Memorial Service Held for Those Who Died in Soviet Internment; Ceremony Marks the Anniversary of Order Transferring Prisoners of War to Siberia

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:27 JST, August 24, 2025

A memorial service was held on Saturday at the Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, to honor those who were taken to Siberia and Mongolia after the end of World War II and subsequently died there.

About 180 people, including former detainees and bereaved families, took part in the event and prayed for the souls of the victims.

This marked the 23rd time that this memorial service, which was organized by an association set up by former detainees and bereaved families, had occurred. The event is held each year on Aug. 23, the anniversary of the day in 1945 when the Soviet Union issued an order to transfer Japanese prisoners of war to Siberia and Mongolia, which was then under the control of the Soviet Union.

“Most detainees didn’t survive the first winter. They died due to malnutrition, illness and hard labor,” said Masaru Nishikura, 100, a former detainee who is a member of the group, during the event.

“We want to spread awareness of what happened in Siberia from Chidorigafuchi to the rest of the country,” said one of the bereaved family members.

The Soviet Union, which suffered from a labor shortage in the postwar period, brought former Japanese soldiers and civilians employed by the military to Siberia and Mongolia to make them work jobs such as lumbering and coal mining.

About 575,000 people were reportedly detained, of whom about 55,000 are estimated to have died.