Japanese Treatment of POW in WWII

It is common for a country in war to contain prisoners of war of other countries. In WWII however, Japan treated American POWs poorly by many inhumane methods of abuse. Although Japan's government claimed to have treated it's prisoners with care, it was not the case in many concentration camps for POW. Not only did Japan attack American POWs, they also attacked and abused people from other countries. The most brutal damage done was done to the Chinese. When Japan invaded China, the Japanese severely punished the Chinese as Japan took over most of China. The Japanese often used barbaric methods of torture and killed many in mass amounts. The camp conditions were not much better than the methods Japan used for POW. Japanese concentration camps would often beat, harm, starve, torture, as well as use the prisoners for medial experiments. As a result, the death rates in Japanese concentration camps rose to about 27% compared to European countries with 4%. A great example of life in Japanese concentration camps is the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is about the famous Olympic Track Star Louis Zamperini. Prisoners of war are often beat with sticks, slapped and kicked. If anyone tried escaping, they would be executed. Japanese camps would also give minimal food, this resulted in all the prisoners losing more than 70% of their body mass. Disease was easily spread in Japanese concentration camps as the prisoners were poorly fed and forced to live in poor living conditions. Physicians would often experiment with the prisoners and sometimes even kill prisoners and dissect them as an example of a human body for training new doctors. Although Japan never actually admitted to using prisoners for dissection, they did violate the Hague Convention of 1906, the clause stating "officers, soldiers, and other persons officially attached to armies, who are sick or wounded, shall be respected and cared for, without distinction of nationality, by the belligerent in whose power they are.” After the dropping of the Atomic Bombs, President Truman Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans" and truly the bombs did save the lives of many.


http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/medical-experiments-on-pows/

http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/pow/pow-jap.html

http://www.historynet.com/american-prisoners-of-war-massacre-at-palawan.htm

http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/22693