Talk:Shirō Ishii

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Contents 1 Ishii vs. Mengele 2 10,000 deaths or 3,000 at the compound? 3 Consistency 4 Categories 5 Maruta

[edit] Ishii vs. Mengele

Why was Ishii allowed to get away with his crimes while Mengele was hunted down since both of these individuals conducted ghastly human experimentations? Between the two, Ishii was much worse since he essentially conducted biological/chemecal warfare in Manchuria, and its remnants can still be felt in China today. Was Mengele's experimentations less scientifically valuable to the Allies than Ishii's?

Anyways, I've added an extra blurb at the end of the article in hopes of starting more discussion on this issue.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lssah 88 (talk • contribs) 21:49, 18 July 2006.

I removed the "all in the name of science" because I thought it was speculative and was a loaded statement. Other reasons could have been that they wanted to win the war or Ishii could have been insane etc etc. I don't know that we can chalk it all up to science, at any rate. --Wesman83 16:10, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

According to a documentary I am watching right now on the History Channel Ishii and his staff negotiated immunity from war-crime charges in exchange for complete co-operation with investigators examining their research. I'm not going to include this in the article until I can confirm this with at least one more source, but it's an interesting tidbit of post-war history. It does make a certain degree of sense though; Ishii's research had some actual scientific merit (i.e. he had results that could be applied to research problems/arms manufacture of the day). Mengele's research on the other hand seems to have been done more for the sake of sadism than with any scientific intention or application in mind. Ve4cib 02:38, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

The reason that Ishii was spared is because the United States wanted to assimilate Japan's biological warfare program. They allowed Ishii to get away with his crimes in exchange for the research data. Evidence of the program was then buried by the CIA/Imperial Japanese Army and kept a secret for over fourty years. OGROK

I've also heard such claims; one of my history professors in university claims that Ishii's work was assimilated into in the American BW program and that Ishii himself was sent to Maryland to assist US research on the subject. I cant put this in the article becuase i have no idea where my prof got this information, but in any case the article should have something on what his fate was after 1945.

Kaizenyorii

[edit] 10,000 deaths or 3,000 at the compound?

I see a conflict between this article and [Unit 731]; Unit 731's article states that 3,000 were killed at its facilities, while this article puts the number at 10,000. Every external article I've seen (see Unit 731's external links), and a (serious) Somethingawful.com update (http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3122) cite 3,000 as the number.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by StJarvitude (talk • contribs) 00:31, 30 October 2005.

The 10,000 dead figure probably includes the people who died from diseases that spread to the general population surrounding the facility. It is easier find the number of people killed INSIDE of the facility rather than the total number of people infected and killed through his biological research.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.165.33.57 (talk • contribs) 04:08, 25 May 2006.

[edit] Consistency

Shiro's year of birth in the article differs from the year in the category. Which is the correct one? --Mooky 01:36, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

The article Unit 731 mentions that the cover story was that the unit was a lumber yard, as opposed to a water-cleansing plant, as is mentioned in this article. This was apparantly the reason for the term 'logs'. Which is correct?

[edit] Categories

Removed from the article: Category:Japanese serial killers (does not fit the definition), Category:Child killers (may or may not fit the definition but is not sourced). Added instead: Category:War criminals. GregorB 19:36, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Shiro Ishii was definetely a murderer. He was a psychopath and was to Imperial Japan what Josef Mengele was to Nazi Germany.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.105.44.112 (talk • contribs) 03:21, 12 May 2006.

Yes but not exactly, as Germany denounced Mengele whereas Japan embraced Ishii, who died a free man back in his hometown, where he was considered a hero. Today the Jpanese Prime Minister still honours the souls of these monsters at Yasukuni Shrine, and the Japanese people raise nary a peep in protest.

Meanwhile all the school textbooks whitewash these atrocities, Japanese kids are lectured about the horrors of Hiroshima but hear not a word about Ishii or Unit 731. When the Japanese right wing discovers this article, it will be inundated with revisionist rewrites.10:23, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Maruta

"Ishii and his peers called maruta (丸太; "logs," a reference to their view of subjects being inert, expendable entities)". In Factories of Death by Sheldon Harris, he states that the subjects were called logs because one of Unit 731's cover stories in Ping Fan was that there was a lumber mill on the site. Subjects would then be transferred to the compound in trains that appeared to be carrying logs. If someone has a competing source, I'd like to see it cited. Otherwise, it should be changed. RobertM525 18:32, 6 November 2006 (UTC)