Born on June 25, 1892, General Shiro Ishii of central Japan, along with a flux of doctors and scientists from across the country, became responsible for the mutilation of at least 3,000 citizens of surrounding Asian countries during the second Sino-Japanese War and World War II by manufacturing a system of human experimentation performed in a remote location infamously known as Unit 731 (Byrd, 2005) (Mitchell, 2013). Known to the public as the “Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army,” Unit 731 was erected in 1936 in a Japanese-controlled area known as Pingfang, Manchukuo. Nowadays, the former puppet-state forms a part of northeastern China (Mitchell, 2013). The facilities of Unit 731 itself covered six square kilometers, and its faculty focused on researching and developing biological and chemical weapons to be used for warfare
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They were told that the facilities actually belonged to a lumber mill, thus creating yet another reason for scientists and doctors to refer to their patients as “logs.” (Mitchell, 2013). Approximately 70% of the victims were Chinese, while Russians made up around one quarter of the prisoners (Mitchell, 2013). Others consisted of Korean, Mongolian, Pacific Island, or other types of South East Asian ethnicity. There have even been reports of American prisoners of war falling victim to surgeons within the complex (Melissa, 2013). Together, the Russians and the Chinese made up the majority of test subjects and prisoners within the facilities (Mitchell, 2013). Not only were both adult men and women victims of the horrors of Unit 731, but babies, young children, and the elderly were imperiled as well (Mitchell, 2013). Most of the conducted tests were executed to observe the effects of disease and exposure to damaging conditions in order to strengthen the Japanese Army’s own immunity, and to make advances in biological
They were told that the facilities actually belonged to a lumber mill, thus creating yet another reason for scientists and doctors to refer to their patients as “logs.” (Mitchell, 2013). Approximately 70% of the victims were Chinese, while Russians made up around one quarter of the prisoners (Mitchell, 2013). Others consisted of Korean, Mongolian, Pacific Island, or other types of South East Asian ethnicity. There have even been reports of American prisoners of war falling victim to surgeons within the complex (Melissa, 2013). Together, the Russians and the Chinese made up the majority of test subjects and prisoners within the facilities (Mitchell, 2013). Not only were both adult men and women victims of the horrors of Unit 731, but babies, young children, and the elderly were imperiled as well (Mitchell, 2013). Most of the conducted tests were executed to observe the effects of disease and exposure to damaging conditions in order to strengthen the Japanese Army’s own immunity, and to make advances in biological