The Asian Auschwitz

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Recommended: Treatment in Japanese internment camps during World War 2

“’How many logs did you chop today?’ People would answer ‘Two logs were cut at my section’, or ‘No logs were cut at my section’” (Simkin). This conversation was not a discussion on the productivity of a day’s work of cutting wood, no this was far worse. The discussion between these men was about the vivisection of live human subjects. Here was a daily part of the lives of workers and researchers of the Japanese Covert Biological and Chemical Warfare Research Department Unit, or better known as Unit 731, and the atrocities committed by the “Asian Auschwitz”. So what happened to the leaders and men of Unit 731? If they surrendered to the Americans after World War II, then they were granted immunity and allowed to live their lives free without any worry of prosecution for their crimes on humanity. So the question is, was it correct of the United States to grant immunity to human experimenters of Unit 731 and cover-up all knowledge of Unit 731’s existence?

General Shiro Ishii formed Unit 731 in 1940 after Ishii received authorization by Emperor Showa, or better known as Emperor Hirohito, in 1936 to expand Unit Togo, a secret research unit led by Ishii. The location given to Ishii by Hirohito was Harbin, Manchukuo, which is now northeast China. This location was given to Ishii so that he could choose and receive as many test subjects, as he needed. These test subjects were to be taken from neighboring towns and villages, and if the subjects were not cooperative with the Kempeitai, military police, then the subject’s family would be murdered in front of them and then forcibly moved to the research facility. As quoted in the introduction by a former researcher named Yoshio Shinozuka, the test subjects were called logs to dehumanize th...

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...erimentation." reducetheburden.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

Simkin, Mark . "Foreign Correspondent - 22/04/2003: Japan - Unit 731 ." ABC.net.au. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

"The One Who Does Not...." Auschwitz and Birkenau Homesite. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. .

"Unit 731 ." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

White, David, and Daniel P. Murphy. "The Doctors' Trial - World War II." Netplaces. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .

Working, Russell. "The Trial of Unit 731." The Japan Times Online. N.p., 1 June 2001. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. .

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