Justice in an Age of Global Politics: The case of Unit 731 Medical Atrocities
Friday, September 20th, 2019
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, September 20, 2019 | 10:00AM - 12:00PM | External Event, Robarts Library, Blackburn Room (4th floor), 130 St. George Street |
Description
Unit 731 was the codename for the Japanese Imperial Army’s biochemical warfare experimentation center located in China during the Asia-Pacific War. As a part of the forgotten history of WWII in Asia, and often characterized as the “Auschwitz of the East,” Unit 731 was the site of countless medical atrocities including human experimentation and field experimentation of biochemical weapons. Unlike in postwar Germany, perpetrators escaped legal punishment in post-war trials. This panel will discuss crucial issues surrounding the history of Unit 731, the American government’s cover-up of Unit 731 war crimes after the war, and how politics and justice interacted to shape war memory during the Cold War and beyond.
Programme:
1. Historical Overview of Unit 731: History and the Human Experience
Professor Yang Yanjun, Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, Unit 731 Research Center
2. The Tokyo Trials and Medical Atrocities: Unit 731’s Postwar (In)Justice
Professor Gong Zhiwei, Shanghai Jiaotong University, War Trials and World Peace Research Center
3. Verification in Japan on “War and Medical Ethics”: Aiming for No More Unit 731
Professor Nishiyama, Shiga University of Medicine, Japan
4. Politics of Memory: Unit 731 at the Margins of Historical Memory
Professor Takashi Fujitani, Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
Q & A session moderated by Sachiyo Tsukamoto
Closing Remarks
Looking to the Future: The Role of Education
Gen-Ling Chang, ALPHA Education
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