Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime​

Main Defendants
Book cover of
Yamada Otozoo
Yamada Otozoo was born in 1881 in Tokyo. He became a Commander-in-Chief in 1944, a post he held
until the end of the war, serving the Japanese Kwantung Army and ranked as a General. He supervised the activity of Unit 731 and 100 in order to prepare for bacteriological warfare. His responsibilities included inspecting the units, monitoring the situations in the units through reports from his staff, and taking measures to keep the units in a constant state of military readiness.

He stated in his testimony, “Detachment 731 was directly subordinated to me, as Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army. I had charge of the tactical direction of Detachment 731 in all matters concerning the production of bacteriological weapons and their use. This meant that if the necessity arose to employ bacteriological weapons against enemy forces, it was I that would have to give the order to this effect, since Detachment 731 was a special combat unit under my control.” 

Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment
Book cover of
Kajitsuka Ryuji
Kajitsuka Ryuji was born in 1888 in the town of Tajiri. He was trained as a physician and bacteriologist, and was the Chief of Medical Administration for the Japanese Kwantung Army starting in 1939 and ranked as a Lieutenant General of the Medical Service by the end of the war. He was an early believer in biological weapons. Even as early as 1931, Kajitsuka was an active supporter of Ishii Shiro. He became one of the initiators of research on methods of employing bacteriological weapons. By 1934-1936, he became the head of a division of the Medical Administration of the Japanese War Ministry. He then recruited the necessary expert staff for Unit 731. He was well informed on the activities of Unit 731.

His testimony states the following, “... I was well informed ... that Detachment 731 experimented continu-
ously on human beings with the object of discovering the most effective types of bacteriological weapons. I knew that Detachment 731 employed bacteriological weapons in 1941-42 against the Chinese Army and Chinese civilians.”

​Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment
Book cover of
Takahashi Takaatsu
Takahashi Takaatsu was born in 1888 in the town of Honze. He was trained as a biological chemist. He was Chief of the Veterinary Service of the Japanese Kwantung Army from 1944 and by the end of the war, he was ranked as Lieutenant General of the Veterinary Service. His responsibilities included directly supervising the activities of Unit 100, and he had an active role in preparing for bacteriological warfare.

​His testimony stated the following: “I directed the preparations for bacteriological warfare and bacteriological sabotage against the Soviet Union... I gave orders for Detachment 100 to prepare, and controlled its production of the bacteria of glanders and anthrax and the virus of cattle plague and mosaic
disease, with a view to their employment in bacteriological warfare and bacteriological sabotage against the Soviet Union.”

​Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment
Kawashima Kiyoshi
Kawashima Kiyoshi
Kawashima Kiyoshi was born in 1893 in the village of Hasunuma. He was trained as a physician and bacteriologist. By the end of the war, he was the Chief of the Production Division of Detachment 731 of the Japanese Kwantung ranking as Army Major General of the Medical Service from 1941 to 1943. He was responsible for organizing the mass production of bacteriological weapons and human experimentation.

His testimony states the following, “In April 1941, just after I arrived to take up my post in the detachment, I inspected the prison, and in one of the cells I saw two Russian women, one of whom had a year-old child, born in the detachment’s prison. During the period I was with the detachment these women were alive. Their subsequent fate I do not know, but at any rate, these women could not have left the prison alive, and the same lot as that of the other prisoners must have befallen them... I acknowledge that the methods we employed of experimenting on human beings and of their mass annihilation by the action of lethal bacteria were barbarous and a crime against humanity.”

​Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment

The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial:
Unearthing Biological Warfare in WWII

The Khabarovsk War Crime Trial consisted of hearings held between the 25th and 31st of December, 1949.
The depositions alone filled 18 volumes with 400 pages of interrogations and documents gathered in the investigations four years after the war was over. Although there were 1000-1600 audience members each day for the trial, it was not covered by Western media because Khabarovsk was a remote destination for any foreigners to visit.
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Although Harbin belonged to China, it always had close ties to Russia due to the close proximity of its location. Russia had enjoyed working in Manchuria as it provides ports with no ice and milder temperatures compared to their mother country. From 1896-1903, Harbin grew from a small village into a metropolitan city due to the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway financed by the Russian Empire and backed by French bankers. It was later extended to connect to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Many Japanese saw great opportunities in Manchuria as it became a Japanese colony, and it offered more opportunities for power-hungry scientists. The conquest of Manchuria allowed the Japanese Empire to grow its confidence and let ultra-nationalistic officials take over the government. As an opportunist, Ishii seized this opportunity and used his family’s influence to obtain funding from the War Ministry to establish a biological weapons lab.
The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2