A site of the “Death Railway” on the Thai side of the border seen here in 2005. ANANDA/WIKICOMMONS
The Thailand-Burma “Death Railway,” whose construction during World War II took place under grueling and often fatal conditions, has been the subject of films, memoirs and, as recently as 2014, a Booker Prize-award winning novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Clearly, it’s one of those historical episodes that, like the sinking of the Titanic, continue to fascinate and horrify for the scope of suffering and the heroism accompanying it.
Now, a Myanmar company is hoping to draw on that fascination by developing the railway site in Mon State’s Thanbyuzayat Township. In 1943, the invading Japanese ordered tracks laid from Thanbyuzayat to Kachanaburi province in Thailand. The resulting 258 miles came to be known at the Death Railway as thousands of POWs died along with an estimated 100,000 Southeast Asian labourers.
Tourists can already visit a memorial and museum in Kachanaburi, and Min Binyar San, the owner of Tala Mon company, wants to replicate that success on the Myanmar side of the border, he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“Recently, I’ve been collecting materials for the museum, some of which have been provided by the government, and I am encouraging people who have memorabilia from World War II to contribute,” he said. “There will be old paintings, books, clothes and other related artifacts, some of which will come from materials stored by the Ministry of Rail Transport … we will renovate the old rail line and we will maintain the old steam engine.”
The plan is ambitious. In addition to the standard museum, the site will include a hotel, a shopping mall and even, weirdly, playground facilities. Binyar San is investing $3 million and told the magazine that the project should be finished sometime in 2017.
