A Multidimensional Historiography of Unit 731: Japan's Biological Warfare Program, 1932-1945 (2011)

Undergraduate: Steven Lin

Faculty Advisor: W. Miles Fletcher
Department: History

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During World War II, the Japanese military established a secret research division known as Unit 731 to pursue biological warfare experiments in occupied regions of China. To this day, Unit 731 occupies a very controversial place in history, as for decades it has been considered by Japan and most of the Western nations as a hoax. However, since the 1980s the declassification of American military documents and the outpours of testimonies by Unit 731 veterans have warranted a revisit on this topic. This research covers key historiographical concerns relating to Unit 731 by presenting documentary, testimonial, and pre-war historical evidences that allow us to better understand the nature of Unit 731 and why the United States covered up Unit 731’s infamous human experimentation projects. It draws from a variety of international sources using original and translated documents from English, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian sources, in order to present a balanced analysis. This research illustrates how scholarship on Unit 731 is still dynamic and evolving, and contributes to the evolution of scholarship through a presentation of new historiographical approaches.