Suzuki Teiichi

Suzuki Teiichi (1950)

Suzuki Teiichi ( Japanese : 鈴木 貞 一 ; * December 16, 1888 in Chiba Prefecture , Japanese Empire ; † January 15, 1989 ) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a politician who was Minister of State and Head of the Cabinet Planning Office between 1941 and 1943 . He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Tokyo Trials on November 12, 1948 for numerous war crimes , from which he was released in 1955.

Life

Officer training and time until World War II

Suzuki Teiichi completed an officer training at the Army Officer School , which he graduated in May 1910. He was then taken over as a lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army in December 1910 and was initially an officer in the 18th Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to first lieutenant in December 1913 . After graduating from the Army College in January 1917 , he found employment as a staff officer and was seconded to the Treasury from January to October 1919. In April 1920 he was promoted to captain and, as such, was charged with the investigation of the Nikolaevsk incident , a series of events during the Russian Civil War from February to March 1920 that resulted in a massacre of several hundred Japanese in the Siberian city Nikolayevsk on the Amur peaked. After various posts in Shanghai and Beijing , he was promoted to major in December 1925 and in January 1927 on the instructions of Army Minister Ugaki Kazushige adviser to Chiang Kai-shek at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . He belonged to Tōjō Hideki , Nagata Tetsuzan , Kōmoto Daisaku , Doihara Kenji , Ishiwara Kanji , Okamura Yasuji , Yamashita Tomoyuki and others of the radical militarist secret society Futabakai founded on January 1, 1929 . After traveling abroad from February to October 1929, he became a military attaché at the embassy in the Republic of China , where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1930 .

After his return, Suzuki was from August 1, 1931 to August 1, 1933 Head of the China Section in the Department of Military Affairs of the Military Services Department of the Army Ministry and then from August 1, 1933 to April 5, 1934 head of the Press Department of the Army Ministry where he was promoted to colonel on December 20, 1933 . He was then an instructor at the Army University between March 5, 1934 and May 25, 1935 and an investigative officer in the Cabinet Research Office from May 25, 1935 to August 1, 1936, before he was commander of the Cabinet Research Office from August 1, 1936 to August 1, 1937 14th Infantry Regiment was. After his promotion to major general on November 1, 1937, he was seconded to the 16th Division between November 1, 1937 and December 20, 1938 .

Second World War, Minister of State and conviction as a war criminal

The defendants in the Tokyo trial for war crimes in World War II

Suzuki Teiichi during the Tokyo trials

On December 16, 1938 Suzuki Teiichi moved to the newly created East Asian Development Authority (Kōain) and was there until December 23, 1940 head of the Department of Political Affairs. During this time he was promoted to lieutenant general on August 1, 1940 , after which he was between December 23, 1940 and April 4, 1941 head of the department for general affairs of the East Asian Development Agency. On April 4, 1941, he retired from active military service.

Then Suzuki switched to politics and on April 4, 1941 became Minister of State in the Konoe II cabinet and held this office in the subsequent Konoe III cabinet (July 18, 1941 to October 18, 1941) and in the Tōjō cabinet (October 18, 1941 to October 1943). At the same time he held the post of head of the cabinet planning office from April 4, 1941 to October 1943. From November 1943 to October 1944 he was still an advisor to the government.

After Japan's surrender , he was arrested in September 1945 and, as a class A war criminal, was one of the main accused of numerous war crimes in the Tokyo trials . He was charged for involvement as a leader, organizer, instigator or accomplice in planning or executing a joint plan or conspiracy to wage wars of aggression and war or wars in violation of international law, for waging an unprovoked war against China , for waging of a war of aggression against the United States , of waging a war of aggression against the British Commonwealth , of waging a war of aggression against the Netherlands , and thus found guilty on five of the ten counts. He was acquitted of the charges of waging a war of aggression against the USSR, ordering, authorizing, and permitting the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and others, and willful and reckless neglect of the duty to take appropriate steps to prevent atrocities. On November 12, 1948, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for this. In September 1955 he was released early from prison.

Web link

• Entry in generals.dk

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Governments of Japan 1885-1945

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Suzuki is the family name, Teiichi the first name.