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00:01An illustrious complex infiltrated by a notorious gang.
00:07It spiraled into a nationwide FBI investigation.
00:11Become the city's most notorious gangster.
00:14A tranquil Japanese island with a poisonous legacy.
00:20Doctors would perform surgery on the victims
00:23to examine the biological effects in real time.
00:28And a top secret bunker raided in the name of freedom.
00:32If the Soviets had caught them doing this,
00:35they would have put him up against the wall and shot him.
00:47Near the famous Jersey Shore is a derelict facility
00:51tied to an extraordinary tale of corruption.
01:01What is this place doing gathering weeds just 15 minutes away
01:06from a glamorous destination like Atlantic City?
01:10It's got a tall brick tower, a large grandstand,
01:15and then this enormous overhanging roof.
01:17There are dozens of rows of stadium seats
01:20overlooking an overgrown mess.
01:21From the stands, you can barely see its full scale.
01:25It all looks over this oval track
01:29that is not really wide enough to be a racetrack for car racing,
01:35but clearly something went around here at a high rate of speed.
01:40It was a spectacle that attracted the rich and famous.
01:46This became known as Hollywood by the sea.
01:49It also had a dark side.
01:51It attracted criminal elements.
01:54And what unfolded was something straight out of a Scorsese film.
02:00And soon the FBI were closing its nets
02:02on one of the most notorious criminal gang leaders in the country.
02:08The investigation into the crimes that were committed here
02:12would ultimately lead to one of the biggest scandals
02:15in US law enforcement history.
02:25Maureen Bogdan worked here up until 2015.
02:31Oh, my God.
02:35When I see the structure now,
02:37and how quickly it declined,
02:40you remove the team, the staff, right?
02:43It's as if you remove the heart.
02:47Maureen began as a model and assistant.
02:50And over 20 years,
02:52worked herself up to become president of this exclusive club.
02:57It was a facility designed in the 1940s
03:00to scream glitz and glamour.
03:04Atlantic City was one of the top vacation destinations in America.
03:09It had the famous boardwalk, hotels, restaurants, entertainment.
03:14John B. Kelly, Sr., an Olympic rower
03:17and successful Philadelphia businessman,
03:20was trying to capitalize on Atlantic City's popularity.
03:24Construction got underway in 1945.
03:27A state-of-the-art clubhouse was erected,
03:31surrounded by restaurants, bars, and a barbershop.
03:36At its heart was the main draw,
03:39a unique horse racing track.
03:43It was a mile and an eighth long,
03:46a distance that the horse racing press
03:49soon started calling a smile and an eighth.
03:52It cost a massive three and a half million dollars,
03:56the equivalent to nearly 60 million in today's money.
03:59But high-profile help was on hand.
04:02In the post-war era,
04:05horse racing was a very glamorous sport.
04:09It attracted famous movie stars and celebrities.
04:13It was written up in every newspaper.
04:16July 22nd, 1946.
04:20The Atlantic City Racecourse was ready for action.
04:25It opened to a crowd of 25,000.
04:29Among them were shareholders Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope.
04:34Also in attendance that day was Kelly's young daughter.
04:38She would soon become a name the whole world knew,
04:41Grace Kelly.
04:44Nobody could have predicted the smash hit this place was going to be.
04:47The opening day betting came in at nearly 1.4 million dollars,
04:53recouping more than a third of the overall construction costs.
04:57Over the coming months and years,
04:59this track would become a real magnet
05:01for all kinds of celebrities and artists.
05:05There was Jerry Lewis, Willie Mays, and Sinatra's Rat Pack.
05:10Even President Eisenhower stopped by for a visit in 1965.
05:15The nation's millions of racing fans are an interesting breed
05:20with a vigorous enthusiasm far surpassing that
05:23of the followers of any other spectator sport.
05:31That's the jocks building where the jockeys would get ready for the race.
05:36That's the paddock walk ring where the horses are paraded before the race.
05:42And just underneath is a saddling stall and a tunnel
05:47that runs right through the building onto the racetrack surface itself.
05:52As the jockeys emerged from the tunnel,
05:55the tension would build upstairs.
05:58On a busy day with 100 tellers,
06:02you would have had lines about 10 deep.
06:05It would be a flurry of activity.
06:10Throughout history,
06:11gambling has always had a dark underbelly,
06:13and this place was no exception.
06:15Bear up!
06:17Way to a good start.
06:19By the early 70s, there was a guy named Anthony Chiula.
06:22He was known as Big Tony in classic mobster parlance.
06:26And he claims that he was able to fix races in almost every state in the country.
06:33At the Atlantic City racecourse,
06:36he could rely on support from the notorious Winter Hill Gang
06:40and one of its leaders,
06:43Whitey Bulger.
06:45This is a famous name to anyone who understands the history of organized crime.
06:50Whitey Bulger was this brutal crime lord in Boston.
06:55He had rivals executed.
06:57He was involved in all kinds of criminal enterprises.
07:01Big Tony went about bribing jockeys and drugging horses
07:05so that less favored horses would win.
07:10And that would give him and his cronies a huge payout.
07:14Big Tony could offer these jockeys as much as $10,000 to throw a race.
07:19And if the jockey resisted,
07:21he also had the muscle of the mob behind him.
07:26On a grand July 4th race in 1975,
07:29jockey Peter Fantini was a little too obvious in holding back his horse.
07:34It would set in motion a chain of events that would rock the racing world
07:39and expose corruption at the heart of the FBI.
07:48In 1975, jockey Peter Fantini was caught holding back his horse at the Atlantic City racecourse.
07:57It would expose a race-fixing mobster known as Big Tony.
08:04When Fantini threw that race, the feds got interested.
08:08They pulled him in for questioning.
08:10Pretty soon, he rolled over on Big Tony.
08:14Fantini admitted that Big Tony bribed him to throw the race.
08:17He even agreed to go to Big Tony's hotel wearing a wire to implicate him.
08:22So, Big Tony was given a choice.
08:24He could either snitch on his cohorts or he could face a very long sentence.
08:30His cooperation led to the conviction of over 40 people
08:34and implicated over half of the jockeys now in the Hall of Fame.
08:38His testimony included the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger
08:43and 20 other members of the Winter Hill Gang.
08:46In 1979, they were nearly all sent to prison for race-fixing.
08:53But mysteriously, Bulger was soon back on the streets
08:57and now he was the top boss.
09:00Of all the people investigated in this horse racing investigation,
09:04Whitey Bulger was never indicted or prosecuted.
09:07Why was he untouched?
09:10It turned out that Bulger was an FBI informant
09:15and he was being protected by a corrupt agent named John Connolly.
09:20Bulger would tip Connolly off about what various Boston mobsters were up to.
09:25So, he got rid of some of his competitors that way.
09:28Meanwhile, John Connolly was tipping Whitey Bulger off
09:31about what the FBI was up to.
09:34And who the other informants were.
09:36A lot of those informants wound up getting knocked off themselves.
09:41Connolly was later convicted for his role in one of these murders.
09:46He also tipped Bulger off when the FBI was finally about to arrest him in 1994.
09:54Whitey Bulger escaped, went underground, and he lived undercover for years.
10:01Meanwhile, the Atlantic City Racecourse began to see legal and cultural changes eat away at its allure and popularity.
10:10As casino gambling was legalized in New Jersey in the 1970s and they started building the big casinos in Atlantic
10:18City,
10:19traffic to the racetrack began to drop off.
10:22It continued to operate for decades, but was eventually abandoned in 2015.
10:34The future of this legendary racecourse remains uncertain.
10:38But the scandal that was sparked here in 1975 has left a damaging legacy.
10:45Whitey Bulger went on to become the FBI's public enemy number one and was only captured in 2011.
10:54In 2018, he was brutally beaten to death in prison.
10:59But the relationship between FBI agent John Connolly and Whitey Bulger was a scandal that the FBI took years to
11:08really own up to.
11:09To this day, it's a stain on the reputation of the agency.
11:18In Lithuania, 15 miles from the capital Vilnius, is a facility shrouded in secrecy.
11:31We're in these dense, misty forests that really feel like they're in the middle of nowhere.
11:37If you were hoping to hide away from prying eyes, this would be the perfect place.
11:44And then in this clearing, there's what appears to be an office building.
11:47But what's kind of strange is that there's this inner complex with this big fence around it.
11:53There's clearly more here than first meets the eye.
11:58There's an entrance to something buried in the hillside.
12:02Chosen for its isolation, this site was built with one purpose in mind.
12:08Controlling a nation.
12:11There's this really kind of strange mix here.
12:13There's racks of electronics, but then there's kitchens and a dining area.
12:18And it has all kinds of space for storage and for personnel,
12:23but also one room after another clearly fitted as a recording studio.
12:27This was the site of a daring raid, right under the noses of the KGB's special forces.
12:36If they were caught inside here, they'd be put up against a wall and shot.
12:40It was part of a larger struggle that culminated in a dramatic face-off that would shock the world.
12:47They leveled their rifles at unarmed protesters and plowed into the crowds in their tanks.
12:58Since 2008, Mindegas Vanegas has been researching this site,
13:04trying to piece together the rumors that swirl around it.
13:08Many knew it only as object number 523.
13:14People who walked here told me that they were just told to get to the bus,
13:19and they would drive to some kind of place.
13:22They didn't know where they are going.
13:24Nobody knows about the place where exactly it is.
13:28Built during the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania,
13:31this complex was designed to be used in the fallout from a nuclear strike.
13:37This is a decontamination zone.
13:40When somebody gets into the bunker from outside,
13:42he's washed and cleaned just to keep the contaminated materials out of this bunker.
13:51At the height of the Cold War, the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union
13:56really made nuclear conflict a real possibility.
14:01Constructed between 1983 and 1985,
14:05this is the Nemincine communications bunker,
14:10part of a network that would enable the Soviet government
14:13to take over the Lithuanian media and control the information war.
14:19This place was going to be one of the critical nodes
14:21where there would be a communications studio
14:25to transmit to the people of the region what was going on,
14:30or what the regime wanted them to think was going on.
14:33So that's a radio studio.
14:35You see the soundproofing walls all around.
14:39The triple glass.
14:41So one side was somebody sitting who was kind of speaking,
14:44and the other side was guys who worked with the sound.
14:49Inside, there were television and radio studio facilities,
14:53a full video and audio library,
14:56as well as offices for the journalists and technicians.
15:00Here you had everything getting produced and recorded.
15:03It would then send it along to another bunker,
15:06which was linked to the television tower in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
15:11In the event of war, a staff of Lithuanians would be rapidly replaced by KGB personnel,
15:17who would take control of the bunker.
15:22But as the Soviet Empire began to crumble,
15:25the threat of nuclear attack subsided,
15:28and the people of Lithuania sensed an opportunity.
15:33The Berlin Wall famously comes down at the end of 1989,
15:37and this triggers ferment all over the old Warsaw Pact,
15:40as all the old subject nations of Russia
15:44start clamoring for independence, declaring independence,
15:47and this is what happens in Lithuania.
15:49The country held multi-party elections for the first time since 1940.
15:56Radio and television footage of these events was beamed around the country.
16:01The footage also included uprisings taking place in other countries across the Soviet Union.
16:10On January 11, 1991, the Soviets had finally had enough.
16:15They launched a full-scale attack to retake control of the country.
16:20Part of their strategy was to cut the lines of communication
16:24that were fueling the independence movement.
16:27The bunker was now a priority target.
16:36In 1991, Soviet forces invaded Lithuania to crush a growing independence movement.
16:44The Nemincine communications bunker, just outside the capital city, Vilnius,
16:50was a top priority target.
16:53The Soviets were desperate to sever these lines of communication
16:57that were allowing the opposition to organize.
17:00On January 11, heavily armed special forces appeared out of the darkness and stormed the compound.
17:08And these elite secret police units called OMON, O-M-O-N,
17:12they go into the bunker to secure it to make sure the Lithuanians can't use its facilities.
17:18Two days after having secured this secret radio and television facility,
17:22Soviet forces turned to the capital's television building and tower.
17:28This is where the events unfolding across the country were being broadcast.
17:32This is where people were getting their information and understanding what was going on.
17:36The TV tower was broadcasting footage of the invasion and the Lithuanian independence movement.
17:44Soviet forces arrived to take control of the narrative, but found crowds of citizens had surrounded the buildings.
17:51Ready to defend their freedoms at any cost, it escalated into a deadly face-off.
17:59The Soviets finally ran their tanks into these human shields.
18:04They killed 14 people and they wound more than 600 at the TV tower and other buildings around the city.
18:12You can actually see footage of the Soviet soldiers breaking into the studio and cutting the broadcaster's feed.
18:25With the bunker and tower now under Soviet control, TVs and radios across the nation fell silent.
18:35In the coming days, pro-independence journalists and broadcasters scrambled to continue covering the story by any means necessary.
18:46Lithuanian people needed to know that our government is still working and we are not going to give up and
18:52give everything to Russian soldiers.
18:54Across the city, makeshift offices and studios were set up, but there was a real shortage of equipment needed to
19:01continue broadcasting.
19:03This closely guarded bunker held that much needed equipment.
19:09There was one guy who kind of built this bunker. He was looking after all the building site and he
19:16knew the bunker very well.
19:17So he decided to help Lithuanian journalists.
19:21One thing that the Soviet guards didn't know was that there was a tunnel connecting the bunker to apartments nearby.
19:29This man put his life on the line and decided to sneak in past the guards.
19:36So he used this long corridor and he was taking all the equipment silently and bringing all that stuff to
19:44Lithuanian journalists.
19:46And obviously if the Soviets had caught them doing this, they would have put him up against the wall and
19:51shot him.
19:52The man's bravery paid off. Journalists took this smuggled equipment and got to work.
19:57Images of the independence movement were shared around the world.
20:02International pressure mounted and after several more months, the Soviets eventually backed down.
20:10It would take until September 1991 for the Soviet Union to recognize Lithuanian independence.
20:16With that, they withdrew their troops from the capital and abandoned the bunker.
20:22So the bunker was left without radio equipment and the cameras were stolen.
20:27And after the Russian soldiers left, this bunker was left without any purpose and use.
20:41Today, it's been put to a rather surprising new use.
20:46The bunker is host to a sort of simulator of what it was like to live under Soviet control.
20:52It's a reminder that many of the freedoms we hold dear are often more on a knife edge than we
21:00would like to believe.
21:07In midtown Detroit, two unusual structures straddle an otherwise typical suburban street.
21:20They seem to be a sort of a conflation of an industrial building with something else more innate.
21:27One is low and almost fortress-like, and the other is a mix of styles.
21:33It's almost as if you sandwiched a historic building in between two factories.
21:38It's an intriguing mix.
21:40They may look different, but they're very much connected.
21:46Inside the oldest-looking structure, there's no mistaking what this was.
21:52As we enter, we see the stained glass windows, the pews, but no parishioners.
21:59And we see a stage and an altar, but no priest.
22:03This church and the surrounding complex was more than a place of worship.
22:08This building did not only provide a foundation for the civil rights movement, but many might argue that it was
22:16here that the first speech around black power was given.
22:21It would also produce some of Motown's most iconic performers.
22:27It was a famous center of gospel music, and it gave rise to one of the most successful vocal groups
22:33of all time.
22:44After the First World War, there was an influx of white southerners drawn to cities like Detroit because of the
22:51high wages in the auto industry.
22:55In 1921, a Baptist church was formed in this building to cater to some of those new southern residents.
23:01It was called Temple Baptist Church, and it had an all-white, segregated congregation.
23:06But a bigger migration was already underway, and when the church was put up for sale, a cultural shift would
23:13send it in a new direction.
23:16Motivated by the desire to escape racial violence and pursue greater economic opportunity, there was an exodus of black Americans
23:24from the Jim Crow South.
23:26The need for industrial workers in Detroit and other northern cities drew millions of African Americans from the South.
23:33It's part of what became known as the Great Migration.
23:39In 1952, an all-black church that was really trying to cater to these southern transplants decided to make this
23:47place their home.
23:49It was transformed into the King Solomon Baptist Church.
23:56Current Reverend Charles Williams II knows all too well the scale of the challenge they were taking on.
24:04When King Solomon, one of the first black churches on a major street in the city of Detroit, purchased Temple
24:10Baptist Church, which was originally a white separatist church,
24:14they purchased just 150,000 square feet.
24:19That meant two buildings, one auditorium building and one education building with recreation as well as a sanctuary.
24:28This was really more than a church.
24:32It was really the heart of the community, and it's where so many of the world's finest performers graced the
24:40stage.
24:40So this facility served as an opportunity and a place for gospel concerts.
24:48Everybody played King Solomon.
24:50If you were Lou Rawl, Sam Cooke, who we all know and love, played King Solomon.
24:57And then, of course, we're strategically placed right around the corner from Motown Museum.
25:03With its 5,000-seater auditorium, it became a regular stop for artists hitting the so-called Chitlin Circuit,
25:11a collection of key venues they would play on their tours across America.
25:17This was one of the places on that Chitlin Circuit that all of the gospel artists wanted to play,
25:24because it was the largest facility where you could have a real knock-down concert.
25:31Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, was actually sitting here in the audience when he heard three young, talented
25:39women do an audition.
25:42And their names were Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Diana Ross.
25:47This audition ultimately landed them a deal with Motown Records, but there was just one condition.
25:54Gordy insisted the group change their name.
25:57And the Supremes were born.
26:06The size of the church ensured that it served not only as a community center, but also a hub of
26:13political activism.
26:14Because of our classrooms across the street and the auditorium right next door, this became one of the convention centers
26:24for, quite frankly, Black America.
26:28And this put it right at the center of a rapidly unfolding civil rights movement that was really at a
26:34critical juncture.
26:371963 marked the centenary of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, ending legal slavery in America.
26:46To mark the occasion, the church hosted the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and the keynote speaker was Dr. Martin Luther
26:54King, Jr.
26:55Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
26:58His speech a week earlier, during the March on Washington, meant the eyes of the world were now on the
27:04church where 10,000 people had gathered.
27:10Coming so soon after his I Have a Dream speech, you can imagine the atmosphere. It must have been electric.
27:17This was a pivotal speech, made at a time when America was at the crossroads.
27:23This place provided the foundation for the next phase of that movement, a movement towards direct action and away from
27:34just the theorizing about equality.
27:37Just a few weeks later, another speaker came here and he offered a stark alternative to MLK's vision.
27:46On November 10th, 1963, Malcolm X delivered a seminal speech. It would inspire many in the burgeoning Black Power movement.
27:58He was heavily critical of the non-violent civil rights movement that was put forward by the likes of MLK,
28:06and he promoted revolution with violence if necessary.
28:12But his fiery rhetoric didn't go down well with everyone connected to the church.
28:18Some ministers felt it might harm the civil rights cause.
28:23So, when he was scheduled to make another appearance in April of the following year, the church actually tried to
28:29prevent him from coming back.
28:32Since Malcolm X had already paid for and advertised the speech, he took the matter to court and prevailed.
28:40When he arrived in April 1964, a presidential election was looming.
28:46But many Black Americans were still being denied their right to vote.
28:51We are in the balcony of a place where individuals watched Malcolm X give the speech ballot or the bullet.
29:02His message was clear.
29:04If Black Americans were prevented from voting in the upcoming election, they should take up arms.
29:17In 1964, the King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit was a hub of civil rights activism.
29:25With the presidential election just months away, Malcolm X delivered a speech in the church's auditorium.
29:32He declared that if Black Americans were denied their right to vote, they were no longer willing to turn the
29:40other cheek.
29:41So, 1964 was the year of the ballot or the bullet.
29:47Malcolm's speech, the ballot or the bullet, was intended to light a fire under resistance.
29:55He was saying that if the peaceful civil rights movement doesn't work, then armed resistance is going to be necessary.
30:06And in this sense, his speech was extraordinarily dangerous to the powers that be.
30:15The following year, he was assassinated.
30:19Speculation over who was behind the hit has been rife ever since.
30:23And in 2024, his family sued the CIA, FBI, and NYPD over their involvement in his murder.
30:33In death, Malcolm X's teachings and speeches continued to inspire a growing Black Power movement,
30:39which was further fueled by the assassination of Dr. King in 1968.
30:46Riots swept through cities like Detroit, which at this time was suffering economic decline, driven by a collapsing motor industry.
30:56The city's population shrank by 60% between 1950 and 2010, and the church's congregation shrank with it.
31:05Eventually, they could no longer afford the bills, and so they moved into the auditorium, leaving the church building to
31:11decay.
31:16I'm honored, and I've never gotten used to the fact that I stand in the same place where Malcolm stood,
31:25where Dr. King stood.
31:27The old church building remains closed, but services and community work continue to take place in the auditorium.
31:37As we're getting back to our roots, we're utilizing the space for the community, a place where if you need
31:45a meal, you can get a meal.
31:47We want to continue on that legacy, continue on their tradition, and that's why the doors of the church swing
31:54open today.
32:02On the Japanese coast, 43 miles from Hiroshima, is an island famed for its nature.
32:14This island is one of 3,000 in this beautiful region, and it really is tiny, less than half a
32:20square mile in size.
32:22The first thing you notice is rabbits. They are everywhere. Where did they all come from?
32:30A closer examination reveals a number of strange structures, camouflaged in the rock.
32:37At the top of the hill, we find this big stone expanse, sunken into the land, almost like an arena.
32:44Underneath, we see arched brick structures and domed rooms, perhaps for storage.
32:51What was produced at this facility has left a toxic legacy.
32:57So for decades, no trees could grow here because of what was buried in the soil.
33:02What happened here was so secret, the island was erased from the map.
33:13Local historian Naoto Shinmoto first visited this site as a young boy.
33:23I was in year 6 of primary school the first time I came to Okunoshima.
33:29As a local, I have complicated feelings about it.
33:38Like many who grew up nearby, Shinmoto was aware that the island had an unsettling past.
33:45It was a violation of international law.
33:48So there was a strong gag order. It had to be kept a secret.
33:55This island was once a key part of Japan's defense.
34:00In the early 1900s, a rapidly modernizing Japan began fortifying the region.
34:07On this island, three gun batteries were constructed as part of the Geyo Fortress.
34:13By the 1920s, the gun emplacements were outdated and the fortress was retired.
34:18But the Japanese Imperial Army would find a chilling new use for the island.
34:26They were inspired by technological developments on the European battlefields during World War I.
34:33April 22nd, 1915.
34:36The German Army releases clouds of poisonous chlorine against British and Canadian soldiers at the Second Battle of Idna.
34:45Forcing the Allied troops from their trench positions.
34:50And this was a new weapon. No one was prepared for it. No one had gas masks. So it caused
34:55quite a panic.
34:56The physical effects of gas were excruciating.
34:59But it also proved to be a devastating psychological weapon.
35:03Because of the horrific injuries and indiscriminate nature of poison gas, the Geneva Protocols of 1925 banned its deployment in
35:15warfare.
35:17There were a lot of loopholes.
35:19It didn't ban the development of the technology and it didn't ban the stockpiling of supplies either.
35:25A new Japanese leader would soon take advantage of these loopholes.
35:30As Emperor Hirohito took the throne in 1926, an increased focus on militarism took hold of the country.
35:38The old Gale Fortress was converted and expanded for industrial scale production of a product that would give the island
35:47its name.
35:47This place was once known as Poison Gas Island.
35:52In choosing this island as the site of a toxic gas factory, the Japanese military was finding a careful balance
36:02between a site remote enough that they could conceal it, but close enough that they could get workers to it.
36:10Only a 15 minute commute from the mainland, Okunoshima ticked all the boxes.
36:18Construction began in 1927 and the factory started operating in 1929.
36:25This building was to store poison gas.
36:28100 tons was stored in each tank and there were six of them.
36:36It was soon producing a range of terrible poisons.
36:40Mustard gas, chlorine, vomiting and sneezing agents and hydrogen cyanide.
36:46The production and use of poison gas was a violation of international law.
36:52So for that reason it became a secret island.
36:55It was erased from the maps.
37:00When Japan launched a full scale invasion of China in 1937, they unleashed a reign of terror.
37:08Chinese troops were pounded with poison gas shells, had no gas protective clothing and couldn't retaliate with gas of their
37:16own.
37:17During the Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese attacked the Chinese with gas 13 separate times.
37:24The Imperial Japanese Army quickly occupied huge swaths of Northwest China.
37:31In Manchuria, the use of chemical weapons would reach disturbing new heights.
37:37Under the highly secretive program Unit 731.
37:47In the late 1930s, poison gas was being produced at a factory on Okunoshima Island.
37:54The Japanese Army used it to brutal effect against both soldiers and civilians during the invasion of China.
38:00It was also utilized by a secretive unit masterminded by the Army's Surgeon General, Shiro Ishii.
38:08Shiro Ishii was trying to develop new techniques of chemical and bacteriological warfare.
38:15The gas developed on Okunoshima was used by the infamous Unit 731, which was a group that conducted human experiments.
38:27Inside Unit 731, more than 3,000 Chinese prisoners of war and civilians were subjected to disgusting experiments.
38:35Gas chambers were set up to test subjects with blister agents and nerve gas.
38:42Doctors would perform surgery on the victims to examine the biological effects in real time.
38:49As the tide of war turned against Japan in 1943, they faced an acute shortage of labor and materials.
38:57Back on the island, they drafted in school girls to fill the gap.
39:03Girls as young as 14 were made to produce poison gas.
39:08After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, they tried to hide the evidence by dumping the gas.
39:14Large quantities were quietly disposed of in China.
39:19Most of the factory complex was demolished and its employees left to suffer alone as the government tried to cover
39:26up the program.
39:29And it's thought that nearly 7,000 factory workers were left with lung disease, cancers and other debilitating conditions.
39:37The use of chemical weapons wasn't even mentioned in the Tokyo war crimes tribunals, nor were the doctors who were
39:46part of Unit 731.
39:49In the 1990s, the Japanese government was finally forced to confront the terrible legacy of its chemical weapons program.
39:58Leaks from the gas dumps in China began causing injury and even deaths among innocent civilians.
40:05In the 2000s, Japan paid compensation to some of the victims and built a facility to dispose of abandoned mustard
40:14gas shells.
40:15But many still live with long-term conditions today.
40:20As for the rabbits, their origin remains a mystery.
40:25There were around 200 rabbits, and they used those rabbits in the poison gas experiments.
40:32But at the end of the war, they were disposed of, so the records say that the rabbits of today
40:38are different.
40:47Today, Okunoshima is a place for people to come and enjoy nature.
40:51But the island does not shy away from this dark chapter.
40:58The fact we made poison gas needs to be known.
41:01In that sense, I believe this island is important.
41:06A museum was opened on the island to chart and educate about its dark past.
41:15Now, it's called Rabbit Island, and people come from all over the world to enjoy its atmosphere.
41:22Well, you know.
41:23To be continued.
41:23Through you and all.
41:24You know.
41:27In this video, it was great.
41:28But, you know, we got back.
41:28And, it was very common.
41:29As for you to say, we were about to say, we want to get back to it.
41:29You know, we got back because.
41:29I don't know.
41:30But then, we got back.
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