Introduction (English)

In 1928, Shiro Ishii, a Japanese scientist, organizes his own tour of research centers in bacteriology of the world. The Meiji era, which marking the opening of the country, could be the cause of this fact that it brings new diseases and crumbs such as the cholera, the dysentery, the typhoid, or still the pox. In corollary, the Meiji period saw the development of technical and knowledge in Japan, in particular in medical matter. Nevertheless, far from having curative ambitions, the journey of this young doctor, Shiro Ishii (1892-1959 ), was designed to feed dark intentions.

Shiro Ishii

Shiro Ishii, son of wealthy owners and father of numerous children, was first a brilliant studient of Kyoto, what he been worth later the rank of military surgeon of the imperial guarding. With a surprising intelligence and being an acharn nationalist, He is described as an individualist, arrogant and sneaky person. Having married the girl of a president of university, He entered high circles placed what allowed him be promoted to the rank of doctor at the hospital of first Kyoto's army in 1922.

Ishii family

He begins to focus in bacteriological sciences in 1924, year in the course of which Japan undergoes a pid of encephalitis (more than 3500 deaths with a rate of mortality of 60 %). dispatched to attempt to isolate the virus, he observed it and obtains determinants results. His project, were, next to the observation of the virus, to use of pathogens as weapons which could offer to Japan tactics and a decisive advantage in conflicts. He proposed then to the Grand General Staff the opening of research centers of biological weapons. After his study travel in 1928 around the world, including 30 countries all in all among which Russia, The United States, France (Pasteur institute in Paris), and Germany (Robert Koch institute in Berlin), Ishii asserted that the occidentals major powers secretly prepared a bacteriological war. So, he proved the effectiveness of these weapons with their success by the German strengths of April 22nd, 1915 on the Ypres front where the victims of gases and chlorine were counted in a day among 5 000 deaths and among 10 000 wounded.

Soldiers during the bacteriological war period of the WW1.

        We also know that during the First World War, poison gas killed more than 91,000 soldiers and 1.3 million wounded (mostly remain disabled for life). This atrocity, which prompted the largest powers to sign in June 1925 the Geneva protocol which prohibiting the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons. Japan and the United States refused to sign.

       Shiro Ishii was promoted to the rank of commander in the epidemics prevention service of the new school of medicine of Japanese army in Tokyo. Here, he began to study officially the water filter system and vaccines, but unofficially extremely dangerous bacteria.

      In 1930, convinced by one of efficiency of these weapons, members of the Great General Staff and Japanese authorities rent the opening of these research centersand therefore the development of research, for develop and experiment biological weapons.

However, to ensure a total and absolute secrecy, the experiments couldn't be realized near Tokyo. It mandchouri

is for this reason that Japanese army chose the Manchuria (Picture), region of northern China, occupied by Japan since 1931. In 1931, ShiroIshii there developed a filter to clean bacteriostatic water, device used by imperial Japanese navy, and to show efficiency of his invention, he urinated in it and drank the liquid that emerged, became pure water, which convinced the last skeptics about his research. Thus, under the mask of a center of research in epidemic prevention and of research in water filter systems, Shiro Ishii could begin his chemicaland bacterial research as he wished.

Contrary to what may generally believe, Nazi Germany was not the only one who practice experiments on humans.

Indeed, in 1932, Shiro Ishii began his experiments on humans in his research unit near Harbin. Are these experiements by the Japanese during the war allowed scientific advanced regarding knowledge of the human body and weapons?

To address this issue, we will lookat first the issues of Japanese, then analyze the means used to finally discuss the results of these experiments.