DATE= 05-Mar-99 3:31 PM EST (2031 UTC)
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-42781
TITLE=JAPAN GERM WARFARE RECORDS
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-S OFFICIALS SAY THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN HAS REFUSED TO
GRANT ACCESS TO ITS RECORDS ON JAPANESE CHEMICAL AND GERM WARFARE
EXPERIMENTS DURING WORLD WAR TWO. V-O-A'S MIKE O'SULLIVAN
REPORTS A JEWISH HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION IS ALSO CALLING FOR
PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE THE COUNTRY'S WARTIME RECORDS.
TEXT: HISTORIANS SAY JAPANESE MILITARY UNITS CONDUCTED MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS ON THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN OCCUPIED PARTS OF ASIA
BEFORE AND DURING WORLD WAR TWO. THE MOST NOTORIOUS OF THESE
HUMAN TESTS WERE CONDUCTED BY WHAT IS KNOWN AS UNIT 731 OF
JAPAN'S IMPERIAL ARMY.
HISTORIAN SHELDON HARRIS STUDIED THIS UNIT FOR 20 YEARS. HE
RECORDED HIS FINDINGS IN 1994 IN A BOOK CALLED "FACTORIES OF
DEATH." PROFESSOR HARRIS SAYS MANY VICTIMS WERE INNOCENT
VILLAGERS, WHO WERE EXPOSED TYPHUS, ANTHRAX OR OTHER BIOLOGICAL
AGENTS IN FIELD TESTS. A SMALLER NUMBER WERE SUBJECTS OF
LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, WHICH WERE CONDUCTED ON PEOPLE ARRESTED
IN OCCUPIED COUNTRIES, AND PRISONERS OF WAR.
/// HARRIS ACT ///
I'M GIVING YOU CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES. SOMEWHERE
BETWEEN TEN-THOUSAND AND TWELVE-THOUSAND CHINESE,
KOREAN, RUSSIAN, P-O-W'S FROM VARIOUS WESTERN NATIONS,
INCLUDING PROBABLY U-S SOLDIERS, AND HUNDREDS OF
THOUSANDS OF CHINESE AND SOVIET CITIZENS WERE KILLED IN
FIELD TESTS AS THE JAPANESE WERE TRYING TO DEVELOP
WEAPONS, DELIVERY SYSTEMS, THAT COULD CONVEY GERM AND
CHEMICAL WARFARE TO THE ENEMY.
/// END ACT ///
MANY EXPERIMENTS WERE CARRIED OUT IN LABORATORIES NEAR HARBIN IN
NORTHEASTERN CHINA. FIELD TESTS OF GERM AND CHEMICAL AGENTS MAY
HAVE ALSO BEEN CONDUCTED IN CHINA AS WELL AS KOREA, BURMA,
THAILAND, SINGAPORE, AND PRESENT-DAY INDONESIA.
U-S RECORDS SHOW THAT AFTER THE WAR AND THE FALL OF JAPAN, U-S
AUTHORITIES FACED A DILEMMA. AN OPEN TRIAL WOULD REVEAL
TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT EFFECTIVE METHODS OF GERM AND
CHEMICAL WARFARE. HISTORIAN SHELDON HARRIS BELIEVES U-S
AUTHORITIES ALSO WANTED ACCESS TO THE JAPANESE MEDICAL DATA.
/// OPT HARRIS ACT ///
THE UNITED STATES, AT THE END OF WORLD WAR TWO, THE
MINUTE IT OCCUPIED JAPAN BEGAN NEGOTIATIONS WITH KNOWN
WAR CRIMINALS FOR THEIR INFORMATION, THEIR DATA, THEIR
SCIENTIFIC SKILLS, AND RIGHT FROM THE START -- DESPITE
THE "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" PROPAGANDA -- THE
NEGOTIATIONS WERE UNDERLAID BY THE PROPOSITION THAT
NOTHING YOU REVEAL TO US WILL EVER BE USED IN A WAR
CRIMES TRIAL. YOU WILL ULTIMATELY BE GRANTED IMMUNITY
FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID, IF YOU WILL ONLY GIVE US THIS
INFORMATION.
/// END OPT -- END ACT ///
AFTER THREE YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS, U-S OFFICIALS OFFERED IMMUNITY
FROM PROSECUTION TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL SHIRO ISHII (SHEE-ROH
EE-SHEE), THE COMMANDER OF UNIT 731. NO MEMBER OF THAT UNIT WAS
EVER PROSECUTED AS A WAR CRIMINAL.
GENERAL ISHII DIED IN THE LATE 1950S, BUT SEVERAL HUNDRED MEMBERS
OF UNIT 731 SURVIVE. AN OFFICIAL OF THE WIESENTHAL CENTER
VISITED ONE OF THEM. IN JANUARY, RABBI ABRAHAM COOPER WENT TO
THE HOME OF 76-YEAR-OLD TOSHIMI MIZOBUCHI (TOH-'SHEE-MEE
MEE-ZOH-'BOO-CHEE), NEAR THE CITY OF KOBE.
/// COOPER ACT ///
HE IS THE RANKING SURVIVING OFFICER OF UNIT 731. I WAS
GRACIOUSLY GREETED BY HE AND HIS WIFE. THEY KNEW WHO I
WAS. THAT I WAS WITH THE WIESENTHAL CENTER. THAT SIMON
WIESENTHAL IS THE WELL-KNOWN NAZI HUNTER. THAT I WAS
GOING TO SHARE THE RESULTS OF MY DISCUSSION WITH HIM
WITH THE PUBLIC, WITH THE PRESS. (HE WAS) ABSOLUTELY
PROUD OF EVERYTHING HE DID.
/// END ACT ///
IN A TRANSCRIPT OF THEIR DISCUSSION, THE JAPANESE VETERAN OF UNIT
731 SAID HE KNEW OF THE MEDICAL TESTS, BUT DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN
THEM. HE BELIEVED THEY WERE JUSTIFIED BECAUSE THEY WERE CARRIED
OUT ON PEOPLE HE CALLED "SPIES OR CONSPIRATORS," WHO HAD BEEN
SENTENCED TO DEATH AND THEREFORE WERE VIEWED AS "MARUTA"
(MAH-ROO-TAH), OR "LOGS." HE SAYS HE DOES NOT BELIEVE REPORTS OF
THE MASS RELEASE OF GERM AGENTS IN VILLAGES.
THE JAPANESE VETERAN NOTES THAT UNIT 731 HOLDS AN ANNUAL REUNION,
AND HE INVITED A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER TO
COME TO THE NEXT ONE.
AFTER WORLD WAR TWO, THE U-S GOVERNMENT SEIZED THE RECORDS OF
UNIT 731, BUT RETURNED THEM TO JAPAN IN 1958. U-S OFFICIALS SAY
ONLY A FEW WERE COPIED.
POLITICAL SCIENTIST ALFRED BALITZER, WHO HAS ALSO STUDIED THE
ISSUE, FAULTS U-S AUTHORITIES FOR NOT PURSUING PROSECUTION OF
MEMBERS OF UNIT 731. BUT HE SAYS IT IS NOW UP TO JAPAN TO OPEN
ITS WARTIME RECORDS, TO FINALLY HEAL THE LINGERING WOUNDS FROM
WORLD WAR TWO. A U-S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL EXPRESSES THE
SAME HOPE. (SIGNED)
NEB/PT
05-Mar-99 3:31 PM EST (2031 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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