Use of Weapon Against Third Parties (FRUS)

From the evidence contained in the documents, it may be concluded that military brothels were established on all the larger islands of the Dutch East Indies during the Japanese occupation and that European women were put to work in these establishments on Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Ambon, Flores and Timor. Though their number cannot be determined exactly on the basis... of the material available, some two hundred to three hundred European women were probably involved, most of whomon the island of Java.

In 1944, the approximately one hundred women working in military brothels on Java were transferred to Kota Paris internment camp at Buitenzorg, and later to Kramat camp near Batavia. However, an unknown number of European women were still working in the remaining military brothels and, by 1944,some women had left the brothels to live with a Japanese man or had been interned in the camps.The following is of relevance with regard to the number of European women that were forced into working as prostitutes. Account must be taken of the possibility that the women outside the camps who were recruited for the brothels were not only in serious social and financial straits and under pressure from the civil and military police, but were also the victims of direct physical force on the part of the Japanese authorities.

The information available contained no information on force of this type being exerted to procure women for the privately-run brothels. Nonetheless, force was most certainly used during the second stage,(mid-1943 to mid-1944) to recruit European women from the camps for Japanese military brothels or for transport to brothels elsewhere. The incidents in question concern the thirty to thirty-five European women from Muntilan camp and the camps near Semarang on Central Java who were recruited for the Japanese military brothels, the seven women who were transported from Semarang to Flores, the unknown number of women transported to the military brothels at Pekalongan and Bondowoso (at least three and six respectively}, the five to ten women who were transported from Java to Timor and the unknown number of women who were transported from Java to Ambon. This group does not include the women from the camps who volunteered for work in the brothels. An exception may, however, be made for those women who volunteered to take the places of those who were forcibly taken to Magelang and Semarang. However,evidence must show that these women acted purely with this intention in mind;consequently, their activities prior to internment and their conduct in the brothels should also be taken into account. The conclusion must be drawn that the majority of the women concerned does not belong to the group of women forced into prostitution. Too little information is available on the circumstances in which the other European women were recruited for the military brothels to establish with any certainty whether force was exerted in their cases. To conclude, the documents available reveal that of the two hundred to three hundred European women working in the Japanese military brothels in the Dutch East Indies, some sixty-five were most certainly forced into prostitution.

Bart van Poelgeest, Report of a Study of Dutch Government Documents on the Forced. Prostitution of Dutch Women in the Dutch East Indies

A couple of documents from early 1938, one from the War Ministry and one from the Home Ministry, hint at the growth of arbitrary methods of recruitment. The former states: "As a result of those engaging in recruitment not being suitably selected, there have been cases of recruitment methods amounting to abduction, which have resulted in charges and investigation by police authorities". According to the latter, "if proper control is lacking in such recruitment of women, this will not only injure the dignity of the Empire and the honor of the Imperial Forces but will have an undesirable effect on the home front, particularly the families of soldiers on active service". By 1943 however, the situation had reached the stage illustrated by an official order recorded in a diary entry preserved by Yoshida Seiji. In this example, the Western Army Headquarters orders the procurement by 30 May of two hundred women from Korea, to be aged eighteen to twenty-nine ("married permissible, except pregnant") and free from venereal disease. Their term was to be one year (as prescribed in the labor draft laws but voluntarily renewable). They were to receive an advance payment of twenty yen and a monthly wage of thirty yen (twice a private soldier's pay) (Hicks, 1997: 314).

In the occupied areas all of these varied methods applied in different circumstances. Sometimes existing brothels or professional women were utilised, subject to health checks and general supervision. Sometimes women tried military prostitution as an alternative to existing hardships, as in internment camps. A record of internment life in Java, while noting cases of forcible or deceptive recruitment, adds: "There were others who went voluntarily because they couldn't stand the restrictions of camp life anymore". Sometimes they [the comfort women] might be included in social amusements in the company of troops. A typical case of this kind occurs in a United States report: "While in Burma they amused themselves by participating in sports events with both officers and men; and attended picnics, entertainments and social dinners. They had a phonograph; and in the towns were allowed to go shopping". Sometimes, however, confinement was much closer. An official document relating to comfort stations in Iloilo in the Philippines contains a map, indicating where the Filipina comfort women were allowed to walk from 8 AM to 10 AM each morning, any other movement requiring permission from the local military administration (Hicks, 1997: 315).

Additionally, in 1945, in depositions of three Korean civilians in the employment of the Japanese Army, they stated “In the battle zones of the Pacific War, the Korean comfort women we met were all either volunteers, or women who had been sold by their parents. If any of the women had been victims of coercion, all Koreans, young and old, would have risen up in rage, regardless of whatever retaliation, and killed the Japanese” (Composite Report Three Korean Civilians List No. 78, March 28, 1945, Special Questions on Koreans, U.S. National Archives).


A recruitment ad for military ‘comfort women’ from the October 27, 1944 edition of the Korean newspaper Maeil Sinbo.

"Military" Comfort Women Urgent Recruitment
- Destination – *** Camp Comfort Woman Station
- Qualifications for Recruitment – Age between 18 and 30; good physical health
- Recruitment Period – From October 27 to November 8
- Departure Date – Approximately November 10
- Contract and Remuneration – Decided immediately after interview with individual
- Number of Recruits – Ten
- Aspirants should make urgent inquiries at the following place: Kyeongseong-bu, Jongro-gu, Akwon-jeong 195 Inside Joseon Inn Gwang (3) 2645 Mr. Heo

The extent of the Nanjing Massacre is widely exaggerated and the number of civilian victims was actually around 20,000 along with 40,000 Chinese soldiers executed without due process of law during the initial period of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing. Most academics agree that the 300,000 death toll often cited by the Chinese government is too high and it was technically impossible to massacre so many people in a limited period of time. The population of Nanjing was around 250,000 in the 1930s and 70% of Chinese civilians managed to flee the city before it came under siege by the IJA. John Rabe, a German businessman who is known for his work to protect the Chinese civilians during the incident, helped to establish the Nanking Safety Zone. Approximately 200,000 Chinese civilians were sheltered in the Nanking Safety Zone, which amounted to more than 70% of the city of population, and he said in his post-war lectures: "We Europeans put the number [of civilian casualties] at about 50,000 to 60,000." Unlike the Holocaust, it was not sanctioned by the Japanese government at the time and incompetent local commanders and rogue soldiers were responsible for the atrocities committed in Nanjing and the military prostitution system was put in place to prevent recurrence of the incident.