Shiro Ishii

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Shiro Ishii

Microbiologist Shiro Ishii (石井四郎 Ishii Shirō, June 25, 1892-1959) was the Lieutenant General of Unit 731, a biological-warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Sino-Japanese War.

He was born in the former Chiyoda village of Sanbu District in the Chiba Prefecture, and studied medicine at Kyoto Imperial University. Although he was considered a selfish, pushy, and sometimes disturbed individual, he excelled in his studies, and in 1922 was assigned to the 1st Army Hospital and Army Medical School in Tokyo. There his work impressed his superiors enough to gain him, two years later, post-graduate medical schooling back at the Kyoto Imperial University.

Beginning in 1928, Ishii took a two-year tour of the West. In his travels, he did extensive research on the effects of biological warfare and chemical warfare developments from World War I onwards. It was a highly successful mission and helped win him the patronage of Sadao Araki, Minister of the Army.

In 1932 he began his preliminary experiments.

In 1936, Unit 731 was formed. Ishii built a huge compound -- more than 150 buildings over six square kilometers -- outside the city of Harbin, China. The research was secret, and the cover story was that Unit 731 was engaged in water-purification work.

In 1942, Ishii began field tests of germ warfare and weapons (firearms, bombs etc.) on Chinese soldiers and civilians. Tens of thousands died of bubonic plague, cholera, anthrax and other diseases. His unit also conducted physiological experiments such as vivisections, forced abortions, and simulated strokes and heart attacks.

In 1945, in the final days of the Pacific War and in the face of imminent defeat, Japanese troops blew up the headquarters of Unit 731 in order to destroy evidence of the research done there. As part of the cover-up, Ishii ordered 150 remaining subjects killed. Between 3,000 and 10,000 test subjects, which Ishii and his peers called maruta (丸太; "logs," a reference to their view of subjects being inert, expendable entities) eventually died at the hands of Unit 731.

In 1946, the U.S. began negotiating a secret deal with Ishii and Unit 731 leaders: immunity from war-crimes prosecution would be offered in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. The deal was concluded two years later.