World War II Prison: An Essential Entry in Any Nauru Tourist Guide
Nauru tourist guides might not be as well-known as their New York or London counterparts, but they’re a lifeline for visitors keen to learn more about the island’s history. Looming large in most Nauru tourist guides is an all-but-inevitable entry on the harsh WWII prison run by Japanese forces from 1942-1945.
The harsh facility has long fascinated visitors searching for insights into Japan’s often brutal occupation which put Nauru’s very survival at risk. At the height of WWII, Japanese forces deported more than 1,000 Nauruans to forced labour camps on other Pacific islands in an historic threat to the island’s population.
Some of the Nauruans who managed to evade deportation found themselves incarcerated in the isolated prison which had a feared reputation on the island. Considered one of the things Nauru is most famous for (at least among visitors), the prison is well-concealed in thick foliage atop a rugged slope on the island.
With no signage indicating its location, visitors must rely on a local guide – or their own wit and guile – to find the abandoned prison which once housed so much misery. The few tourists who make it to the vicinity must traverse a narrow path, swallowed by jungle, before a series of catacomb-like structures emerge. Hollowed out by decades of wind and rain, the walls of the prison cells still stand, choked with thick vines and vegetation. The prison is a forlorn sight, shrouded in seclusion with only buzzing mosquitos to keep the ghosts of the inmates company.