Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive
ANNOTATION
This is a survey filled out by an American missionary named Harry Baylor Taylor, who returned from China to the U.S. on a ship embarking from Shanghai port on September 19, 1943. This survey was answered and submitted to the U.S. government’s Office of Strategy Services (OSS) on November 8, 1943.
OSS was an American intelligence agency established during WWII in June 1942. Its main tasks were to conduct espionage activities, collect information, prevent espionage, assess and censor information, and conduct psychological warfare with black propaganda during the war. Later, it became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Office of War Information (OWI), which was established around the similar time period, and OSS, took charge of gathering information in China-Burma-India theaters (CBI). OSS Headquarters were in Washington D.C. and had branches in India (New Delhi and Calcutta) and China (Kunming and Xian) which took charge of activities regarding Korea.
American intelligence agencies including the OSS considered the issue of “comfort women” a useful tool in psychological warfare to degrade the Japanese military’s morale, as well as to provoke anti-Japanese sentiment among the local population under Japanese occupation. They believed that while the Japanese military mobilized “comfort women” to the frontline to boost soldiers’ morale, there could be internal complaints and conflicts regarding the usage of comfort stations or distribution of the service. Also, informing the local people that the Japanese military were forcibly mobilizing local women in the occupied territories was a way to highlight Japan’s cruelty and to provoke anger among the local population which could result in the rift in Japan’s colonial rule.
For these purposes, OSS tried to collect information from the Japanese POWs as to the existence of the comfort stations, their experiences visiting them, the number and nationalities of “comfort women,'' and the relationship between the soldiers’ morale related to the “comfort stations.” Extensive information was gathered to illustrate how “comfort women” had been mobilized in cases of Japanese military violence and insults against local women during the interrogation of the civilians in the battlefields. In this context, Americans who had stayed in East Asia while the region was occupied by the Japanese military were considered as useful informants by the OSS. When possible, the OSS collected information through surveys from these Americans who returned to the U.S.
Taylor stayed in Anking (or Anqing), China as a missionary and physician. The information that he witnessed regarding “comfort women'' in China is found in section ‘B-9, Incidence of Disease’ on p. 11. Taylor said that the cases of venereal disease had increased in Anqing since the occupation of the area by Japan, due to the comfort stations the Japanese military permitted there. Taylor also explained that comfort stations were part of the Japanese military structure and emphasized that their existence was confirmed. His statement indicates the Japanese military maintained comfort stations as part of their military system in Anqing, China and that local residents were also aware of this fact.
Contributors
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] City of Seoul, Women and Family Policy Affairs Office 2011~
[Organization] National Archives and Records Administration 1934~
#OSS #management #survey #Taylor #missionary #Anking #Anqing #China #venereal_disease
LESSON PLAN
Note to teachers:
1. The discussion questions below are designed based on the original document, not the annotation. Teachers are recommended to use the primary document in teaching, instead of the annotation. However, the annotation provides useful background information for teachers when they prepare for the lesson.
2. The scaffolded questions below were designed based on section page 1 and B-9 Incidence of Disease on p. 11. For the convenience of teaching, teachers will find the transcript of this section below:
B-9. Incidence of Disease. Since the J. occupation of Anking, there has been a great increase of malaria due to the fleeing of the city people to the country where they are more exposed to mosquitoes. The increase is partly due now to scarcity of quinine.
Increase of cholera, dysentery and typhoid fever is due to war disruption of usual sanitation and decreased resistance of population from undernourishment. Increase of tuberculosis is largely due to undernourishment and overcrowding.
There has been a (worked?) increase of venereal disease since the J. occupation due to wide open brothels, licensed by the J. increase of worthless money in the hands of the farmers and merchants and also to the example of the J. themselves. Brothels being a part of the J. army organization (This I know to be a fact!) Chancroid, lymphogranuloma venereum, gonorrhea and syphilis are very prevalent.
Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the document:
- Anking: or Anqing, a city in Anhui province, in southeast China
- embarkation: the action of passengers and crew getting aboard a ship or aircraft
- quinine: medication that treats malaria
- venereal disease: sexually transmitted disease
After reading the first page, discuss the following scaffolded questions:
1. What kind of document is this?
2. What are the physical characteristics of this document?
a. Is it handwritten or typed?
b. Are there any marks? If so, what are they?
c. Any other physical features do you notice?
d. Does any of these physical characteristics interest you?
3. Who filled out this questionnaire? What's his nationality? What was his occupation?
4. At what setting did he fill out the questionnaire? How do you know?
5. Who was the targeted audience?
6. When was it created?
After reading the B-9 section:
7. Use Google Maps to locate Anqing. How far is it from Shanghai?
8. What diseases increased after the Japanese occupation in Anqing?
9. When talking about the comfort station, Dr. Taylor said, "This I know to be a fact!" What does this sentence imply?
If time allowed, teachers may want to cite some comfort station regulations from US-2. Those regulations were set to prevent venereal diseases. However, based on Taylor's statement in this document, it is clear that those regulations were not followed.
* This lesson plan was designed by Jing Williams, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at University of South Dakota.