Japan Identifies POWs Who Died in Detention by Cross-Checking Records
Overview
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will add the names and places of origin of 10 people newly identified in October 2026 to its website. It matched records of people who died in detention, provided by the Russian government and others, against Japanese records. Eight people were identified from the Siberia region and two from the Mongolia region. To date, 41,270 people have been identified in the Siberia and Mongolia regions and 1,058 in other regions.
Key points
- Ten people were newly identified in October 2026.
- A total of 41,270 people have been identified in the Siberia and Mongolia regions.
- A total of 1,058 people have been identified in other regions.
- The information is published so that bereaved families can confirm the circumstances of their relatives' deaths.
Overview
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has been working to identify individuals by cross-checking Japanese records against lists of people who died in detention and other materials provided by the Russian government and others since 1991. The provided materials include lists, medical records such as ward diaries and clinical charts, death certificates, and burial certificates.
The records list 57,061 people in the Siberia and Mongolia regions (55,403 in Siberia and 1,658 in Mongolia) and 1,325 in other regions. Some records overlap; the other-regions materials include records with no death or burial location listed, as well as records covering multiple regions.
Impact
To help bereaved families confirm the circumstances of their relatives' deaths, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has posted names, dates of death, and other information on its website since March 2007. This update will also add names in kanji and places of origin by prefecture.
Details
The 10 people newly identified comprise 8 from the Siberia region and 2 from the Mongolia region. Cumulative identifications by region are 39,718 in Siberia and 1,552 in Mongolia, for a total of 41,270. In other regions, the totals are 725 in Heungnam, 5 in Wonsan, 99 in Dalian, 31 in Manchuria, 196 in the Sakhalin region and elsewhere, and 2 in other areas, for a total of 1,058.
The additional information is shown in Document 1, and the publication includes names in kanji and places of origin by prefecture. Some of the provided materials overlap; some do not specify a death or burial location, while others cover multiple regions.