TOKYO — Many acts of sexual violence against women during World War II have been shrouded in darkness. But one incident from 80 years ago in Manchuria — in what was then the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo — has come to light thanks to the courage of victims who broke their silence and allowed their story to be turned into a documentary.
The film “Kurokawa no onnatachi” (Women of Kurokawa) is a record of 15 young unmarried Japanese women who were given as “sexual offerings” in the final days of the war to the invading Soviet military by male village elders in exchange for protection of the entire community.
