In 1937, Japan started a war against China, in search of more resources to expand its empire. In 1941, during World War II, Japan attacked America which is when the Allies (Australia, Britain etc.) then declared war on Japan. Before long the Japanese started extending their territory closer and closer to Australia and started taking surrendering troops into concentration camps where they were starved, diseased and beaten. When they were captured, one survivor reports that they were told ‘You are the guest of the Japanese you will be spared but not your country. We are going to conquer the world, annihilate your people, and every household will have a white slave.’ (www.riv.conz). In 1942, groups of people were taken from all of the camps and sent to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway. In 1864 the Geneva Convention was formed internationally. The Convention laid down rules concerning the treatment and protection of prisoners during wartime. The Japanese did not follow this Convention as they continuously mistreated many prisoners including Australian troops/soldiers and civilian prisoners. The Japanese saw the prisoners in camps as people who surrendered, therefore they were considered weak and cowardly because of a belief that the Japanese held that soldiers should die out respect for their emperor and country, known as the Bushido Code. A medical officer at the time was told by a Japanese commander, ‘You are not our equals; you are our inferiors...Some Japanese will die in the making of this railway. POW’s will also die. You have spoken of the Geneva Convention and humanity. In present circumstances these things do not apply.’ (Iggulden, 2009, p.22) In 1949 the rules of the Geneva Convention were reinforced international... ... middle of paper ... ... succeeding weeks, largely as a result of this calculated brutality.’ (Iggulden, 2009, p.22) Some people died when the Allies continuously bombed the railway, unaware that their own people were working on it and creating more work for them to do. The Burma-Thailand Railway was a place where prisoners were sent to work during their time in captivity. The Japanese treated the prisoners they held captive horribly. In doing this they ignored the rules of the Geneva Convention set up many years previously and they forced most prisoners to work on the Burma-Thailand Railway where they were starved, diseased or beaten to death. The Japanese officials did not supply the camps with enough food or medical equipment to help enough of the sick and injured prisoners survive and became responsible for the deaths of over 2,700 Australians during a period of only 12 months.
prison camp by the Japanese. Only a year later were they safe in American arms
What were the Japanese internment camps some might ask. The camps were caused by the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1942 by Japan. President Roosevelt signed a form to send all the Japanese into internment camps.(1) All the Japanese living along the coast were moved to other states like California, Idaho, Utah, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. The camps were located away from Japan and isolated so if a spy tried to communicate, word wouldn't get out. The camps were unfair to the Japanese but the US were trying to be cautious. Many even more than 66% or 2/3 of the Japanese-Americans sent to the internment camps in April of 1942 were born in the United States and many had never been to Japan. Their only crime was that they had Japanese ancestors and they were suspected of being spies to their homeland of Japan. Japanese-American World War I veterans that served for the United States were also sent to the internment camps.(2)
POWs had to work for food at Changi. Men were made to load ammunition onto the ships. If they did not do this, they didn’t get any food, simple. Prisoners were also made to clean the sewers that were damaged as a result from the attack on Singapore. If prisoners were too sick to work for their food, they would rely on others who could share with them. Sharing such small rations of food became a way of life and mate-ship at
Stetson Conn (1990) wrote “For several decades the Japanese population had been the target of hostility and restrictive action.” It was easy for the government to take advantage of the Japanese-Americans because they were already the target of aggression. Since the Japanese population was already in such a low position in society, taking advantage of their circumstances was easy for the government. The Japanese found themselves having to defend their presence in a country that was supposed to be accepting; this also happened to the Chinese before the Japanese. (Terry, 2012)
It is a fair judgment to claim that the United States treated their POWs better than Japan. The cultural differences between the two nations were immense and greatly contributed to the treatment of prisoners. Virtually all information available agrees with these two statements. However, one must not forget that the victors write history and there may be more sides to this already complicated topic.
America’s well–entrenched racism against Asians resulted in enhanced levels of brutality against Japanese soldiers, when compared to the other enemy soldiers they encountered during World War II. Legislation in the United States demonstrated racism against Asians for decades. Asian immigrants and citizens fought these discriminatory rulings, only to receive opposition against their plight. Persistent racial discrimination towards the Japanese caused a sense of resentment of Japanese soldiers in the United States military. During several campaigns, American General Infantry displayed ruthlessness against Japanese conduct of war.
During world war 2, prisoners who were captured by the japanese were given unfair consequences for the things that they did. Louis Zamperini and Phil were both held captive in a japanese war camp and were beaten by the guards with sticks. When Zamperini
The Japanese leaders had different methods of killing that were instructed to the soldiers. However, the prisoners of this “City of Blood” soon found their liberation and their justice was served. The Japanese saw China as the place to spread their imperial and expansionist objectives. A rough estimate of 300,000 Chinese men and women died in the six weeks after December 13, 1937 (Jones). Around 20,000 women from ages 8 to 70 were raped by Japanese soldiers (Scarred).
At this time, Japan was in the Far East, and Asia was in turmoil. Imperial Japan invaded China and various other territories in 1937, which made them a real strong ally for Nazi Germany.... ... middle of paper ... ...
World War II officially began in the late 1930's and Japan had joined at that time, but it wasn't the entire battles that made the war famous. What made it famous exactly? It was something that showed the world Adolf Hitler's true colors, something that was rumored to be used by America in World War II, and it was feared by all who saw it, or worse, walked into it. Even know it was Germany's concentration camps that were ruthless, Japan's POW camps were just as brutal, and in some cases, even worse.
Japanese camps were a place where people were treated as less than nothing. The guards took great pride in dehumanizing all the POWs that were within their camps. This could be seen in a variety of different actions that the guards took. Japanese guards treated the different POWs as less than human and took great joy in making them act like animals.
Prisoners of War were separated from their families, they were not allowed much contact with them either. Even though the prisoners were supposed to be able to communicate with their families through the International Red Cross, the Japanese did not stick to these terms. However, some internees would sneak out during their breaks to meet up with family members or friends. They would give them updates about the conditions in the civilian world. The British were stripped of their freedom and titles in society. Their self esteem was most likely damaged when they had to be road sweepers and do laborious work they would not usually have to do. They had to show proper respect to the Japanese soldiers by bowing whenever they passed by. If they did not do so, they would be severely punished. The Japanese separated the Prisoners of War by gender, male and female. Therefore, there was less interaction between genders. The Japanese also controlled the media and newspapers that the internees saw or read heavily. Thus, connections to the outside world was limited. Although, some British would hide a wireless. One example of where they kept it secretly was in the head of the broom and the legs of a table.The horrific torture the prisoners had to survive left a big impact even when out of the camp. Many had to attend rehabilitation to assimilate back to
In Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken, Japanese POW camp director Watanabe was exceptionally brutal in his treatment to the prisoners. “Watanabe beat POW’s everyday, fracturing their windpipes, rupturing their eardrums, shattering their teeth, and leaving men unconscious” (Hillenbrand 243). On most Zamperini’s accounts there were clear violations of the Geneva Convention, including Article 26 which is that food and water should be in enough quantity. World War II alone, millions of POWs were captured and millions were killed in the hands of their captors. A prison camp in Changi, Japan men were left unattended to their diseases and injuries. “At Changi, we were hungry and sick, and men began dying, but the Japanese usually left us alone” (historynet.com). Japanese prison camps were known for having brutal and terrifying prison camps where thousands of men were killed. These camps would force the prisoner to do hard manual labor and they were not given the proper nutrients from the rare food that they were given to
Beyond the raping and the torture of the POWs, the Japanese would randomly murder people as they fired their rifles into crowds of civilians. Other troops killed shop owners, loot the stores and then would set the buildings on fire after locking people inside. People were shot on a whim, littering the streets with corpses; the Japanese even had “killing contests” throughout the city . If they were not shot inside the city, the Chinese were brought to the outskirts of Nanjing where they were forced to dig their own graves and be buried
Perceiving mainland Asians(would orientals be a better or worse term?} as being below them, and all occidental and African peoples being even further below them. The Japanese actions are, by modern standards, universally unacceptable and a hindsight horror, but what would their atrocities look like if we altered our perspective to match those that committed them. The nigh genocide of the coastal Asian countries would look less horrible, and more like controlling the population, or the experimentation done by unit 731. To the Japanese these weren't human rights violations, but population control or simple animal testing, which drastically reduce the severity of their actions. Keeping in mind that Japan was, at this time, trying to find its place in the world, breaking a long history of on again off again isolationism. One could argue that Japan at that time was akin to a child who hadn't learned right from wrong yet. Now having moved past its supremely regimented hierarchical way of life that developed with Bushido in the prewar period, the prior analogy becomes more feasible, as they were simply trying to apply their own methodology to a world entirely foreign to said