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LeMonde
4 days ago
- Health
- LeMonde
In Japan, newly released archives reveal the scale of human experimentation between 1938 and 1945
Service records of officers and soldiers before Japan's defeat in 1945, made public on May 15 by the country's National Archives, revealed that some were assigned to secret units in China: one in Nanjing, identified as Unit 1,644, and another in Guangzhou, numbered 8,604. The military personnel in these units reportedly conducted bacteriological experiments on human subjects. Until now only Unit 731, located near Harbin – now in China's Heilongjiang province and then the capital of Manchukuo, a puppet state controlled by Tokyo – was known for carrying out such activities from 1938 until the end of World War II. "The service records confirm the existence in China of a network of units conducting these experiments and coordinating their activities," explained Katsuo Nishiyama, emeritus professor at Shiga University of Medical Science and a specialist in Japan's imperial-era biological weapons programs. Units 1,644 and 8,604 − with the one in Nanjing being the largest − were overseen, like Unit 731, by the Tokyo-based Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department. Their primary activity reportedly involved experimenting on humans to enable Japan to develop biological weapons, in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting chemical and biological weapons.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Charters of Freedom dedication set for May 31 in Lillington
LILLINGTON — The Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and Civil Rights Amendments are coming to Harnett County thanks to the combined efforts of the county working with Foundation Forward, Inc. of Burke County, NC. These founding documents, known as The Charters of Freedom, are being permanently installed at 455 McKinney Parkway in Lillington. The Charters of Freedom setting will be dedicated at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 31. The public is invited to attend this patriotic event. Harnett County will be the 71st Charters of Freedom setting permanently placed in communities across the country and the 43rd in the state of North Carolina, by Foundation Forward, an educational Nonprofit created by Vance and Mary Jo Patterson of Burke County. The inspiration to set up Foundation Forward followed their first visit to the National Archives to see the founding documents. 'Seeing something our founding fathers had actually penned, and then seeing their signatures — Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Rutledge, Wilson and the others — I just got goosebumps,' Vance Patterson said. 'And, then when we moved over and saw those first three words of The Constitution, We The People, I actually got a lump in my throat. It was really an emotional experience.' The Pattersons now work to bring that experience to communities across the country, having completed settings from Florida to Wasilla, Alaska. Foundation Forward's mission is to install Charters of Freedom settings in easily accessible locations so communities can view these founding documents in a proper setting without having to incur the costs of traveling to Washington, D.C. 'Imagine if you will school teachers bringing their third, fourth, and fifth grade classes to their Charters of Freedom for annual field trips to learn a little about our founding fathers, the history surrounding the beginning of our country, and how the government is meant to serve and protect We The People,' he said in his dedication speech. This local access will also provide a place for citizens to gather, celebrate, honor and reflect. A Donor Recognition Pedestal has been erected next to the Charters of Freedom setting for Harnett County citizens to honor loved ones or to recognize active duty military or veterans, first responders, businesses or organizations. These can be purchased from Foundation Forward for a tax-deductible donation at or call (828) 522-1400.
The Journal
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Bryan Dobson set to chair new State Commemorations Advisory Committee
FORMER RTÉ BROADCASTER Bryan Dobson is set to chair a new State Commemorations Advisory Committee. The committee has been established with the aim of supporting Government and key stakeholders in the planning and delivery of commemorative events. Its mandate will be to maintain 'an inclusive, respectful, and consensus-based approach to all commemorative matters', to offer independent, non-partisan advice to Government when requested and to ensure historical events are commemorated 'accurately' and grounded in primary source material. The committee will also provide guidance on 'sensitive or complex themes' associated with historical events. Dobson, who retired from RTÉ in May last year after 37 years at the broadcaster, will chair the committee, whose members will include former ministers Heather Humphreys and Éamon Ó Cuív. Professor Marie Coleman, a professor of 20th century Irish history at Queen's University Belfast, will also sit on the committee. Other members will include National Archives director Orlaith McBride, National Library Director Dr Audrey Whitty, and Professor Paul Rouse from University College Dublin's School of History. Advertisement Minister for Culture Patrick O'Donovan is expected to officially announce the formation of the committee tomorrow. He will say that the committee will ensure 'that the diverse experiences and perspectives that shape our national story continue to be honoured in a respectful and balanced way'. 'Ireland's story is rich, diverse and often challenging. With the thoughtful guidance of this new Committee, we will continue to honour that story not just as history, but as a shared inheritance that belongs to every citizen,' O'Donovan will say. The Minister will meet some of the committee members tomorrow, where they will view a new acquisition by the State. The typed document is a signed agreement between Éamon de Valera, Austin Stack, Arthur Griffith, and Michael Collins that aimed to address the immediate political crisis arising from the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The agreement was drafted and signed at the Ard Fheis of Sinn Féin, held on 21-22 February 1922 at the Mansion House in Dublin. Some 3,000 delegates from all over Ireland attended the Ard Fheis to interpret the constitution of Sinn Féin considering the Treaty and to decide the party's policy for the upcoming elections. The document will be added to the collection at the National Archives of Ireland and will be available on the National Archives website for researchers to access. A related item, Michael Collins's Memorial Card, will also be shown to the Minister and the committee. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
ABC News
25-05-2025
- ABC News
Incredible snapshots of Western Australia's history in Sea to Suburbia exhibition
Repairing a fence at Errabiddy Station, near Gascoyne River, 1973 ( Mike Brown, National Archives of Australia ) In 1973, two men are snapped getting dusty at Errabiddy Station in the Gascoyne to repair a fence. Young people enjoying Cottesloe Beach, 1969 ( Mike Brown, National Archives of Australia ) Kids jump off the rocks at Cottesloe Beach in the summer of 1969. The engineer, cook and crew of a pearling lugger open and clean shells, keeping a watchful eye for pearls off the coast of Broome in 1949 ( National Archives of Australia ) In 1949, the engineer, cook and crew of a pearling lugger open and clean shells in Broome, keeping an eye out for pearls. Danish migrants Poul and Lea Korsgaard enjoy a cocktail in the front yard of their suburban house in 1970. ( National Archives of Australia ) Danish migrants Poul and Lea Korsgaard enjoy a cocktail in the front yard of their suburban house in 1970. Children enjoy their showbags at the Perth Royal Show, Claremont, 1961 ( William Hartley, National Archives of Australia ) Children with their showbags at the Perth Royal Show in 1961. St Georges Terrace, Perth, 1946. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia ) It's all part of the rich tapestry of what life in Western Australia once was. Snapshots of WA's history are on display in Perth as part of a National Archives of Australia exhibition exploring the state's identity after World War II. The Sea to Suburbia exhibition evokes memories of the sights and sounds of the way of life in the west. A suave Cottesloe beach inspector surveys the surf in 1983. ( National Archives of Australia ) Co-curator Dr Kellie Abbott said the images were captured by Australian government photographers to "market" the West Aussie way of life to the world, and show the state through "rose-coloured glasses". "A lot of the photos were taken by the News and Information Bureau, which was set up during World War II with a propaganda and censorship role," she said. A timber worker removes a large belly slab from a karri tree before felling, 1971. ( National Archives of Australia ) "Their role was to document Australian life, to go around the country and take photos of people, of places, of industry, of the environment. "Part of their role was to create a positive image of Australia, to try to sell it to people who might be looking to migrate, but also just to represent Australia in the world as a modern country rebuilding after World War II. Playing bocce at the Italian Club, West Perth, 1979. ( National Archives of Australia ) "There's not ... a lot of cloudy skies or conflict or poverty. It's a selective image, a selective picture of Western Australia." Dr Abbott said the bureau wanted to show Perth as a developing "modern" city, full of promise and diverse industries, with plenty of job opportunities. "In some ways, people still look at it like an overgrown country town," she said. "And I think these photos of the city capture that as well, it is a modern city, but there's also just a sense of people being a little bit unhurried, maybe compared to some other places, a bit more relaxed." Celebrating Australia II's victory in the America's Cup, Perth, 1983. ( Mike Brown, National Archives of Australia ) Battye Library historian Dr Kate Gregory said Perth and Western Australia changed dramatically in the middle of the 20th century, with rapid expansion in the developing suburbs. "Post-war migration and the baby boom more than doubled the population and resulted in the rapid expansion of suburban development through the 1950s," Dr Gregory said. "The 1955 Stephenson-Hepburn Plan for the Metropolitan Region created a vision for the city featuring corridors of suburbs connected by a major freeway system. "River infill and the destruction of significant heritage buildings gave rise to the conservation movement which lobbied to protect the natural and cultural heritage values of Perth." Children frolic in Kalgoorlie's Lord Forrest Olympic Pool during a 1953 heatwave. ( Clifford Bottomley, National Archives of Australia ) Dr Abbott said she encouraged audiences to think about aspects of life in Western Australia that were not represented in the images. "There are certain communities that are not represented in these photographs because of the nature of the mission that these photographers had," she said. "It's a bit of a rose-tinted glasses kind of situation." The Sea to Suburbia exhibition is at the National Archives of Australia Western Australian office in Northbridge until November 28. Aboriginal pearl sorter, Broome, 1964. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Wilfred Brindle ) Miners on the Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 1947. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Jim Fitzpatrick ) Mass tennis class, Perth, 1967. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Mike Brown ) Perth's playground, Kings Park in 1973. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia ) The banks of the Swan River in front of the Narrows Bridge, South Perth, 1969. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Mike Brown ) Sunbaking on Port Beach in 1975. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Mike Brown ) Great white shark caught off Albany, 1975. ( John McKinnon, National Archives of Australia ) Fishermen inspecting cray pots in Fremantle, 1969. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Mike Brown ) Palm Beach jetty in Rockingham, 1975. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia ) Shearing shed, Western Australia, 1972. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia: Norman Plant ) Cheyne Beach Whaling Station, Frenchman Bay, Albany, 1970. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia ) Retted straw at Blackwood Flax Mill in Boyup Brook, 1953. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Jack Gallagher ) Boats at Fremantle, 1962 ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Alex Ozolins ) Post office, Pinjarra, 1946. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia, Max Dupain ) Water hazard at Wyndham Golf Course, 1970. ( Supplied: National Archives of Australia. ) Credits Posted 6m ago 6 minutes ago Sun 25 May 2025 at 12:11am
Japan Today
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
The future of history: Trump could leave less documentation behind than any previous US president
By WILL WEISSERT This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (Justice Department via AP) For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected — from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration has sought to expand the executive branch's power to shield from public view key administration initiatives. Officials have used apps like Signal that can auto-delete messages containing sensitive information rather than retaining them for record-keeping. And they have shaken up the National Archives leadership. To historians and archivists, it points to the possibility that President Donald Trump will leave less for the nation's historical record than nearly any president before him. Such an eventuality creates a conundrum: How will experts — and even ordinary Americans — piece together what occurred when those charged with setting aside the artifacts properly documenting history refuse to do so? The Trump administration says it's the 'most transparent in history,' citing the president's fondness for taking questions from reporters nearly every day. But flooding the airwaves, media outlets and the internet with all things Trump isn't the same as keeping records that document the inner workings of an administration, historians caution. 'He thinks he controls history,' says Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian who served as founding director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. 'He wants to control what Americans ultimately find out about the truth of his administration, and that's dangerous.' Trump long refused to release his tax returns despite every other major White House candidate and president having done so since Jimmy Carter. And, today, White House stenographers still record every word Trump utters, but many of their transcriptions are languishing in the White House press office without authorization for release — meaning no official record of what the president says for weeks, if at all. 'You want to have a record because that's how you ensure accountability,' said Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library in Mount Vernon, Virginia. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 mandates the preservation, forever, of White House and vice presidential documents and communications. It deems them the property of the U.S. government and directs the National Archives and Records Administration to administer them after a president's term. After his first term, rather than turn classified documents over the National Archives, Trump hauled boxes of potentially sensitive documents to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, where they ended piled in his bedroom, a ballroom and even a bathroom and shower. The FBI raided the property to recover them. The case was later scrapped. Trudy Huskamp Peterson, who served as acting archivist of the United States from 1993 to 1995, said keeping such records for the public is important because 'decision-making always involves conflicting views, and it's really important to get that internal documentation to see what the arguments were.' President George H.W. Bush's administration destroyed some informal notes, visitor logs and emails. After President Bill Clinton left office, his former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, pleaded guilty to taking copies of a document about terrorist threats from the National Archives. President George W. Bush's administration disabled automatic archiving for some official emails, encouraged some staffers to use private email accounts outside their work addresses and lost 22 million emails that were supposed to have been archived, though they were eventually uncovered in 2009. Congress updated the Presidential Records Act in 2014 to encompass electronic messaging — including commercial email services known to be used by government employees to conduct official business. But back then, use of auto-delete apps like Signal was far less common. 'It's far easier to copy — or forward — a commercial email to a dot-gov address to be preserved, than it is to screenshot a series of messages on an app like Signal,' said Jason R. Baron, a professor at the University of Maryland and former director of litigation at the National Archives. There were efforts during the first Trump administration to safeguard transparency, including a memo issued through the Office of White House counsel Don McGahn in February 2017 that reminded White House personnel of the necessity to preserve and maintain presidential records. The White House now points to having recently ordered the declassification of bevies of historical files, including records related to the assassinations of Kennedy, his brother Robert and Martin Luther King Jr. The Trump administration says it also ended a Biden policy that allowed staffers to use Microsoft Teams, where chats weren't captured by White House systems. The Biden administration had over 800 users on Teams, meaning an unknown number of presidential records might have been lost, the Trump administration now says. But the White House did not answer questions about the possibly of drafting a new memo on record retention like McGahn's from 2017. Chervinsky, author of "The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, said Congress, the courts and even the public often don't have the bandwidth to ensure records retention laws are enforced, meaning, 'A lot of it is still, I think, an honor system.' 'There aren't that many people who are practicing oversight,' she said. 'So, a lot of it does require people acting in good faith and using the operating systems that they're supposed to use, and using the filing systems they're supposed to use.' Angered by the role the National Archives played in his documents case, meanwhile, Trump fired the ostensibly independent agency's head, Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan, and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as her acting replacement. Peterson, the former acting national archivist, said she still believes key information about the Trump administration will eventually emerge, but 'I don't know how soon.' 'Ultimately things come out,' she said. 'That's just the way the world works.' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
