Ishii Shirō

Ishii Shirō 1932 - Image from Unit 731 Bulletin, photographer Masao Takezawa

Ishii Shirō ( Japanese 石井 四郎 ; born June 25, 1892 in Yotsukaidō , Chiba Prefecture ; † October 9, 1959 in Tokyo ) was Lieutenant General in Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War 1937 to 1945.

While he was viewed critically, he shone at the Imperial University of Kyoto in the field of medicine, which was assigned to the 1st Army Hospital and the Army Medical School in Tōkyō in 1922. There his work impressed his superiors enough that two years later he was sent back to the university in Kyoto for postgraduate studies .

Ishii made a two-year trip to the West from 1928 , during which he conducted intensive research on the effects of biological warfare and chemical weapons since the First World War. His very successful mission secured him the support of Army Minister Sadao Araki .

In 1932 he began preparatory experiments. In 1936 Unit 731 , a biological warfare unit disguised as a water treatment unit, was formed. Ishii built a huge facility in front of Harbin City in China - more than 150 buildings spread over 6 km ² .

In 1942 he began field tests on the use of germs suitable for war and the weapons used as carriers (firearms, bombs, etc.). To this end, he made experiments on living Russian and Chinese prisoners of war and civilians. Around 3,000–10,000 Chinese and a few hundred Russians were killed in the process, and around 20,000 more civilians died after 1945 when pest-infected rats caused an epidemic .

Among other things, experiments were carried out with the pathogens of plague , cholera and anthrax .

His unit also carried out physiological experiments “in the name of science”, in which living people were dissected , abortions and artificially produced strokes and heart attacks were induced.

In 1945, Japanese troops blew up his headquarters in the last days of the Pacific War . Ishii had the remaining 150 prisoners killed to cover up the experiments.

In 1946, the United States prepared a secret agreement with Ishii and the heads of Unit 731 in which they offered immunity from persecution as a war criminal in exchange for biological warfare data obtained from human experiments. This agreement, initiated by Major General Charles Willoughby , was signed two years later.

Ishii Shirō is believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 300,000 people.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on May 14, 2010
2. ^ Drea, Edward (et al): Researching Japanese War Crimes Records: Introductory Essays; Washington 2006, ISBN 1-880875-28-4
3. ↑ Archive link ( memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on March 9, 2015

Web links

• Unit 731 (English)
• Biol. Warfare (English)

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Ishii is the family name, Shirō the first name.