On this date, December 23, 1948, Seven
Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo
Prison in Tokyo, Japan. I will post information about one of the condemned
convicts, Kōki Hirota from Wikipedia.
Kōki Hirota (廣田 弘毅
Hirota Kōki)
|
Prime
Minister of Japan
|
|
In
office
9 March 1936 – 2 February 1937 |
|
Monarch
|
Shōwa
|
Preceded by
|
Keisuke Okada
|
Succeeded by
|
Senjūrō Hayashi
|
Personal
details
|
|
Born
|
14 February 1878
Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan |
Died
|
23 December 1948 (aged 70)
Sugamo Prison, Japan |
Political party
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Independent
|
Alma mater
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Tokyo Imperial University
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Kōki Hirota
(廣田 弘毅 Hirota Kōki, 14 February 1878 – 23 December
1948) was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as the 32nd Prime
Minister of Japan from 9 March 1936 to 2 February 1937. Originally his name was
Jōtarō (丈太郎?). He was executed for war crimes
committed during World War II.
Early
life
Hirota
was born in Kaji-machi dori (鍛冶町通り)
in what is now part of Chūō-ku, Fukuoka city, Fukuoka Prefecture. His father
was a stonemason whose family name was Tokubei (徳平),
and who was adopted into the Hirota family. Tokubei married Take (タケ), a daughter of the president of a
Japanese noodle company. On 14 February 1878, the couple had a son, whom
Tokubei named Jōtarō (丈太郎?). They later had three more children.
Tokubei's name is engraved on the epigraph which recognized masons who
contributed to the construction of a statue of Emperor Kameyama in Azuma park (東公園) in Fukuoka city.
Hirota's
writing was recognized as good from a young age; the name plate of the torii
gate of Suikyo Shrine was written by Hirota when he was 11. After attending Shuyukan,
he continued his education at Tokyo Imperial University and graduated with a
law degree. One of his classmates was postwar Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.
Name plate at Suikyo Shrine written by Kohki
Hirota when he was 11 years old
|
Diplomatic
career
After
graduation, Hirota entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to become a career
diplomat, and served in a number of overseas posts. In 1923, he became director
of the Europe and America Department within the Foreign Ministry. After serving
as minister to the Netherlands, he was ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1928
to 1932.
In
1933, Hirota became Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Saitō
Makoto, just after Japan withdrew from the League of Nations. He retained the
position in the subsequent cabinet of Admiral Okada Keisuke.
As
Foreign Minister, Hirota negotiated the purchase of the Chinese Eastern Railway
in Manchuria from Russian interests. He also promulgated the Hirota
Sangensoku (the Three Principles by Hirota) on 28 October 1935 as the
definitive statement of Japan’s position towards China. The three principles
were the establishment of a Japan–China–Manchukuo bloc, the organization of a
Sino-Japanese common front against the spread of communism, and the suppression
of anti-Japanese activities within China.
Prime
minister
In
1936, with the radical factions within the Japanese military discredited
following the 26 February
Incident, Hirota was selected to replace Okada as Prime Minister of
Japan. Hirota placated the military by reinstating the system by which only
active-duty army or navy officers could serve in the Cabinet posts of war
minister or navy minister. The military had abused this system in the past to
bring down civilian governments.
In
terms of foreign policy, the Anti-Comintern Pact
with Nazi Germany and Fascist
Italy was signed during his premiership. This treaty was the
predecessor to the Tripartite Pact
of 1940.
Hirota's
term lasted for slightly less than a year. He resigned after a disagreement
with Hisaichi Terauchi,
who was serving as the war minister, over a speech by Kunimatsu Hamada. Kazushige Ugaki was appointed as his
successor, but was unable to form the government due to army opposition. In
February 1937, Senjūrō Hayashi
was appointed to replace Hirota as prime minister.
Second
diplomatic career
Hirota
soon returned to government service as foreign minister under Hayashi's
successor, Prince Konoe Fumimaro.
During his second term as foreign minister, Hirota strongly opposed the
military's aggression against China, which completely undermined his efforts to
create a Japan-China-Manchukuo alliance against the Soviet Union. He also spoke out repeatedly
against the escalation of the Second
Sino-Japanese War. The military soon tired of his criticism and
forced his retirement in 1938.
In
1945, however, Hirota returned to government service to lead Japanese peace
negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still
under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all
declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade Joseph Stalin's government to stay out of
the war, but he ultimately failed; the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in
between the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Koki Hirota listening to his death sentence
being read by Sir William Webb, 1948
|
Final
days
Following
Japan's surrender, Hirota was arrested as a Class A war
criminal and brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
He offered no defense and was found guilty of the following charges:
- Count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
- Count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China)
- Count 55 (disregard for duty to prevent breaches of the laws of war)
He
was sentenced to death by hanging, and was executed at Sugamo Prison. The severity of his sentence
remains controversial, as Hirota was the only civilian executed as a result of
the IMTFE proceedings. It is often stated that the main factor in his death
sentence was the fact that he was party to information about what is now known
as the Nanjing Massacre,
about which he is alleged to have telegraphed to the Japanese embassy in Washington D.C. As foreign minister, Hirota
received regular reports from the War Ministry about the military's atrocities,
but lacked any authority over the offending military units themselves.
Nonetheless, the tribunal condemned Hirota's failure to insist that the
Japanese Cabinet act to put an end to the atrocities. Other possible factors in
Hirota's sentence included his signing of the Tripartite Alliance, and the
antipathy of China's Kuomintang government towards the Hirota Sangensoku,
which they viewed as providing justification for Japan's aggression against
China in the Second Sino-Japanese War (which began during Hirota's second term
as Foreign Minister).
Honours
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure (1933)
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1934)
Notes
- 城山三郎1974『落日燃ゆ(新潮社)--Saboro Shiroyama 1974 Rakujitsu moyu
- 『水鏡天満宮』福岡市中央区HP (Fukuoka city Chuo ward HP (Japanese))
- Stephen Lyon Endicott, Diplomacy and enterprise: British China policy, 1933–1937, p. 118
4.
The Complete Transcripts of the
Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, reprinted
in R. John Pritchard and Sonia Magbanua Zaide (eds.), The Tokyo War Crimes
Trial, vol. 20, 49,816 (R. John Pritchard and Sonia Magbanua Zaide, eds.
Garland Publishing: New York and London 1981)
INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dki_Hirota
Kōki Hirota
(February 14, 1878 – December 23, 1948) was a Japanese diplomat, politician and
the 32nd Prime Minister of Japan from March 9, 1936 to February 2, 1937. In
terms of foreign policy, the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist
Italy was signed under his cabinet. This treaty was the predecessor to the
Tripartite Pact of 1940. In 1945, however, Hirota returned to government
service to lead Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. Following
Japan's surrender, Hirota was arrested as a war criminal and was brought before
the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was sentenced to death
by hanging, and was executed at Sugamo Prison.
Sourced
- If you want to maintain the superiority of your state at the present time, you must quickly enter into a coalition with Germany and Italy and thus restrain Europe and create a firm foundation for imperial policy in the Far East.
- Quoted in "Japan at the Crossroads" - Page 64 - by Walter Smith - 1936.
- As you can see, I'm in good health. I have no message; just tell them, please, that I went to my death quietly and in good health.
- Quoted in "War Criminal: The Life and Death of Hirota Koki" - Page 296 - by Saburō Shiroyama - 1977.
- I am having a very difficult time. Things happen unexpectedly.
- Quoted in "The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire" - Page 49 - by John Toland - History - 2003.
- Japan cannot remain indifferent to anyone's taking action, under any pretext, which is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order in st Asia for which she, if only in view of her geographic position, has the most vital concern.
- Quoted in "Modern Japan: A Brief History" - Page 135 - by Arthur E. Tiedemann - 1962.
- Other powers will continue to enjoy an equal right to trade in and develop the natural resources of the occupied territory, for the economic development of which the investment of foreign capital is very desirable.
- Quoted in "British Relations with China" - Page 138 - by Irving Sigmund Friedman - History - 1940.
- We have successfully built up our national strength and prestige, accepting and adding to our civilization the art and science of the West. Now, I believe, the time has come for us to carry our art and culture to other countries.
- To the Japanese Parliament on January 21, 1936. Quoted in "The Virginia quarterly review: A National Journal of Literature and Discussion" - Page 164 - by University of Virginia - 1936.
- I investigated reported Japanese atrocities committed by the Japanese Army in Nanking and elsewhere. Verbal accounts of reliable eyewitnesses and letters from individuals whose credibility is beyond question afford convincing proof that the Japanese Army behaved and is continuing to behave in a fashion reminiscent of Attila and his Huns. Not less than 300,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered, many in cold blood.
- Quoted in "Nanking 1937: Memory and Healing" - Page 56 - by Robert Sabella, Fei Fei Li, David Liu - History - 2002.
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