We are looking for the first contributor who can document the existence of one or more secret Chinese POW camps from which no American prisoners returned. Authenticity is judged by our senior advisors. We are also interested in the fate of Americans who were in those camps.
Status: based on declassified U.S. wartime intelligence reporting. The existence of the camps is reported and, in U.S. intelligence terms, “confirmed” during the war; it has not been established by Chinese records.
Almost all American prisoners returned at the end of the Korean War had been held in Chinese-operated camps located in North Korea. China, North Korea and the Soviet Union fought together against the United States, United Nations forces and South Korea during the conflict.
Held in China itself at various times were at most several dozen U.S. prisoners, the Pentagon now says, in only three cities: Beijing, Dandong and Shenyang. Of those, all were returned in 1953 except fifteen American aviators and one Canadian, held for a few years after the war, plus two CIA officers released in the 1970s.
Those figures do not address the classified CIA and Army intelligence documents released decades after the war.
Three kinds of camp
These wartime files state that Soviet advisors and Chinese POW officials decided to establish three types of camp for American prisoners.
The first type, “normal camps,” would be located in North Korea and disclosed to the United States.
The other two types — “reform” and “peace” camps — would be established in China for Americans with useful skills, or for those believed susceptible to communist indoctrination.
“Normal prisoner-of-war camps, all of which were in North Korea, detained prisoners whom the Communists will exchange. Prisoners in the peace and reform camps will not be exchanged,” reported a CIA report distributed July 17, 1952 (CIA-RDP82-00457R012800240005-2). The same report said the office running the camps was under a Soviet intelligence colonel; see The Soviets.
The peace and reform camps would not be acknowledged to the United States. They would be secret. No Americans would return from them.
And U.S. intelligence “confirmed” their existence during the war.
What the files contain
Based on information from numerous captured enemy prisoners and other intelligence, these declassified files include extensive detail on both “confirmed” and unconfirmed camps in China — including addresses of secret camps in locations other than Beijing, Dandong and Shenyang. They also report prisoners in those three cities who, if the reports are accurate, were clearly not among those released.
Some files include the Chinese names of officials at the secret camps, addresses of facilities, and transliterated names of alleged U.S. prisoners being held. Among the details are reports of American captives moved by train — shipments that match reports of Americans transported through China to the Soviet Union.
Harbin
Reports of American prisoners in secret facilities in Harbin, in northeastern China, began early in the war and increased over time.
A captured enemy soldier reported that about 80 Americans captured by the 338th Regiment were shipped to Harbin at the end of October 1950. The reason: “The CCF (Chinese) unit was unable to provide sufficient food to feed them,” after supplies were cut off by American airstrikes.
In June 1951, about 1,000 American and South Korean prisoners were reported seen on a train headed from Sinuiju — the North Korean city on the Yalu River border with China — to Harbin. This matches the place and general time described by another captured soldier who reported U.S. and other prisoners being shipped from Sinuiju to unknown locations in China.
A month later, platoon leader Liu Feng Chiang escorted fifty UN prisoners to Harbin, he told U.S. intelligence later that year. He spent about eight hours in the camp before returning to North Korea. A U.S. intelligence official described Liu as intelligent and cooperative.
Liu described the camp in great detail and drew a map. It was a processing facility, he said, where hundreds of new American and allied prisoners spent several weeks before being sent elsewhere. Though nominally under Chinese control, the Soviets really ran it and conducted the questioning of Americans. The prisoners lived in cubicles, each with two wooden bunks. They were given a physical examination and interrogated to determine the “possibility of their acceptance of SOVIET teachings.” Records were kept of each interrogation. For recreation there was ping pong, basketball and a weekly Soviet film. Liu said the men appeared underweight. After a racial incident, the white and Black prisoners had been separated.
U.S. intelligence was impressed with Liu, and his information was “believed to be reliable.”
If he really was reliable, this is a camp from which no Americans returned home.
Other cities
Secret camps were also reported in Liuzhou, Shanghai, Liaoyang, Guangzhou, Hankou and Changchun.
If these camps existed, there are likely surviving Chinese and Soviet officials who worked at them or knew about them, along with other witnesses and records.
Request for information
Please contact us if you can help with any of the following.
- Accounts of “peace” or “reform” camps in China that held Americans, including at Harbin, Liuzhou, Shanghai, Liaoyang, Guangzhou, Hankou or Changchun.
- Accounts from anyone who worked at, guarded or supplied such a facility, or their families.
- What happened to the Americans held there, including any photographs of them.
A 1952 CIA report said prisoners in the peace and reform camps would not be exchanged. A Chinese platoon leader described a Soviet-run processing camp at Harbin where Americans stayed for weeks before being sent on. Where were they sent? Were they kept in China, moved to the Soviet Union or killed?
We are looking for the first contributor whose documentation meets our advisors’ standards. Contact us
中文
朝鲜战争期间中国境内的秘密战俘营
我们希望找到第一位能够以可靠资料证明曾存在一处或多处“没有任何美国战俘生还返回”的中国秘密战俘营的人士（资料是否可采信，由本项目顾问判断）。我们同样关注曾被关押在这些营地的美国人的下落。
说明：以下内容依据美方战时情报的解密档案，美方情报当时称其“已证实”，但尚无中方记录可以印证。
五角大楼目前的说法是：在中国境内关押的美国战俘至多数十人，仅限北京、丹东、沈阳三地；除十五名美国飞行员和一名加拿大人在战后被关押数年、两名中情局人员于1970年代获释外，其余均已于1953年遣返。
但战时的中情局与美国陆军情报档案在数十年后解密，其中记载：苏联顾问与中方战俘管理人员决定为美国战俘设立三类营地。第一类是“普通营”，设在朝鲜境内，向美方公开。另外两类——“改造营”与“和平营”——设在中国境内，用于关押具备专业技能或被认为易于接受共产主义思想改造的美国人。
一份1952年的中情局报告写道：“普通战俘营全部设在朝鲜境内，关押共方准备交换的战俘。和平营与改造营中的战俘将不予交换。”
按照这些档案的记载，后两类营地不会向美方公开，关押其中的美国人也不会被遣返。
解密档案中有大量关于哈尔滨等地设施的报告。1951年7月，排长刘凤强（音）押送五十名联合国军战俘前往哈尔滨，当年晚些时候向美方情报人员作了详细描述并绘制了地图：那是一处转运设施，数百名新到的美方与盟军战俘在此停留数周后转往别处。虽名义上由中方管理，实际由苏方负责运作与审讯，审讯目的是判断战俘“接受苏联思想的可能性”。美方情报人员认为刘的情报“可信”。
其他报告还提及柳州、上海、辽阳、广州、汉口和长春。
我们希望了解：曾在此类设施工作、看守或供应物资的人员或其家人的回忆；当年公开出版物或地方志中的相关记载；中国境内美国战俘的老照片；这些美国人的下落。
安全提示：请勿向我们提供任何属于国家秘密或未公开的官方档案。我们欢迎个人和家庭的回忆、已公开出版的书报、地方志、家书和老照片。如您身在中国境内，请优先考虑自身安全。
请联系我们：contact@powinvestigativeproject.org