83-575: The Kempeitai East District Branch was the headquarters of the Kempeitai , the Japanese military police , during the Japanese occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945. It was located at the old YMCA building, at the present site of Singapore's YMCA Building on Stamford Road . Opened in 1911, the distinctive Art Deco YMCA building was the site of interrogation and torture of many innocent civilians, including
166-403: A cavalry sabre and pistol , while enlisted men had a pistol and bayonet . Junior NCOs carried a shinai ( 竹刀 , 'bamboo kendo sword') , especially when dealing with prisoners. Cathay Building The Cathay Building ( simplified Chinese : 国泰大厦 ; traditional Chinese : 國泰大廈 ; Malay : Bangunan Cathay ) was opened in 1939 by Dato Loke Wan Tho as the headquarters for
249-543: A film ; a rare amenity during that time. The building was also used as a landmark for final landing approach at Singapore 's first purpose-built civilian airport, Kallang Airport . At the beginning of World War II in 1942, the building was rented out to the Straits Settlements government and the Malaya Broadcasting Corporation. Five floors were occupied by broadcast studios and administration,
332-587: A shin guntō (military sword) and a pistol, non-commissioned officers often carried a bamboo stick split at the ends to make it pliable and to increase the pain felt by a person who was hit. The Kempeitai made use of informers and recruited spies from within the community, and encouraged giving information with rewards and privileges in return. Many of the informers had dubious backgrounds: secret society members, gangsters, prostitutes and those of other races with criminal records, who were obliged to provide information to save themselves from torture or execution. As
415-472: A Kempeitai warrant officer named Monai Tadamori , had since been sentenced to death by a military court in 1946 after the war. She said: After my release, I avoided Stamford Road as I just could not bring myself to look at the YMCA building. It was the Japanese army's other killing field besides Operation Clean Up . It bore the blood of their victims whose lives they could never compensate. The new YMCA Building
498-458: A U.S. aviator shot down and injured near Saigon in French Indochina was left untreated for three days before being interrogated by Kempeitai , then killed with procaine . In July 1945, 15 U.S. airmen were captured and interrogated by the Kempeitai near Hiroshima; 12 died in the U.S. atomic bombing of the city on August 6, of which two were possibly clubbed to death at Hiroshima Castle by
581-532: A black chevron on their uniforms and a white armband on the left arm with the characters ken ( 憲 , 'law') and hei ( 兵 , 'soldier') , together read as kempei or kenpei, which transliterates to "military police". Until 1942, a full dress uniform comprising a red kepi , gold and red waist sash , dark blue tunic and trousers with black facings was authorized for Kempeitai officers on ceremonial occasions. Rank insignia comprised gold Austrian knots and epaulettes . Kempeitai officers were armed with
664-664: A branch of the IJA through its Administration Bureau, which was led by a provost marshal general who was answerable to the Minister of War . In Japan during peacetime, the Kempeitai was answerable to the Ministry of War for regular military duties, the Home Ministry for civil police duties, and Ministry of Justice for law administration duties. In war zones, the Kempeitai came under the control of that area's military commander. The Kempeitai
747-566: A condominium development occupying the tower above the shopping mall, opened at the end of 2006. The building has suffered from low footfall since its opening, and always had vacant units. In its short operating life, there were multiple minor alterations, such as the removal of the atrium water feature, and the reconfiguring of the shop layouts. In June 2022, Cathay Cineplexes, which operated the cinema multiplex in The Cathay, announced that it would cease operations there, ending 83 years of operation on
830-583: A highest rank of sergeant major. Kempeitai officers were usually graduates of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy or Army War College . In peacetime, officers typically had one year of training, while non-commissioned officers were trained for six months. In 1937, Western sources estimated there were 315 Kempeitai officers and 6,000 personnel of other ranks; in 1942, the U.S. Army estimated there were 601 Kempeitai officers in its Handbook on Japanese Military Forces . Japanese records show
913-605: A month-long purge of 'anti-Japanese elements' in an operation named Sook Ching . All Chinese men between 18 and 50 years old, and in some cases women and children, were ordered to report to these temporary registration centres for interrogation and identification by the Kempeitai . Those who passed the arbitrary screening were released with 'Examined' stamped on their faces, arms or clothes. Others not so fortunate were taken to outlying parts of Singapore and executed for alleged anti-Japanese activities. Tens of thousands were estimated to have lost their lives. For those who were spared,
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#1733084751214996-1166: A peak of 34,834 Kempeitai officers and personnel during the war: 10,679 in Japan, 6,115 in central China, 4,946 in the Kwantung Army , 4,253 in north China, 1,927 in Korea, 1,094 in south China, 937 in Thailand, 829 in the Philippines, 758 in Malaya, 745 in Formosa, 540 in Burma, 538 in Java, 479 in occupied French Indochina, 387 in Sumatra, 362 in Singapore, 156 in Borneo, and 89 in the South Seas. Included within these numbers were Taiwanese, Malays, Chinese, Cambodians, and Vietnamese. In Indo-China
1079-715: A restaurant, nightclub, swimming pool and shopping arcade. Cathay Hotel was closed on 30 December 1970, with the 10 floors had been converted into office premises and the top floor occupied by the Cathay Organisation by July 1974. The building was refaced in 1978 with a new look by STS Leong. The original design was shadowed by the new facade. Cathay Building was the location for the first Orange Julius outlet in Singapore, which opened in 1982. In 1990, Cathay Organisation opened Singapore's first arthouse cinema, The Picturehouse adjacent to Cathay Building. The main Cathay cinema hall
1162-458: A result, many innocent people were taken away mysteriously, and an atmosphere of distrust and fear ruled life during the Japanese occupation. In 1909, the colonial government granted the YMCA a 999-year lease for a site at Dhoby Ghaut to be built as their headquarters. The building was completed in 1911 and the YMCA officially relocated to its new premises. In Syonan (as Singapore was called during
1245-707: A short spell in China during the Chinese Civil War . He was pursued by the British but they were unable to capture him, as he was sheltered by the United States for political reasons when he resurfaced in Japan in 1947. He was cleared of any war crimes in 1950 and later became one of Japan's most prominent post-war parliamentarians . In 1961, Tsuji disappeared mysteriously in Indochina and was officially declared dead in 1968. After
1328-692: A unique gendarmerie organization known as the Kempei keisatsu , which operated from 1,642 police stations and recruited large numbers of Korean nationals. The Kempeitai was instrumental in suppressing Korean opinion and political participation, and played a major role in recruiting comfort women and in conscripting guards for prisoner of war camps. It carried out the empire's policies of suppressing Korean national identity, language, customs, and culture; it also promoted Japanese organizations and spread pro-Japan propaganda through Korea's daily newspapers. In 1931–1932, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria and established
1411-497: Is a generic glass-and-steel shopping centre with internal atrium, a common typology in Singapore. While it boasts a greater floor area, the new development makes little to no reference to the landmark building that it replaced. The floor levels of the new building completely ignore the retained Cathay Cinema facade, with windows at odd heights. Today, the Cathay houses retail, food and beverage outlets and an 8-screen Cathay Cineplex, which includes The Picturehouse. The Cathay Residences,
1494-772: Is located off the tee box of Hole 3 in the Serapong course in the Sentosa Golf Club. The inscription on the monument reads: Near this site, victims of Sook Ching, a Japanese military operation which took place during the Second World War, were buried. For about two weeks from 18 February 1942, Chinese men from ages 18 to 50 underwent screening at various centres around Singapore. Those suspected to be anti-Japanese were executed at various locations. Victims were also brought out to sea in boats, stopping near Pulau Blakang Mati (today Sentosa), where they were thrown overboard and shot by
1577-592: The Double Tenth incident , arrested and tortured 57 people in response to an Allied raid on Singapore Harbour; 15 of them died in custody. In 1943–1944, the Kempeitai arrested 1,918 persons on Java, of whom 743 died while in custody (439 of whom were executed). In March 1944, the Kempeitai brutally suppressed a riot in Tasikmalaya in western Java, killing several hundred Muslims; Muslim leader Zainal Mustafa and 23 of his disciples were later executed. In September 1944,
1660-669: The Geneva Convention of 1929 (not ratified by Japan). A total of 350,000 prisoners were taken and housed in 176 camps in Japan and about 500 in occupied territories. The Kempeitai impressed many POWs and civilians into slave labour gangs for war work, and subjected them to torture, including standing inside small cages set on top of red ant nests and lashing to trees with barbed wire. Prisoners were forced to sign non-escape oaths, and those who escaped and were recaptured were subjected to beatings and torture as examples in front of other prisoners. 27 percent of Allied POWs taken by Japan during
1743-666: The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). A member of the Kempeitai corps was called a kempei ( 憲兵 ) . The Kempeitai was based on the France National Gendarmerie . The Kempeitai was established on 4 January 1881, during the Meiji era , by order of the Great Council of State as part of a broader modernization and Westernization of the Japanese military. Initially, the organization was an elite corps of 349 men, and
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#17330847512141826-703: The Japanese occupation of Singapore ) in 1942, the Kempeitai came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War in Tokyo. It was led by Oishi Masayuki [ ja ] , with his headquarters established at the old YMCA building, which also served as the East District Branch after the Kempeitai had all its British YMCA administrators and staff incarcerated at the Changi Prison . There were about 200 regular Kempeitai in Singapore but 1,000 auxiliaries were recruited from
1909-414: The Kempeitai at Hangzhou ; they were paraded through the streets, ridiculed, beaten, and tortured before being doused with petrol and burned alive. In February 1945, six British airmen were captured in southern Burma and interrogated by the Kempeitai before being lined up on the edge of a trench, blindfolded, and beheaded by a Kempeitai officer; their bodies were used for bayonet practice. In May 1945,
1992-604: The Kempeitai executed the Rajah of Loeang and 95 natives from the Loeang and Sermata Islands for failing to turn over guerrillas who had allegedly assassinated several officers. On 7 July 1945, the Kempeitai killed 600 inhabitants of the village of Kalagon in the Moulmein region of southeast Burma in the Kalagon massacre as reprisal for local guerrilla attacks after interrogation, beatings, and
2075-640: The Kempeitai particularly recruited from members of the Cao Dai religious sect. In Japan, the Kempeitai often assisted local civilian law authorities (though it was not a gendarmerie ), and targeted students, farmers, socialists, communists, pacifists, foreign workers, and any showing irreverence for the emperor. In occupied territories and war zones, the Kempeitai was responsible for issuing travel permits , recruiting labor, arresting members of resistances, requisitioning food and supplies, spreading propaganda, and suppressing anti-Japanese sentiment. The organization
2158-467: The Kempeitai recruited large numbers of locals in those territories. Taiwanese and Koreans were extensively used as auxiliaries to guard POWs and police the newly occupied areas in Southeast Asia , and the Kempeitai also carried out recruitment activities among the populations of French Indochina , Malaya , and other territories. The Kempeitai also operated on the Japanese home islands, where it
2241-587: The Kempeitai , and two were possibly stoned to death by civilians. The Kempeitai organized regular and violent reprisals against populations in Japan's occupied territories. After the Doolittle Raid, it carried out reprisals against thousands of Chinese civilians accused of helping U.S. airmen. In 1942, it carried out the Sook Ching , a mass killing in Singapore after it fell to the Japanese, and in October 1943, in
2324-562: The Kempeitai ; three were sentenced to death and executed in October 1942, while five others had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. They were subjected to mental torture in the form of mock executions . Every airman captured in occupied territory after the raid was starved, interrogated, and tortured by the Kempeitai ; by May 1945, the Kempeitai decided that formal trials were a waste of time, and executed airmen (often by beheading) soon after their courts-martial had been approved. In December 1944, three U.S. airmen were arrested by
2407-521: The Kempeitai, were conducted on Allied POWs in the southeast Pacific. In February 1944, an outbreak of tetanus among hundreds of laborers in Java, possibly tied to the biological warfare program, was traced to contaminated vaccines. The Kempeitai accused Achmad Muchtar of the Eykman Institute in Jakarta, who treated many of the victims, of deliberately contaminating the vaccines to sabotage labor for
2490-530: The Kwantung Army 's Kempeitai (1937–1938) and later commander of Tokyo Kempeitai (1938–1940) and Eastern District Army ; and notoriously General Hideki Tojo , commander of the Kwantung Army Kempeitai (1935–1937) and later Minister of War, Prime Minister, and Chief of the General Staff. As further foreign territories fell under Japanese military occupation during the 1930s and the early 1940s,
2573-623: The Sook Ching screening remains one of their worst memories of the Japanese Occupation. — National Heritage Board . The site of this monument is located in Changi Beach Park (near Camp Site 2) in the eastern part of Singapore. The inscription on the monument reads: 66 male civilians were killed by Japanese Hojo Kempei (auxiliary military police) firing at the water's edge on this stretch of Changi Beach on 20 February 1942. They were among tens of thousands who lost their lives during
Kenpeitai East District Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-564: The 11 storey residential block was opened for occupancy, with the owners Mrs Loke Yew and Loke Wan Tho occupied the eleventh floor. The building was the first and tallest skyscraper in Singapore and in Southeast Asia, at a height of 83.5 metres from the Dhoby Ghaut entrance to the top of the building's water tower. Its theatre was the island's first air-conditioned cinema and public building, and where one could sit in an arm chair to watch
2739-728: The British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation. Located at 2 Handy Road in the Museum Planning Area of Singapore , the building was most known for its air-conditioned theatre known as the Cathay Cinema, then a technological marvel and the first to be built in Singapore. Cathay Building was the first skyscraper in Singapore and tallest building in Southeast Asia at that time. It was demolished in 2003. The supposed 16 storey (11 storey upon completion) Cathay Building
2822-564: The Hojo Kempei (Japanese auxiliary military police). Some of these bodies were buried around the nearby Berhala Reping, by British soldiers who later became Prisoners-of-War. The site of this monument is located off Punggol Road in northeastern Singapore. The inscription on the monument reads: On 23 February 1942, some 300–400 Chinese civilians were killed along Punggol foreshore by Hojo Kempei (auxiliary military police) firing squad. They were among tens of thousands who lost their lives during
2905-514: The Indian people into one nation, and in the name of the dead heroes who have bequeathed to us a tradition of heroism and self-sacrifice we call upon the Indian people to rally round our banner and strike for India’s freedom. We call upon them to launch the final struggle against the British and their allies in India and to prosecute that struggle with valour and perseverance and full faith in final victory until
2988-490: The Japanese Sook Ching operation to purge suspected anti-Japanese civilians among Singapore's Chinese population between 18 February and 4 March 1942. Tanah Merah Besar Beach, a few hundred metres south (now part of Singapore Changi Airport runway ) was one of the most heavily-used killing grounds where well over a thousand Chinese men and youths lost their lives. — National Heritage Board. The site of this monument
3071-523: The Japanese Sook Ching operation to purge suspected anti-Japanese civilians among Singapore's Chinese population between 18 February and 4 March 1942. The victims who perished along the foreshore were among 1,000 Chinese males rounded up following a house-to-house search of the Chinese community living along Upper Serangoon Road by Japanese soldiers. — National Heritage Board. Kempeitai The Kempeitai ( Japanese : 憲兵隊 , Hepburn : Kenpeitai )
3154-553: The Japanese mainland and throughout all occupied and captured overseas territories during the Pacific War . The external units operating outside Japan were: Kempeitai personnel wore either the standard M1938 field uniform or the cavalry uniform with high black leather boots. Civilian clothes were also authorized with rank badges or the Japanese Imperial chrysanthemum worn under the jacket lapel . Uniformed personnel also wore
3237-607: The Japanese occupation in 1967. It was constructed with part of the S$ 50 million 'blood debt' compensation paid by the Japanese government in October 1966. Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Lee said: We meet to remember the men and women who were the hapless victims of one of the fires of history... If today we remember these lessons of the past, we strengthen our resolve and determination to make our future more secure then these men and women for whom we mourn would not have died in vain . On 15 February every year, memorial services (opened to
3320-532: The Japanese, and imprisoned him for nine months before beheading him and running over his body with a steamroller . The Kempeitai also organized extensive criminal networks, which extorted vast amounts of money from businesses and civilians in areas where they operated; the forced prostitution system for the Imperial Army, whose victims were known as comfort women ; and the all-female Tokyo Rose radio propaganda broadcasts. The Kempeitai operated commands on
3403-713: The Kempeitai Headquarters and Cathay Building — used by the Japanese Military Propagation Department – as a deterrent to looting and gruesome reminder of its power. Rudy Mosbergen, a former principal of Raffles Institution , wrote in a book, In The Grip of A Crisis (2007), about his life as a teenager during the Japanese occupation, during which he witnessed the following scene at the Cathay Building: Being somewhat curious and adventurous, I decided to see one for myself... I could see
Kenpeitai East District Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-514: The Kempeitai to obtain a 'confession'. Called "treatments" by the Kempeitai, some that were described by victims and witnesses during the Singapore Chinese Massacre Trial in 1947 were: After the "treatment" was meted out, those who had 'confessed' to minor crimes were sentenced to imprisonment, while others were summarily executed. After the British surrender on 15 February 1942, the heads of looters were displayed on stakes outside
3569-471: The War Memorial Park at Beach Road . Comprising four white concrete columns, this 61 metres tall memorial commemorates the civilian dead of all races. It was built after thousands of remains were discovered all over Singapore during the urban redevelopment boom in the early 1960s. The memorial was officially unveiled by Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on the 25th anniversary of the start of
3652-737: The army. The Kempeitai jail was in Outram, with branches in Stamford Road, Chinatown , and the Central Police Station. A former residence at Smith Street in Chinatown formed the Kempeitai West District Branch . The YMCA building also served as a prison for people suspected of being anti-Japanese. Typically, prisoners were cramped into small cells and forced to be motionless and absolutely silent. Those arrested would be tortured for
3735-501: The bloodied head of a male Chinese on show... After a week's exposure, the heads eventually shrank and turned blue-black... It was truly a disgusting sight. During the early days of the Japanese occupation, an extensive clean-up operation to purge anti-Japanese elements—including former members of Dalforce , Force 136 , and supporters of the China Relief Fund —known as Sook Ching was undertaken. The massacres were executed under
3818-619: The building in December 1946. Plans to rebuild the YMCA premises on the site began in 1969. They came to fruition in 1981, when the Old YMCA Building was demolished. Elizabeth Choy expressed her gratitude for the building's destruction, as she had been detained and tortured at the old YMCA building for nearly 200 days for her crime of "being pro-British and anti-Japanese" during the Double Tenth Incident inquisition. Her tormentor,
3901-746: The civilian population. Their political influence increased when Hideki Tojo became the Vice-Minister of War in the 1930s. From 1895 to 1945, the Kempeitai built up a large network of influence in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere , the Japanese-occupied territories in Asia during World War II. All prisoners-of-war (POW) and POW camps came under the control of the Kempeitai, as did comfort women and comfort houses. Kempeitai officers were trained at special training schools, with
3984-409: The end of World War II , the Kempeitai was an extensive corps with about 35,000 personnel. Founded in 1881 during the Meiji era , the size and duties of the Kempeitai grew rapidly as Japanese militarism expanded. During World War II, the organization ran Japan's prisoner of war and civilian internment camps, known for their mistreatment of detainees, and also acted as a political police force in
4067-606: The enemy is expelled from Indian soil and the Indian people are once again a Free Nation. When the war ended in 1945, it served as the headquarters for Admiral Lord Mountbatten while serving as the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Theatre of the South East Asia Command (SEAC). When the SEAC was disbanded a year later, the building was converted back to a cinema and a hotel. The cinema
4150-413: The formation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (Free India) at Cathay Building with himself as the Head of State, Prime Minister and Minister of War. The Japanese utilised the building to broadcast propaganda in the Japanese language . It was also the residence of film director Yasujirō Ozu from 1944 till the end of the war. In the name of God, in the name of bygone generations who have welded
4233-446: The latter was responsible for supply, organization, and training; public security; and counterintelligence. The Navy, seeking to limit Army influence, also maintained its own military police corps, known as the Tokkeitai . Following the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the Empire of Japan effectively controlled the Korean Peninsula , which was formally annexed into the empire as Chōsen in 1910. The Korean Kempeitai developed into
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#17330847512144316-455: The main facade, which had been covered up for decades, was revealed and preserved. This small remnant of the Cathay Building was gazetted as a national monument for conservation on 10 February 2003, and is the only fragment of the historic building that survives today. The replacement building, designed by Paul Tange of Tange Associates Japan and RDC Architects Pte Ltd Singapore, was named The Cathay ; it opened on 24 March 2006. The new Cathay
4399-497: The main ones being in Tokyo and Keijō in Korea . Officers were trained to conduct espionage, weaponry, code-breaking , running spy networks and other subversive activities in a year-long course. Kempeitai personnel were dressed in the standard Japanese military uniform, but they were distinguished by an armband bearing the Japanese characters for Kempeitai (憲兵隊). They also wore khaki uniforms with an armband or were simply dressed in civilian clothes. While officers were armed with
4482-453: The man responsible for the Sook Ching massacre during the Singapore Chinese Massacre Trial in 1947. Tsuji was appointed as the Chief Planning and Operations Officer of the 25th Army, which was led by Tomoyuki Yamashita during the Malayan Campaign . He had close links with the Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo and enjoyed certain privileges that officers of more senior ranks were not allowed. Overstepping his authority, he had issued orders during
4565-435: The massacre of thousands of Chinese civilians in Singapore and Malaya with Yamashita's knowledge but without his approval. He was also responsible for the slaughter of thousands of American and Filipino prisoners-of-war in the Philippines . Tsuji was in Myanmar at the time of Japan's unconditional surrender to British forces in August 1945 and made his getaway to Thailand disguised as a wandering Buddhist monk. He later spent
4648-438: The military and occupied territories. It carried out torture, summary executions , and violent reprisals and massacres against civilians, as well as procuring comfort women and human test subjects for Unit 731 . The Kempeitai was disbanded after the war, and many of its leaders were tried and convicted of war crimes. While institutionally part of the Army, the Kempeitai also discharged limited military police functions for
4731-411: The once-grand Cathay Building a shadow of its former self, looking cheap and tacky instead of the glamorous modern building that Brewer designed. In 1999, Cathay announced the S$ 100 million plans to redevelop the whole complex. Cathay Building and the Picturehouse would show its last movie in 2000 before closing for redevelopment. The building was nearly completely demolished, with only a small portion of
4814-420: The other. The Germans began suspecting Sorge, who was posing as a journalist sympathetic to Nazism, was a Soviet agent and in mid-1940 informed the Kempeitai that Sorge was under surveillance. The Kempeitai and Tokkō investigated and concluded that Sorge was a Soviet spy, and also came to suspect Ozaki, who was arrested on 15 October 1941. Information from his interrogation by the Tokkō implicated Sorge, who
4897-402: The public) are held at the memorial. The site of this monument lies within the compound of Hong Lim Complex in Chinatown. The inscription on the monument reads: The site was one of the temporary registration centres of the Japanese Military Police, the Kempeitai , for screening 'anti-Japanese' Chinese. On 18 February 1942, three days after the surrender of Singapore, the Kempeitai launched
4980-443: The puppet state of Manchukuo . It became a major zone of operations for the Kempeitai , with 18,000 personnel in the area by 1932. Many of Japan's wartime leaders built their reputations and careers as officers in the Manchurian Kempeitai , including Lieutenant General Toranosuke Hashimoto [ ja ] , commander of the Manchukuo Kempeitai (1932–1934) and later Vice Minister of War; General Shizuichi Tanaka , commander of
5063-481: The purpose of extracting names of anti-Japanese accomplices from them; refusal to offer such names led to further punishment. Should a prisoner surrender under the torment, any person identified by him as a "subversive force" would be sentenced to death or imprisonment. The Kempeitai believed that a person suspected of committing a crime had to prove his innocence, but was given no opportunity to do so. Pain and threats to life were standard methods of interrogation used by
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#17330847512145146-623: The rape of women and children did not elicit information. The Chinese Kempeitai was responsible for providing human test subjects, codenamed maruta ('logs'), for the Army's biological warfare research program under Unit 731 near Harbin, Manchuria . Thousands of uncooperative prisoners and civilians were transported in windowless prison cars to the unit's facility under the Kempeitai 's Human Materials Procurement Arm and were subjected to medical experimentation, including vivisection , artificially-induced illness, frostbite , and simulated combat wounds. More experiments, also facilitated by
5229-405: The remaining five were given life sentences but served just five years until 1952, when Japan regained its sovereignty. Despite being spared the gallows, Takuma did not evade the death penalty when he was separately tried and executed for the 1942 Parit Sulong massacre at Johor. Kawamura Saburo published his reminiscences in 1952 (after his death) and in the book, he expressed his condolences to
5312-428: The supervision of the Kempeitai with the Hojo Kempei ("auxiliary military police") being employed to carry out the actual shooting under orders of a Kempeitai officer. Although the exact figures will never be fully known, it was estimated that a total figure between 25,000 and 50,000 victims were massacred according to the post-war trial testimonies in 1947. Masanobu Tsuji was identified by Japanese army commanders as
5395-467: The two floors by the Ministry of Economic Warfare, and the Royal Air Force occupied two rooms on another floor. When Singapore fell to the Japanese , it was used to house the Japanese Broadcasting Department, the Military Propaganda Department, the Military Information Bureau and the broadcast department of the Indian National Army 's Provisional government of Free India during the occupation period . On 21 October 1943, Subhas Chandra Bose announced
5478-530: The victims of Singapore and prayed for the repose of their souls. Following the end of World War II, there were several differing views on what should be done with the Old YMCA Building. The British had wanted it demolished and then to designate the open space as a memorial to the victims who had suffered under the Kempeitai. The building briefly became a Forces Centre for a Salvation Army services welfare Indian team. The YMCA later reclaimed their building and, after fundraising and refurbishment, resumed operations at
5561-432: The war died in captivity. Camp guards, often Korean and Formosan, were also abused by Kempeitai superiors. After the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, captured Allied airmen were accused of intentionally attacking civilians so were treated as war criminals rather than POWs, and were thus made subject to the death penalty. The U.S. airmen captured in China after the raid were subjected to harsh treatment and interrogation by
5644-520: The war heroine Elizabeth Choy . After the war, the Singapore government erected several memorials with some at the former massacre sites. In 1995, the former site of the old YMCA building was gazetted by the National Heritage Board as one of the eleven World War II sites of Singapore. The Kempeitai was formed as a semi-autonomous unit on 4 January 1881 by order of the Meiji Council of State. Its brief covered military discipline, law and order, intelligence and subversion as well as policing thoughts in
5727-422: The war, the main masterminds who were mainly responsible for the Sook Ching massacre, namely Tomoyuki Yamashita and Masanobu Tsuji were not on trial. Tsuji escaped and hid himself and Yamashita was on trial in Manila. Only seven officers, who followed orders to massacre and torture civilians and prisoners, were charged for their alleged role in Sook Ching in 1947: Kawamura and Oishi received death sentences ;
5810-454: Was also lost when it was subdivided into two smaller halls, losing the all the glamour and grandeur of the original building. The building was also extensively remodelled at this time, and the iconic Art Deco facade of the building was completely covered in various facade treatments deemed fashionable at the time, compromising the design of the original completely. By the time of its closure and subsequent redevelopment, these later alterations left
5893-515: Was appointed as Vice Minister of War in 1938 and the National Diet passed an anti-espionage act in 1939 which expanded its power, the Kempeitai became even more visible and active in Japan. From 1933 to 1941, the Soviet Union operated a spy ring in Tokyo led by Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki , which gathered intelligence on Japanese intentions in the Far East. By 1940 both the Kempeitai and Tokkō suspected an espionage ring operating in Japan, though neither organization shared information with
5976-483: Was arrested on 18 October. Both men were tried, and executed by hanging on 7 November 1944. The Kempeitai was disbanded after Japan's surrender in 1945, upon which its officers were ordered to disperse and vanish. Nonetheless, many of its former commanders were convicted of war crimes. The post-war Self-Defense Forces military police corps, the Keimutai , has no jurisdiction over civilians. The Kempeitai formed
6059-682: Was commonplace. While its suspects were nominally subject to civilian judicial proceedings, they were often denied habeas corpus (the right to have one's case tried before a court). The Kempeitai had close ties with the Tokumu Kikan military intelligence agency, which reported directly to the Imperial General Headquarters ; the organizations jointly carried out clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, espionage, fifth-column , HUMINT, internal security, propaganda, and public security activities. After Tojo
6142-588: Was designed by British architect Frank W Brewer. The Cathay Building consisted of the Cathay Cinema , a restaurant and the dance hall on the ground floor, as well as a roof garden above the cinema and a residential storey block with a penthouse . The first part of the Cathay Building was opened on 3 October 1939 with the 1,300-seat Cathay Cinema, the dance hall and the Cathay Restaurant. On 1 July 1940,
6225-489: Was divided into sections ( buntai ) commanded by a captain or lieutenant and 65 other ranks, in turn divided into detachments ( bunkentai ) commanded by a second lieutenant or warrant officer and 20 other ranks. Each detachment had sections for police ( keimu han ), administration ( naikin han ), and special duties ( tokumu han ). Yasen Kempeitai operated in forward areas as field units. Volunteer ethnic Kempeitai auxiliaries, established under laws in 1919 and 1937, were allowed
6308-479: Was made up of field officers ( sakan ), non-commissioned officers ( kashikan ) and superior privates ( jotohei ). When needed, first- and second- class privates were attached from other services. A Kempeitai headquarters was established under each army of the IJA , and commanded by a major general or colonel. Each headquarters controlled two to three field offices, each commanded by a lieutenant colonel, 22 field officers ( sakan ), and 352 other ranks. Each field office
6391-444: Was notorious for its brutality and role in suppressing dissent. The broad duties of the Kempeitai included maintaining military discipline, enforcing conscription laws, protecting vital military zones, and investigating crimes among soldiers. In occupied areas, it also issued travel permits , recruited labor, arrested resistance, requisitioned food and supplies, spread propaganda , and suppressed anti-Japanese sentiment. At its peak at
6474-569: Was notorious for its brutality in suppressing dissent, and was responsible for widespread abuses, including forced labor, torture, and executions. Torture methods were taught at Kempeitai schools, and included flogging , waterboarding , burning and scalding, administration of electric shocks, knee joint separation, suspension from ropes, kneeling on sharp edges, fingernail and toenail removal, and digit fracturing. The Kempeitai also ran Japan's network of prisoner of war (POW) and civilian internment camps, which treated detainees in violation of
6557-532: Was officially opened on 24 November 1984 on the former site of its old building. To keep alive the memory of the Japanese occupation and its lessons learnt for future generations, the Singapore government erected several memorials with some at the former massacre sites. Spearheaded and managed by the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry , the Civilian War Memorial is located in
6640-427: Was responsible for maintaining public order as a secret police, alongside the civilian Special Higher Police (in the 1920s there were mentions of a joint Tokkō–Kempeitai organization). The two organizations served as public censors and overseers of private morals and thought. All prisoners were presumed guilty on arrest; examinations of suspects took place in secret, and the use of torture to extract confessions of guilt
6723-417: Was tasked with the narrow role of enforcing the new army conscription legislation. Under laws passed in 1898 and 1928, the organization functioned in a General Affairs Section and a Service Section; the former took up the Kempeitai 's policy, personnel, discipline, and records functions, as well as political policing within the IJA and IJN parallel to the civilian Special Higher Police ( Tokkō ), while
6806-450: Was the first to show American and British films in Singapore. A new air-conditioning plant was installed in the building in 1948. The colonial government vacated the building to be returned to the Cathay Organisation. The Cathay Restaurant was officially reopened on 1 May 1948 under the management of Cathay Restaurant Ltd. On 9 January 1954, the building reopened as Cathay Hotel with 60 rooms and subsequently expanded to 170 rooms. It had
6889-589: Was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police that specialized clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, HUMINT, interrogate suspects who may be allied soldiers, spies or resistance movement, maintain security of prisoner of war camps, raiding to capture high-value targets, and providing security at important government and military locations at risk of being sabotaged roles within Japan and its occupied territories, and
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