Page 35 - Unit 731 Testimony

a blood sample of ten cubic centimeters. For people in laboratory
work, this is ecstasy, and one's calling to his profession. Showing
compassion for a person's death pains was of no value to me.

At the lab, I processed the blood sample quickly and then went
back to look into the cell. His face occasionally twitched. His breath
became shallower, and he went into his death throes.

The other four men in the cell, who had the same fate waiting for
them, could not contain their anger. They took water and poured it into
the mouth of the dead man.

This way, an irreplaceable life is trifled with to take the place of a
guinea pig, and the result is one sheet of graph paper.
Four or five soldiers, with drawn guns, opened the door to the
cell. It made a heavy sound. They dragged the dead man out into the
corridor and loaded him onto a hand cart. The other four men,

knowing what their fate would be tomorrow, could not hold down the
anger in their eyes as they watched their dead companion leave.
The hand cart disappeared in the direction of the dissection room

with the tall chimney looming above.

Human experimentation gave researchers their first chance to actually
examine the organs of a living person at will to see the progress of a
disease. Vivisection was a new experience for the doctors of Japan. One
former unit member explained that "the results of the effects of infection
cannot be obtained accurately once the person dies because putrefactive
bacteria set in. Putrefactive bacteria are stronger than plague germs. So, for
obtaining accurate results, it is important whether the subject is alive or

not."
The research methods in Manchuria allowed doctors to induce diseases
and examine their effects on organs at the first stages. Researchers worked

with interpreters to ask about emerging symptoms, and took subjects out of
cells at what they judged to be the time for optimum results. Anesthesia was
optional. According to a former unit member: "As soon as the symptoms
were observed, the prisoner was taken from his cell and into the dissection
room. He was stripped and placed on the table, screaming, trying to fight
back. He was strapped down, still screaming frightfully. One of the doctors