Far East, Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, [Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, ?, 1948], PDF:1002-1003. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692613/.
[6] International Military Tribunal For The Far East, Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, [Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, ?, 1948], PDF:1002-1003. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692613/.
 Japan's Democide in China and World War II: Estimates, Sources, and Calculations, available at http://www.hawaii.edu/. 
[7] Japan's Democide in China and World War II: Estimates, Sources, and Calculations, available at http://www.hawaii.edu/. 
[8] “Hezhen: Their History, Fish, Religion and Dying Language,” Facts and Details, (2008-2019), HEZHEN: THEIR HISTORY, FISH, RELIGION AND DYING LANGUAGE | Facts and Details.  


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 “Hezhen: Their History, Fish, Religion and Dying Language.” Facts and Details. (2008-2019). HEZHEN: THEIR HISTORY, FISH, RELIGION AND DYING LANGUAGE | Facts and Details.  
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International Military Tribunal For The Far East. Judgment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. [Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, ?, 1948]. PDF. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692613/.
Japan's Democide in China and World War II: Estimates, Sources, and Calculations, available at http://www.hawaii.edu/. 
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