Buried in History #001: Unit 731

During World War II, deep within Japanese-occupied China, a secret military program was conducting experiments that would become one of the darkest chapters in modern history. Known as Unit 731, the program operated under the appearance of a medical and scientific research facility. Behind closed doors, however, Japanese military personnel conducted horrific experiments on prisoners and civilians while researching biological and chemical warfare. In this Buried in History segment of Coffins & Confessions, Dae and Spencer uncover the history of Unit 731, the people behind the program, the atrocities committed in the name of science, and the complicated aftermath that followed the end of World War II. We’ll separate the documented history from the myths that have grown around the subject and explore how a program responsible for unimaginable suffering was allowed to remain largely hidden for decades. And because this is Buried in History, we’re taking a look at one of those chapters of the past that most people never learn about, but probably should. Listener discretion is strongly advised. This episode discusses war crimes, human experimentation, biological warfare, and other disturbing historical events. • Pacific Atrocities Education — Human Experimentation https://www.pacificatrocities.org/human-experimentation.html • U.S. National Archives — Japanese War Crimes / Interagency Working Group Documents https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/japanese-war-crimes/select-documents.pdf • All That’s Interesting — Unit 731 https://allthatsinteresting.com/unit-731 • NPR — Japan’s Germ Warfare and Biological Weapons Program https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5497951/japan-germ-warfare-biological-wwii