عنوان

Hidden atrocities : Japanese germ warfare and American obstruction of justice at the Tokyo Trial

Standard Number

electronic

author

First Statement of Responsibility

Guillemin, Jeanne

Title Proper by Another Author

3491-

Title Proper

Hidden atrocities : Japanese germ warfare and American obstruction of justice at the Tokyo Trial

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

New York

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Columbia University Press

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2017

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

xix, 460 pages ; 24 cm

Text of Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Text of Note

Jeanne Guillemin

Text of Note

In the aftermath of World War II, the Allied intent to bring Axis crimes to light led to both the Nuremberg trial and its counterpart in Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal of the Far East. Yet the Tokyo trial failed to prosecute Imperial Japanese leaders for the very worst of war crimes: inhumane medical experimentation, including vivisection and open-air pathogen and chemical tests, which rivaled Nazi atrocities, as well as mass attacks using plague, anthrax, and cholera that killed thousands of Chinese civilians. In Hidden Atrocities, Jeanne Guillemin goes behind the scenes at the trial to reveal the American obstruction that denied Japan's victims justice. Responsibility for Japan's secret germ warfare program, organized as Unit 731 in Harbin, China, extended to top government leaders and many respected scientists, all of whom escaped indictment. Instead, motivated by early Cold War tensions, U.S. military intelligence in Tokyo insinuated itself into the Tokyo trial by blocking prosecution access to key witnesses and then classifying incriminating documents. Washington decision makers, supported by the American occupation leader General Douglas MacArthur, sought to acquire Japan's biological warfare expertise to gain an advantage over the Soviet Union, suspected of developing both biological and nuclear weapons. Ultimately, U.S. national security goals left the victims of Unit 731 without vindication. Decades later, evidence of the Unit 731 atrocities still troubles relations between China and Japan. Guillemin's vivid account of the cover-up at the Tokyo trial shows how without guarantees of transparency, power politics can jeopardize international justice, with persistent consequences

Entry Element

، Biological weapons -- Japan -- History

Entry Element

، Biological weapons

Class number

Relator Code

AU

NO