Japan's Infamous Unit 731

Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program

De: Hal Gold, Yuma Totani - foreword

Narrado por: Joe Barrett

This is a riveting and disturbing account of the medical atrocities performed in China during WWII.

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research.

Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities. The book presents the words of former unit members themselves, taken from remarks they made at a traveling Unit 731 exhibition held in Japan in 1994-95. They recount vivid first-hand memories of what it was like to take part in horrific experiments on men, women, and children, their motivations and reasons why they chose to speak about their actions all these years later.

By showing how the ethics of normal men and women, and even an entire profession, can be warped by the fire of war, this important book offers a window on a time of human madness and the hope that history will not be repeated.

©2019 Hal Gold (P)2020 Tantor

A very dark history

This book left me in such shock about how much history was hidden from me growing up in high school and college

History will repeat

The book was written in two parts. The first part is an historical biography of Dr. Shirō Ishii who was the directory of Unit 731. He was the Japanese Dr. Josef Mengele. Ishii’s rise to his position and the creation of Unit 731 was well researched and described. The second part of the book is first-hand accounts of operations within Unit 731 of the horrific crimes against humanity and the reasoning behind the hideous atrocities forced on it’s victims.

The Narrator was rather dry but what should I have expected given this type of content?

I left with an understanding of why and how this happened, the effects of the crimes on both the victims, and the Japanese war criminals, why they were not prosecuted and why Unit 731 crimes were covered up.

I ended up seeing the wicked Japanese doctors of Unit 731 as humans, doing their jobs in service of their Emperor which is what they were taught and conditioned to do from an early age.

Worst of all, I can easily imagine this happening again. History repeats itself. :-(

Shocking

For years I 'd thought that the Germans and the holocaust were as bad as human beings could get, but only because I had never read anything about what the Japanese did. The performance is not the best, but it is information that seems to have been too well hidden.

Quite shocking to the uninformed.

For quite a few years I've been reading military history but somehow I'd never heard of Unit 731. While I did know the Japanese did human experimentation I didn't know to the extent it happened. This book contains rather shocking and gruesome details. While the information was good, I felt it was disorganized. The book reads (at least in audio) more as a compilation of papers rather than a well organized volume. It's kind of dry. The narrator was ok, but not fantastic.

Important yet brutal history

It’s not easy to listen to, but it’s important. The information in this book is well researched and deeply unsettling.

Japanese War Crimes !!!

Incredible información on Japan’s POWs. Excellent storytelling and narrative. This book is a historical jewel

Good information. Quick read

Enjoyed the info. Some of it is hard to hear, but that is expected. Good quick read.

historically horrific

I had no idea such evil truly existed. The human animal is a monstrous creature.

well written

The untold atrocities of WW2 in Japan, the history American students should be taught. The intense brainwashing of the Japanese imperial forces, and the horrific experiments played out on the Chinese people.

Truly shocking and insightful.

I’m shocked (but not surprised) that this topic isn’t taught in history classes. An honest retelling of some of the most horrific crimes against humanity- not for the weak of heart or stomach.