This week I read an article that talked about what actually happened to the thousands of Japanese settlers that were trapped in Manchuria about 71 years ago. According to the article, many Japanese settlers were persuaded to go live in Manchuria by the "Millions to Manchuria" campaign that began in 1936. Many propaganda posters, manuals, and pamphlets encouraged the Japanese to go colonize the continent and under this plan Japanese villages would be replicated in Manchukuo. Unfortunately on August 10th 1945 (after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan), the Japanese army moved military families from Manchurian cities, cut telegraph lines, and blew up bridges further separating many settlers from rescue. Although the Manchurian settlers only accounted for 17 percent of the 1.5 million Japanese living in it's puppet state, those settlers measured half the death toll! Today the lives of several settlers are being honored through the Sino-Japanese Friendship Garden cemetery despite the changing circumstances.
Analysis- Wow this article was really informative! As a student this year in APUSH we have studied a lot of American history, but it was really interesting to get to learn a piece of history from a different viewpoint and culture. Clearly I can relate this article back in U.S. history to World War 2 and all the craziness that happened around the world during that timeframe. The 80,000 Manchurian settlers that died in northeast China was also approximately equivalent to the amount that died when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb of the city of Nagasaki. Overall, World War 2 impacted so many lives in different countries and despite much of the sad history that happened, people continue to find ways to honor and remember those whose lives were lost.
Link to the article
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