Silenced No More: Voices of 'Comfort Women' review

This is a very detailed book about an atrocity that took place during World War II but has never really received the attention it deserves. This is when the Japanese military forcibly captured women and made used them as sex slaves for the soldiers.

The women were repeatedly raped. Some committed suicide. All of the survivors were scarred mentally for the rest of their lives. Yet the men who were responsible for the entire thing were never punished. The Japanese government has never given the women the level of apologies they deserve.

This book goes into all the details and be warned some of them might turn your stomach.

This took place from 1931 to 1945. There were over 1000 'rape camps' set up for the use of the Japanese soldiers. The women were expected to 'service' from around 30 to 60 men each day while being fed poorly and subject to beatings from the men running the camp.

The Japanese tried to claim that they were voluntary prostitutes.

The attacks on women took place not just in the camps but in places like the Rape of Nanking.

Serum 606 was used to steralize the women.The book says around 400,000 women were involved in this, at least half of them coming from China.

Yasukuni Shrine is a major issue for people interested in this subject since the shrine is about the men who served the Japanese military during World War II. The souls of the men killed in the war were supposed to go to that shrine.

The book points out that at least some of the Nazis that were involved in the darkest aspects of their military were arrested, tried and some were executed.



Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page