In 1937 some of the most horrific and unforgivable acts in all of mankind’s history were committed. During the Second Sino-Japanese War an ultra-secretive chemical and bio warfare research unit was established by the Imperial Japanese Army. This special unit worked in a facility that was passed off to the public as a water purification and epidemic prevention facility and was kept secret by some of the most powerful Japanese officials of the time. After World War II the unit was shut down and the members of the unit were released without punishment in exchange for the data of their experiments. Although some of the data provided by unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely and unjustifiably cruel, and the punishment was not near severe enough to prevent such actions from happening in the future.
In 1932 the chief medical officer of the Japanese Army, Shiro Ishii was put in charge of the Army Epidemic Prevention research Laboratory. Soon after Shiro Ishii was placed in charge of the research laboratory he formed a top secret group known as unit 731 for the purpose of developing chemical and biological weapons. Shiro Ishii justified the unit by arguing that the western powers also had biological and chemical warfare programs, and that Japan desperately needed research in the field. The unit began in a small research facility called the Zhongma fortress but was quickly relocated to Pingfang, Manchuria where they set up a much larger facility which “rivaled Auschwitz in size”.
Shiro Ishii wasted no time collecting test subjects for use in his experiments and quickly gathered 500-600 men, women, and children. The test subjects were a mix of people that included prisoners of war, political...
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...hough many indications pointed to Masaji Kitano being involved, it was never proven.
In conclusion, the subject of Unit 731 is highly controversial due to the immunity granted to the scientists by the U.S. Most people feel that the members of unit 731 should have been punished much more extensively. It is also intensely debated whether or not the information gained from the brutal experiments was beneficial, or simply a tragic loss of life. In many circles today it is viewed as worse than the holocaust due to the incredibly sick nature of the experiments performed, and the relatively low amount of scientific knowledge gained as a result. Although some of the data provided by unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely and unjustifiably cruel, and the punishment was not near severe enough to prevent such actions from happening in the future.
After observing the documentary “Acres of Skin”, I realized that we as humans can be cruel. The torturing in the Holmesburg prison held from 1950s until about 1970s and the terrible things that happened in this video that took place long before I was born is was hard to watch. Dr. Albert Kligman came to Holmesburg originally to look at. Other experiments used the inmates as test subjects for far more hazardous even potentially lethal, substances such as radioactive isotopes dioxin, and chemical warfare agent’s prisoners undergo experiments. Leotus Jones and David Price are some of the former prisoners that were involved in the human experimentation at Holmesburg prison. I believe that the prisoners didn’t not deserve what the punishments that
Thousands of individuals, including women and children, were murdered, stores and other properties were plundered and burned, and countless of women were raped . The Japanese government regarded sex as a way to keep the soldiers obedient and focused so rape was a device used to maintain good, Japanese warriors . Not only did human experimentation occur in German concentration camps, but also in Japanese prison camps. The 731 Unit conducted experiments dealing with plague, cholera, typhoid, frostbite, and gas gangrene . American prisoners of war were treated especially cruel during these human experiments. In one incident, an individual had his skull sliced open while Dr. Fukujiro placed a surgical knife inside of his skull cavity
When most American people think of Germany, they think of sports cars made for the autobahn, sauerkraut, Adolf Hitler, and the Holocaust. Compared to Germany, when most American people think of Japan they think of sushi, Godzilla movies, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II was such a significant event in history that almost 70 years after it came to an end, today’s younger generations often associate former Axis controlled countries with the war. People around the world are filled with disgust and immense hate when they hear the name Hitler, mainly because of his leadership under the Holocaust; which was the discriminatory mass genocide of 11-17 million people, the vast majority of which were European Jews. Hirohito, former Emperor of Japan, should strike a similar bell with people when they hear his name because Japan carried out genocide on Chinese civilians and soldiers in World War II. Japan’s attack on the Chinese city of Nanking, was one of the most atrocious events in history. This event has been named both the Nanking Massacre and the Rape of Nanking. The torturous, violent techniques used by the Japanese army upon Chinese civilians and soldiers including dehumanizing them, addicting them to drugs, and other perverse and violent acts, are some of the most grosteque methods ever recorded that could only be thought of by sadistic Japanese soldiers. The events committed by the Japanese army in Nanking, are equally as disgusting as the acts that Nazi Germany committed and should become a major topic involved with World War II in the future, despite the lack of light shed on it in the past for various reasons.
In the early 1950’s, prior to Project MKUltra, the groundwork for underhanded scientific research was being laid. Immediately after World War II, the United States’ Office of Strategic Services - the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency - launched Operation Paperclip, a mission to prevent the Soviet Union from obtaining any wartime German scientific research or expertise, while exploiting those sources of information to directly benefit American programs. Over 700 German scientists were recruited by the US, both voluntarily and by force . These scientists were employed in various government programs depending on the focus of their research, but the OSS took special interest in the men who had pursued brainwashing and other controversial interrog...
...handicapped. Only a handful of people survived the horrors the the Germans performed on them leaving them scarred physically, mentally, and emotionally. Many people never revealed that they were subjects to heinous experiments and kept it a secret for their entire life. Some good did come from the experiments results, they revealed some important knowledge of the human anatomy and how some bodily functions are essential for our survival. Information about some diseases helped further the research of cures later in
Milgram’s experiment started shortly after the trial of Adolf Eichmann began. Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi who tortured many Jews during the Holocaust, and had others under his hand do whatever he told them to do. Milgram decided to plan a study to merely see if the followers of E...
The Manhattan Project was a research project, that created the United States first nuclear weapon, and led to its creation of the nuclear department during world War II. The M.A.U.D. group was created in 1940. Also, M.A.U.D was the secret name given to the group and it came from a phrase in a message from Niel Bohr (Cohen). This group produced a report that said that producing a fission bomb was possible to make. James Chadwick, a new member of the British M.A.U.D group, later wrote that at that time he realized that a nuclear bomb was able to be built in his lifetime. After being taken by the Germans convinced others that they still had the lead in developing a fission weapon.
Most of the people involved in the horrible torture devices were killed because no human could stand these horrible tests (History.com).
Most of us know of the horrible experiments that the Nazis performed on the Jews during the holocaust. However, very few of us know about the experiments that Unit 731, a Japanese
Dr. Irving Macione devoted his life towards protecting people and especially children from poisonous substances. When his son was three years old, he accidentally drank a poisonous substance and died, so he began to research and test new drugs to test for how much a person had to digest for it to be fatal. While Dr. Macione was researching one such drug, he came across a note in an archive about an experiment done about poisons in Germany, back in 1941. He looked up the experiment and discovered that it was a study on how poisons affect the body, but it was done by a Nazi doctor in a Poland concentration camp. The Nazi doctor would put different amounts of poison into the inmates' food and watch how they would react to it. Doing an experiment like this today wouldn’t be allowed because it’s not ethical, but Dr. Macione wanted to know if it was still permissible to use the data because it was already done.
Even more sickening than this, is the fact that United States granted amnesty to all those involved in these unexcusable acts against humanity, in return for information on their research. Unit 731 was commanded by General Shiro Ishii of the Kwantung Army (a branch of the Japanese Imperial Army, that
On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with the possibility of forcing the U.S. to join World War II. About 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had been sunk, and 188 aircrafts were destroyed. On August 6 and 9 of 1945, the U.S. retaliated and dropped two atomic bombs called Fat Man and Little Boy on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The U.S. was not justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan because of the locations that were bombed, the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the lack of previous bomb testing.
World War II was by far the bloodiest war we have ever known. With death tolls estimated near 60 million, 40 million of those being civilians killed by massacres, bombings, and intentional genocide, it is the greatest display of inhumanity our species has seen. However, the sheer number of deaths is not as atrocious as the way they were killed. World War II saw the use of mustard gas, flamethrowers, the atomic bomb, the holocaust, mass graves, horrifying treatment of prisoners of war, and the dismemberment and cannibalization of the dead. Dehumanization made most of this carnage possible.
At 5:30 AM July 16th 1945, the nuclear age had started. The world’s first atomic bomb was detonated. On August 6th 1942 at 8:15 AM, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped a perfected atomic bomb created by the Americans, over the city of Hiroshima hoping to end the war. Thousands of people died in the two cities in Japan. They were Hiroshima and Nagasaki “the Manhattan Project”. The research and development project that produced these atomic bombs during this time was known as “the Manhattan Project”.
Shiro Ishii was able to convince high command the necessity in importance of the use of biological and chemical weapons. Unit 731 would be formed under his leadership and moved to the country of china where the Japanese military would secure the area of Manchuria.