Former Site of the Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp

Former Site of the Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp

The Former Site of the Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, located at No. 30-3, Ditang Street, Dadong District, Shenyang City. It was a facility established by Japan during World War II in Shenyang specifically to detain Allied prisoners captured in the Pacific War, then known as the "Fengtian Prisoner-of-War Camp."

"Over 2,000 prisoners from six countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and France—were held here," according to Jing Xiaoguang, director of the September 18th History Museum in Shenyang. The Fengtian Prisoner-of-War Camp was the central POW camp established by the Japanese army in Northeast China and is the most intact among the 18 prisoner-of-war camps set up by Japan on its home soil and in overseas occupied territories during World War II.

The camp covered an area of nearly 50,000 square meters. Reporters observed that the currently preserved structures mainly include Barrack No. 1 and auxiliary buildings,

the Japanese guards' office, the camp hospital, a water tower, and the chimney of the boiler room. The Shenyang municipal government has also built a new exhibition hall and a "Wall of Remembrance for the Deceased" next to the site. The wall is inscribed with the names of over 200 Allied soldiers who died in the camp.

After years of renovation and construction, the Former Site of the Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp officially opened to the public on May 18 and will be free of charge. Officials from the U.S. and Russian consulates general in Shenyang, as the first visitors to the exhibition hall, revisited that chapter of history.

In May 2013, the State Council (State Council Document [2013] No. 13) designated the Former Site of the Shenyang World War II Allied Prisoners of War Camp as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Protected Area: East to the red line of the west side of Ditang Street; south, west, and north to within 6 meters outside the foundation walls of the protected cultural relics buildings.

Construction Control Zone: Outside the protected area, south to the red line of the north side of Rui Guang Bei Lane on Pangjiang Street, west to the red line of the east side of Qingguang Street, and north to within 9 meters of the south side of the planned road red line, forming a Class I Construction Control Zone.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Liaoning Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units