Last Podcast On The Left
Last Podcast On The Left
"The Nazis and the Japanese were strange bedfellows. They had a mutual respect for each other. In fact, Hitler and Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, were, were friends. They liked each other." — Marcus Parks
"The term maruda is, it is, it's, I would say one of the most evil concepts I've ever heard on the face of the planet. I'd say it's, it's more evil than the Nazis because the Nazis at least called them Jewish. The Nazis at least said like, you didn't, you know, like they said a thing, they called them a people." — Marcus Parks
"And the United States, our entire alibi, I mean, we had, we had these people. We knew exactly what they did. We chose to let them go. We said our alibi was that we feared that all of this biological warfare down- We'd get it. We'd get to the Russians." — Henry Zebrowski
The episode begins with a discussion of the speakers' personal experiences and humorous anecdotes, including an elaborate story about riding a horse through Brooklyn. This lighthearted introduction quickly shifts as the hosts pivot to the grave subject matter of Japanese war atrocities during World War II. They detail the horrific events of the "Rape of Nanking," citing firsthand accounts of widespread rape, murder, and systematic brutality that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. The scale of the violence and the callousness of the perpetrators are emphasized, with the hosts struggling to process the depravity.
The discussion then moves to the notorious Unit 731, a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. The hosts describe Unit 731 as a "Disney World" scale of Joseph Mengele's experiments, where human subjects, referred to as "logs" or "marutas," were subjected to horrific vivisections, biological weapon testing, and extreme torture without anesthesia. The episode highlights the lack of remorse from some implicated individuals and the subsequent immunity granted by the United States in exchange for research data, a decision that continues to be a point of contention.
The latter part of the episode explores the efforts of historical revisionists in Japan to downplay or deny these atrocities, including the manipulation of textbooks. The hosts express their disgust at this denial and the ongoing implications. They also touch upon the broader context of war crimes committed by various nations, drawing parallels to the treatment of Native Americans. The episode concludes by discussing bands named after these atrocities, playing snippets of their music, and reiterating the importance of remembering these dark chapters of history to prevent future occurrences.