2006-11-27
In the news - WWII vivisection admitted
For personal reference. And also because being from South-East Asia and living in Japan, it feels relevant.
Links to the English article here: Vivisection on Filipinos admitted and to the Japanese aricle here: 大戦末期に比で生体解剖 元海軍衛生兵が証言. Articles reproduced below.
The Japan Times
Monday, Nov. 27, 2006
Vivisection on Filipinos admitted
Wartime medic says victims included women, children
OSAKA (Kyodo) A former medic in the Imperial Japanese Navy says he carried out vivisection on about 30 prisoners, including women and children, in the Philippines during World War II.
It is the first time anyone in the wartime military has admitted that experiments were conducted on human beings in the Philippines, said Keiichi Tsuneishi, a professor of science history at Kanagawa University.
Such experiments are known to have been conducted in northern China by the notorious germ warfare Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army and at a Kyushu University hospital.
The former naval medic, Akira Makino, 84, of Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, offered the revelation in a recent interview despite opposition from wartime friends. After keeping it to himself for nearly 61 years, he decided to come forward.
"The souls of those who died would not be soothed if the story remained buried," he said.
Makino belonged to the medical corps of the navy's No. 33 patrol unit and was assigned to Zamboanga air base on Mindanao Island in August 1944.
The experiments on live prisoners began that December, according to Makino. He was 22 at the time.
Ordered by a doctor in his 30s, Makino took two Filipino men captured as U.S. spies to a hospital that had been converted from a school. The doctor told him that vivisection would be performed on them.
The prisoners were undressed and tied to operating tables. Their faces were covered with an ether-soaked cloth so they fell unconscious, he said.
Makino inserted a surgical knife into their bodies as the doctor told him, "You will have to treat patients if I die." Makino said his hands were trembling.
The doctor pointed out the liver of one of the two prisoners, but Makino barely remembered what it looked like, he recounted.
"I thought 'What a horrible thing I'm doing to innocent people even though I'm ordered to do it,' " he said.
The experiments included amputating arms and legs, suturing blood vessels and conducting abdominal dissections. They continued until February 1945 and resulted in the deaths of about 30 people, including women and children, according to Makino.
After the experiments, medical corps personnel strangled the captives with rope to make sure they were dead, Makino said, adding the bodies were buried and the deeds were kept secret.
"I would have been killed if I had disobeyed the order," Makino said. "That was the case in those days."
U.S. forces landed on Mindanao in March 1945. The Japanese soldiers, including Makino, went into hiding in the jungle.
Kanagawa University's Tsuneishi said the experiments signified the deterioration of morale among the Japanese forces.
"But I have never heard of (such experiments) in the Philippines, especially by the navy," he said.
Little in the way of Japanese testimony has emerged about what happened in Southeast Asia during the war because few military units survived, Tsuneishi said.
"With such new testimony as a start, I think we need to re-examine history by interviewing those who survived the war," he said.
Makino has talked about his war experiences while visiting elementary and junior high schools in Hirakata for the past several years, but he did not tell the students about the human dissections because of their graphic nature.
But that may now change.
"We should not let this horrible thing happen again," Makino said. "I want to tell the truth about war to as many people as possible. If I'm given the opportunity, I'll continue to testify in atonement."
西日本新聞
2006年11月25日19時10分
大戦末期に比で生体解剖 元海軍衛生兵が証言
太平洋戦争末期に、旧日本軍がフィリピンのミンダナオ島で行った捕虜の生体解剖を、元海軍衛生兵の牧野明さん(84)=大阪府枚方市=が25日までに証言した。
戦時中の生体解剖は旧満州(中国東北地方)の731部隊や九州大病院のケースが知られているが、フィリピンで行ったという証言はこれまでなかったという。
61年余り家族にも言えず、夢に見るなど苦しみ続け、「なぜ今更」と証言に反対する戦友もいたが「このまま埋もれさせては亡くなった人が浮かばれない」と決意。戦争体験の語り部として、悲惨な歴史を伝えていくつもりだ。
牧野さんは海軍の第33警備隊の医務隊に所属。1944年8月、ミンダナオ島サンボアンガ航空基地に配属された。生体解剖が始まったのは同年12月。22歳だった。
「捕虜を連れてこい」。上官の30代の軍医に命じられ、米軍のスパイとして捕まった住民男性2人を連れて行くと「これから解剖する」と告げられた。場所は病院にしていた学校。おびえきった2人に服を脱ぐよう命じ、手足を手術台に縛りつけた。顔に布をかけエーテルをかがせると、数分で意識を失った。
「おれが死んだらおまえが治療をしなくてはならないから」と軍医に言われ、震える手で腹にメスを入れた。「これが肝臓だ」。軍医に示されたが、頭に入らなかった。「命令とはいえ、罪のない者に何とむごいことをしているのか」。心の中でわびた。
手足の切断、血管縫合、開腹手術−。生体解剖は翌45年2月まで続き、女性や子どもを含む約30人が犠牲になった。軍医の「おい、やるぞ」という一言で始まり、息を吹き返すことがないよう最後にロープで首を絞めた。遺体は部下が運び出して埋め、解剖は医務隊だけの秘密にされた。
「命令に逆らえば殺される。そんな時代だった」と牧野さん。45年3月、米軍がミンダナオ島へ上陸。日本兵はジャングルを敗走した。「必死で逃げながら空を見上げたら、真ん丸な月が出ていた。故郷でも見てるのかと思うと、心細くて涙が出た」
牧野さんは数年前から枚方市の小中学校で語り部活動をしている。「生々しすぎ」生体解剖の話はしなかったが「こんな悲惨なことを二度と繰り返してはいけない。1人でも2人でも戦争の真実を伝えていきたい。機会があれば、償いの証言を続ける」と話す。