The chilling relevance of Tokyo's Cult of Aum terror attacks today
For the thousands of passengers piling into Tokyo's subway network on Monday, March 20, 1995, it should have been a commute like any other. The air was cool, the skies outside were clear, and the looming Spring Equinox – a national holiday in Japan –promised respite from the country's high-pressure work culture the next day. But unbeknown to the rush-hour crowds, among them were extremist followers of a doomsday cult about to enact Japan's deadliest domestic terror attack.
At around 08:00 that morning, five disguised men punctured plastic bags with sharpened umbrellas as their separate trains hurtled towards Kasumigaseki station. The act would release a manufactured nerve agent originally developed by the Nazis in World War II, considered 26 times as deadly as cyanide. As the terrorists fled, the fumes left commuters choking, vomiting, and temporarily blinded. Thirteen were killed and over 6,000 were injured.
Thirty years on and a new feature documentary Aum: The Cult at the End of the World, explores the cultural context that led up to the attack and carries a chilling relevance for a Western world rife with radicalist thinking today. Directors Chiaki Yanagimoto and Ben Braun see it as a 'cautionary tale'.
'This was a terrorism by Japanese people against Japanese people, and as a young kid, it was hard to grasp what the motives were,' says Yanagimoto, who was an elementary school student in rural Yamanashi province, home to the largest headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo ('Supreme Truth'). Concerns had been raised against the suspicious doomsday cult later convicted of the attacks – she says she still remembers 'my friends' parents warning the kids to be careful of people roaming around in white robes'.
Aum Shinrikyo was founded as a yoga society in 1987 under the tutelage of Shoko Asahara (born Chizuo Matsumoto), a long-haired, partially sighted man who became a self-styled guru sometime after being reprimanded for selling tangerine peel to the elderly as a quack medical cure.
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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
The fake AI-generated Holocaust 'victims' duping thousands on Facebook - as Auschwitz museum slams 'dangerous distortions'
At first glance, it is a heartwarming photo: a little girl feeding the ducks on the canal in pre-war Amsterdam. A lengthy description explains that the girl, 'Hannelore Cohen', would 'skip along the cobblestone paths' each morning' - until 'the ducks never saw her again'. What follows is the claim that she was murdered at Sobibor death camp by the Nazis in the Holocaust - but it is not true. The photo has been generated by artificial intelligence, and the story that accompanies it is equally fictitious. The fake post is among dozens of similar ones featuring AI images of supposed Holocaust victims and details of what allegedly happened to them that are being shared to thousands of people on Facebook. Now, the Auschwitz Memorial museum has hit out at the growing phenomenon. A spokesman said: 'While these posts may seem well-intentioned to the audience, they are in fact dangerous distortions. 'They invent stories of people who never existed and present them as real victims. The lengthy post about alleged Holocaust victim Hannelore Cohen 'They exploit Holocaust memory for clicks, shares, and reach. They contribute to confusion and the erosion of historical accuracy.' 'The photos are AI-generated — eerily perfect, stylized, and not drawn from any historical archive. 'Some of the names do not appear in credible Holocaust victim databases and the entire biographies are fabricated.' The post featuring 'Hannelore Cohen' has been shared in a group called Historical Figures, which has more than 110,000 members. It was written by a page named 'Epic Movies'. The page is followed by more than 5,000 people. The post has used the name of a real Holocaust survivor who is listed on the website Refugee Voices as having come to England as part of the Kindertransport scheme for children in 1939. But the invented girl's life story bears no relation to the real Ms Cohen. The post says: 'On 10 September 1931, in the graceful, water-laced city of Amsterdam, a little girl named Hannelore Cohen was born. The accompanying life story says that she was born in the French city of Marseille, that every day she would 'skip to school, her pigtails swaying behind her like banners' and that she loved to read 'Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, and her soul seemed to be stitched from kindness. 'She loved simple pleasures, and few things brought her more joy than walking to the canal near her home, a paper bag of breadcrumbs in hand, ready to feed the ducks. 'Each morning, Hannelore would skip along cobblestone paths, the scent of tulips and fresh bread in the air. She'd stop at the edge of the canal and crumble the bread gently, tossing pieces into the still water. 'Ducks gathered near her like she was their friend. She giggled as they quacked and jostled, and sometimes she named them—"Willem," "Rosa," "Pieter." 'She spoke softly to them as if they understood.' It then adds: 'In 1943, when she was just 12 years old, Hannelore was taken from her home and sent to Sobibor, one of the cruelest death camps. There, her life was stolen. 'Her laughter, her crumbs, her gentle kindness—gone in a moment of merciless inhumanity. 'The ducks never saw her again. The water rippled, but no bread fell. 'And Amsterdam wept in silence. But we do not forget.' Another fake post - this time on a page with more than 14,000 followers called Days Gone By Memories - shows a young, bright-eyed girl named as Nadine Levy. The accompanying life story says that she was born in the French city of Marseille, that every day she would 'skip to school, her pigtails swaying behind her like banners' and that she loved to read. After being rounded up and sent to the notorious Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, the biography says she read stories to lift the spirits of other inmates, and kept a secret diary. 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Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Daily Mail
Nazi guards at horror Channel Islands camp shot prisoners for fun, unearthed testimony reveals
Prisoners on the occupied Channel Islands were shot for fun by their Nazi guards during the Second World War, research has found. On Sundays, around a dozen inmates at Sylt - one of the two camps the Germans ran on occupied Alderney - would be chosen for the horrifying target practice. They were taken to a nearby light railway and tied to trucks before being shot in different parts of their body until they died, according to testimony uncovered by a British artist. The research by Piers Secunda, 49, is the latest evidence of atrocities committed by the Nazis during their occupation of the Channel Islands from 1940 to 1945. Mr Secunda spoke to the daughters of former Sylt inmate Giorgi Zbovorski, who died in 2006. He recounted to his children how he had been among prisoners who were forced to watch as SS guards shot at fellow inmates. Ingrid Zbovorski recalled of her father's experience: 'They would select 12 or 15 of the prisoners. 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A Government report commissioned by Lord Eric Pickles, UK Special Envoy on Post Holocaust Issues, detailed how, 'beatings and torture were recalled by survivors and dead bodies were often to be found in the barracks' at Sylt. Mr Secunda, whose grandfather fought in the Second World War, spent five years researching the lives of slave labourers sent to Alderney, including speaking with descendants of victims and survivors. He was then approached by production company Wild Dog to make the Ghosts of Alderney film. 'The findings of the film add another layer of information to our understanding of what happened on Alderney and they confirm yet again the seriousness of the crimes committed there by Germans who were not prosecuted by the British,' he told MailOnline. Otto Hogelow, the sadistic commander of the SS guards on Alderney, 'incentivised' his subordinates to shoot prisoners, Mr Secunda said. 'I found a copy of Otto Hogelow's Nazi Party application form. 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The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
My grandmother grew up brushing her teeth with radioactive toothpaste
Yes, I did listen to a bit of radio. Even a spot of Radio 4 comedy. Brave, I know, but I do like policeman turned comedian Alfie Moore's It's a Fair Cop (currently broadcast on Monday nights in the 6.30pm slot). But nothing serious. Nothing with any gravitas. Or nearly nothing. I did stumble on the latest series on Radio 4's The History Podcast. Well, I say, stumble but, actually, I was given a nudge by its producer. Read more I'd rather slept on Joe Dunthorne's current series Half-Life. I think I'd read the words 'Nazi Germany' in the blurb and decided it wasn't for me. How much Nazi Germany do you need, after all? But that really wasn't what Half-Life was about, as the arresting opening line testified: 'My grandmother,' Dunthorne began, 'grew up brushing her teeth with radioactive toothpaste.' Strong opener. Better still was the information that it was his grandmother's father who had made said toothpaste. Half-Life is a family biography that - like all family biographies - weaves into the flow of history. Dunthorne's great grandfather was a Jewish chemist working in a poison gas lab with the Nazis. And that is just the start of it. All episodes are available on BBC Sounds and The Road Through the Mountains, the episode that aired on Radio 4 this week (on Wednesday) was a particularly tough listen. At the heart of it was a telling of the story of the Dersim Massacre in Turkey in 1937 and 1938, when the Turkish government killed thousands of civilians during a Kurdish rebellion; 14,000 is the government figure. Others suggest the death toll was three or four times that number. 'That's why most people say the river was flowing blood,' Dunthorne's guide told him. 'It was not water, it was just blood.' To escape the Nazis, Dunthorne's family had fled to Turkey. His great grandfather may have helped the Turkish government buy chemical weapons from the Germans. Poison gas was then used to kill those who had fled into the mountains. History, Dunthorne is telling us here, leaves a stain on those who come afterwards. In Half-Lifee you can hear it in his voice. Over on 6 Music Tom Robinson was celebrating his 75th birthday on his Now Playing show on Sunday evening. The BBC's present was to take the slot away from him. Mary Anne Hobbs is taking over this weekend. Tom Robinson celebrated his 75th birthday (Image: BBC) Robinson, who has been occupying Sunday night on 6 Music for the last 14 years - in fact he's been a regular on the station for 23 years, all told - drolly opened proceedings by playing Here's Where the Story Ends by The Sundays. What followed was an understandably slightly self-indulgent two hours in which he played quite a few of his own songs - as requested by his listeners - and, for the most part, displayed a commendably stiff upper lip. He did admit that the whole thing was a little bittersweet, though he encouraged his listeners to tune in to Hobbs's show when it started. At least there were plenty of birthday/farewell messages from his fellow 6 Music DJs and the odd musician - Lauren Laverne, Nithin Sawhney, Jason from Sleaford Mods and Peter Gabriel most notably. Tony Blackburn - still going strong at 82 - also offered his congratulations, as did The Blue Nile's Paul Buchanan. The latter was presumably prompted by that old social media meme of Robinson dancing around the studio to Tinseltown in the Rain. Understandably. That tune is one of 20th-century Scotland's greatest gifts to the world. I was at best an irregular listener to Now Playing, but rather like the late Annie Nightingale, it was always clear Robinson had built up a real rapport with his audience. We're promised a 'borderless spectrum of music' on the new Mary Anne Hobbs show. That's her USP, of course. But is that what listeners want at teatime on Sunday? Time will tell. Listen Out For: Bill Dare: Comedy Alchemist, Radio 4, Thursday, June 12, 6.30pm Talking of Radio 4 comedy … This tribute programme celebrates the career of the late radio and TV comedy producer Bill Dare, creator of The Mary Whitehouse Experience and Dead Ringers. Dare was killed in a motor accident earlier this year.
