War Crimes * POWs * Reconciliation * Death Railway Tourism

War Crimes

Japanese officer on trial for war crimes (although not for involvement with the Death Railway) Japan Reference Page

After the war, many Japanese who had been involved with the building of the Burma-Siam railway were tried as war criminals. A large portion were convicted. Some were executed, but many others received only prison terms. Some of the people sentenced to death later had their sentences commuted to fifteen years in prison or less.

POWs
War Crimes * POWs * Reconciliation * Death Railway Tourism

The hard labor and deprivation endured by the POWs while working on the Burma-Siam Railway have resulted in long term physical and mental consequences:

• ex-POWs of the Death Railway suffered from chronic depression and anxiety more often than soldiers who were not taken prisoner.
• ex-POWs of the Death Railway also had higher rates of morbidity after the war than POWs interred in Europe, where the conditions were better.
• "It is obvious that many prisoners of war will suffer for the remainder of their lives from disabilities related to their grim ordeal" - most renowned doctor among the ex-POWs (Kinvig)

Reconciliation
War Crimes * POWs * Reconciliation * Death Railway Tourism

There is a certain reluctance on the part of both sides to make conciliatory gestures:

Japanese engineer on the Burma-Siam Railway: “Quite a few of our group don’t want to pick at old wounds … They never reveal anything about their trials and are ready to take all their memories to their graves … We have to think of the families of the ones who were executed, too. We always end up talking about war criminal issues like ‘victors’ justice.’ I think it’s pretty damn selfish. We can’t solve anything just by saying the victors tried the defeated. We first have to talk about the wrongs we committed.” (Cook)

British POW: “I had never intended to re-live those days in detail … the flavour is still too bitter to wish to linger over it” (Searle)

The quotes above typify the views prevalent among the two sides in the past. Recently, however, the ex-POWs and their Japanese captors have begun to meet in an attempt to humanize their former enemy and to offer their forgiveness. These meetings may be formerly arranged by the veterans groups on both sides, but often an ex-POW will seek out his captor on his own and arrange a private meeting. These meetings are viewed as cathartic by their attendees; but there is still, to a certain extent, resistance on the part of the POWs to forgive and on the part of the Japanese involved to acknowledge the past.

Death Railway Tourism
War Crimes * POWs * Reconciliation * Death Railway Tourism

The Death Railway is today one of the largest tourist attractions in Thailand, largely because of the movie " The Bridge on the River Kwai." Although no bridge was built over the River Kwai along the Burma-Siam railway, the Thai government has moved a bridge built by the POWs over the Kwae Mae Khlong River just down stream, below its junction with the Kwai river.

The Bridge on the River Kwai - formerly over the Kwae Mae Khlong River. Day Trips from Hua Hin

This is a good example of both the benefits and the problems of tourism. Tourism is a major motive behind the preservation of the historic sites along the Burma-Siam railway; however, as in this case, the quest to profit from tourism has led to the distortion of history.

Other sites have become popular as well:

Marker along the Death Railway. BBC Online

POW cemetery containing some of the men killed building the Death Railway.
incob.biotec.or.th/ excursion.html

There is obvious irony in the fact that people now take pleasure in visiting, and pay to visit, sites whose builders would have given anything not to be there. The fact that this cemetery has become a tourist site is in some sense troubling. Is it okay to profit off of the suffering of other people, and should a sacred place such as a cemetery ever be commercialized? On the other hand, tourists to the Death Railway take away with them a sense of the hardships endured by the POWs. As long as this is kept in the forefront, tourism is for the most part beneficial, since more people are becoming aware of the POWs' stories.

Links to Tourism Sites:
Bridge Over the River Kwai Travel Guide
River Kwai Village Hotel
The Hua Hin Pages

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This exhibit was researched and designed by Hill Davis.

This exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University during the spring semester 2002.

The material and opinions are those of their respective authors and do not represent the views of the University or the Department of History.