This is something that just recently came to my attention as I was researching World War II history online.  I now have a new placeholder on my "evilest people ever" list, and his name is "Dr." Shiro Ishii. 

Many Americans are familiar with "Dr." Josef Mengele of Auschwitz infamy, who I agree was subhumanly evil, as he performed the bidding of Heinrich Himmler (who I personally believe was the evilest of the Nazi regime).  In our society, Mengele is a symbol of inhumane medical experimentation and is commonly referenced in popular culture.  In the public schools basically all you ever hear about when it comes to the many genocides of history is Auschwitz, Nazis, Mengele, Hitler, Hitler, and more Hitler.  The great majority of secondary school students probably aren't aware that the Holocaust was only the third deadliest genocide of the 20th century; more citizens were killed by the regimes of Stalin and Chairman Mao. 

The brutal occupation of the Chinese province of Manchuria by Japanese forces isn't a very proud topic for our government or the Japanese government.  Although the estimated death toll from this occupation is only around 5 million in comparison to the Nazis' 20 million, I must say that after researching both the Holocaust and the Japanese occupation that most of the Nazis were significantly more respectful toward their prisoners as far as torture goes (although most ended up dying in the end).  I challenge anyone who is emotionally mature enough to learn about these atrocities to perform a search for "Unit 731". 

OK, so this "Dr." Shiro Ishii abomination was the commander of Unit 731, a concentration camp in the city of Harbin in Manchuria.  Their motives were much the same as the Nazi physicians - "racial purity" and "advancement" of battlefield medical techniques.  While the Nazis sent the majority of the prisoners to the gas chambers and most only had a "one-on-one" with the doctors if they were unfortunate enough to be determined to possess a characteristic useful for their "research" (i.e. "Dr." Mengele selected twins), the staff at Unit 731 tortured their prisoners on a regular basis.  They routinely killed their prisoners by performing dissections of fully conscious prisoners, including a number of Allied POWs.  Honestly, I was astounded to learn about an even more hideous operation than the Nazi concentration camps that I never was taught about in school.

Neither our government nor the Japanese government likes to draw attention to this dark period in Japanese history.  First of all, while some of the staff at the Japanese "medical research" facilities may have actually believed in a perverted manner of thinking that their research would ultimately benefit society.  To my knowledge, only evil emerged from Unit 731.  However, the most disgusting insult to our dignity of all is the amnesty agreement OUR GOVERNMENT offered these monsters after World War II in exchange for their "data".  That's right, we could have sent Shiro Ishii and his subhuman cohorts to the gallows, but we allowed him to live a pleasant existence instead because our government wanted to learn their secrets.  I hear many Americans questioning our current government's respect for human rights, but this makes me wonder if the U.S. government ever valued them in the first place. 

Unfortunately, most of these war criminals have since died and can never face their deserved justice.  The same can be said for the Nazi concentration camp staff, some of whom were hosted by our government after WWII in a project called Operation PAPERCLIP.  These programs were soon followed by the emergence of our own breed of medical experimentation with a miscreant named Sidney Gottlieb and the MK-ULTRA program.  There are powerful figures in our government who would prefer no one know about Unit 731, Operation PAPERCLIP, or MK-ULTRA.  I encourage all who can stomach the grisly truth to inform themselves about such aberrations to humanity so history doesn't needlessly repeat itself.         

     

I hadn't heard of this Dr. Ishii before.  Sounds like a sweetheart!
::)

I figure there were also many smaller atrocities in the Pacific/Asian theatres of WWII that left no witnesses to talk.

I hadn't heard of this Dr. Ishii before.  Sounds like a sweetheart!
::)

I figure there were also many smaller atrocities in the Pacific/Asian theatres of WWII that left no witnesses to talk.



I'm afraid you're not alone.  This chapter of World War II is missing from most texts.  The Holocaust was a terrible tragedy that never should have been allowed to occur (i.e. the German citizenry should have resisted Adolf Hitler and Co.'s rise to power), but we must become more educated regarding the situation in Manchuria.  What irritates me the most is knowing that the Allies could have put Dr. Ishii and his accomplices away for good but decided they'd rather swap justice for a bunch of perverted "scientific" data.  We can't reverse this injustice but people all over the world can educate themselves about this travesty so future Ishii clones can be identified and prevented from gaining any sort of authority.   

This may have something to do with racism.  Perhaps we paid more attention to goings-on in Europe because we valued indo-European lives more than Asian lives.  I'll catch hell for suggesting this I'm sure.  It may have been subconscious.  The ethnic and cultural characteristics of "Far East" Asians may led us to view them as not of our tribe, and so less of a concern.  No matter how greatly indo-European ethnicities and cultures varied, they shared more lineage in common than with the Asians.

I noted how nuts people went over Rosie O'Donnel's mock Chinese last week.  However, in my living memory I can recall the days when nobody would have blinked.  For instance, in the '70s they no longer showed the cartoons portraying hideous stereotypes of African-Americans.  The turmoil and reforms of the '60s had made those taboo.  Furthermore, if a TV station showed a cartoon portraying a Jewish person as a penny-pinching merchant with a big nose, they'd catch hell from the ADL.  However, in the '70s, stereotyped images of Asians and indigenous peoples of the Americas were still suitable children's televions programming.  Uh, not too mention rank sexism.

It's funny, I remember the UHF stations would play this PSA called "They're Not Going to Stereotype Me!," and then segue right into the Flintstones!
::)

But I digress....

I challenge anyone who is emotionally mature enough to learn about these atrocities to perform a search for "Unit 731".       


I learned of Unit 731 a few years back while researching the Nanking Massacre.

Even if you are mature enough, you might not be able to handle seeing this page, which has a few links on Unit 731.

I learned of Unit 731 a few years back while researching the Nanking Massacre.

Even if you are mature enough, you might not be able to handle seeing this page, which has a few links on Unit 731.


I was going to mention this.  They actually call it the Rape of Nanking and it is one of the most horrific incidents(I shudder to term it a mere incident) in the history of mankind

I was going to mention this.  They actually call it the Rape of Nanking and it is one of the most horrific incidents(I shudder to term it a mere incident) in the history of mankind


I thought it was just the book by Iris Chang that had that title. I've been meaning to read it, but I can barely handle viewing one web page of those atrocities.

Incident is too light a term:  the rape and slaughter of 300,000+ people in just six weeks (almost all of which were unarmed civilians), much of it for sport and sheer cruelty, leaves me with no words.

Incident is too light a term:  the rape and slaughter of 300,000+ people in just six weeks (almost all of which were unarmed civilians), much of it for sport and sheer cruelty, leaves me with no words.


Not too far from the Rwanda massacre in 1994 where 250,000 people were murdered with machetes.  Europe... Africa.. Asia... Can and does happen anywhere.

Not too far from the Rwanda massacre in 1994 where 250,000 people were murdered with machetes.  Europe... Africa.. Asia... Can and does happen anywhere.

Well, look at if from the point of view of the machete manufacterers and you get a pretty good picture of American foreign policy!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/firedevil.gif