Shirō Ishii

Ishii and his colleagues also engaged in

Biography

Early years

Shirō Ishii was born in

In 1921, Ishii was commissioned into the

In 1935, Ishii was promoted to Senior Army Surgeon, Second Class (surgeon lieutenant-colonel). On August 1, 1936, Ishii would be given formal control over Unit 731 and its research facilities. A former member of Unit 731 recalled in 1998 that when he first met Ishii in Tokyo, he was surprised at his commander's appearance: "Ishii was slovenly dressed. His uniform was covered with food stains and ashes from numerous cigarettes. His officer's sword was poorly fastened and dragged on the floor". However, in Manchuria, Ishii would transform into a different character: "he was dressed immaculately. His uniform was spotless, and his sword was tied correctly".^[10]

As the leader of Unit 731, Ishii conducted a variety of experiments, including vivisections,^[11] testing biological weapons on Chinese villages,^[12] poisoning by toxins and gases^[13][14] and forcing inmates to inflict syphillis on each other.^[15] Ishii also reportedly showed Hideki Tojo, who would later become Prime Minister in 1941, films of the experiments over several years. Tojo considered them "unpleasant" and eventually stopped watching them.^[16]

Further promotions for Ishii would follow: he was promoted to Senior Army Surgeon, First Class (surgeon colonel) in 1938, Assistant Surgeon General (surgeon

After being granted immunity, Ishii was hired by the U.S. government to lecture American officers at Fort Detrick on the uses of bioweapons and the findings made by Unit 731.^[21][22] During the Korean War, Ishii traveled to Korea to take part in the U.S. Army's biological warfare activities.^[23]

After returning to Japan, Ishii opened a clinic, performing examinations and treatments for free.^[24] He kept a diary, but it did not make reference to any of his wartime activities with Unit 731.^[25]

Death

In his last years, Ishii could not speak clearly; he was uncomfortable and on pain medication, speaking in a harsh voice. He died on October 9, 1959, from laryngeal cancer at the age of 67 at a hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Ishii's funeral was chaired by Masaji Kitano, his second-in-command at Unit 731.^[26]

According to his daughter, Ishii became a

Ishii's daughter, Harumi Ishii, recalled in an interview[27] that shortly before his death, Ishii's medical condition worsened:

One day he took some sample tissue from himself to the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Medicine and asked one of his former subordinates to examine it, without telling him to whom it belonged. When he was told that the tissue was riddled by cancer, he proudly shouted that he had thought so too. No doctor had dared tell him he was suffering from cancer of the throat. He eventually underwent surgery and lost his voice. He was an earnest student of medicine to his last day, taking notes on his physical condition. He told his old professor Ren Kimura who came to visit him at that time: "it's all over now", writing the message because he could no longer speak. Shortly before his death, he asked to be baptised by the late Dr Herman Heuvers, former President of Sophia University in Tokyo. Dr Heuvers and my father were acquainted with each other since before the war. My father had much respect for the German people and their culture. He was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church and took the name Joseph. It seems to me that my father felt relieved somehow.

— Williams and Wallace, "Unit 731: The Japanese Army's Secret Of Secrets" (1989 p.298)

On screen

Ishii was portrayed by Min Ji-hwan in the

See also

• Josef Mengele
• Operation Paperclip
• Khabarovsk War Crime Trials
• Nobusuke Kishi

Sources

Citations