In 1937, some of the most horrific and unforgivable acts in all of human history were committed. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, a top-secret chemical and biological warfare research unit was established by the Imperial Japanese Army. This special unit worked at a facility that was billed to the public as a water purification and epidemic prevention facility and was kept secret by some of the most powerful Japanese officials of the time. After World War II, the unit was closed and members of the unit were released without punishment in exchange for data from their experiments. Although some of the data provided by Unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely cruel and unjustifiable, and the punishment was not severe enough to prevent such actions from happening in the future. In 1932, the chief medical officer of the Japanese Army, Shiro Ishii was appointed head of the military epidemic prevention research laboratory. Shortly after Shiro Ishii was put in charge of the research laboratory, he formed a top secret group known as Unit 731 with the goal of developing chemical and biological weapons. Shiro Ishii justified this unity by saying that Western powers also had biological and chemical warfare programs and that Japan desperately needed research in this area. The unit began in a small research center called the Zhongma Fortress, but was soon moved to Pingfang, Manchuria, where they set up a much larger center that "rivaled Auschwitz in size." Shiro Ishii wasted no time in gathering test subjects to use in his experiments and quickly gathered 500 to 600 men, women, and children. The test subjects were a mix of people including prisoners of war, politicians... middle of paper ... although there were many indications that Masaji Kitano was involved, this was never proven. In conclusion, the subject of Unit 731 is very controversial due to the immunity granted to scientists by the United States. Most people believe that the members of Unit 731 should have been punished much more harshly. There is also intense debate over whether the information gained from these brutal experiments was beneficial or simply resulted in a tragic loss of life. Today, in many circles, this situation is considered worse than the Holocaust due to the incredibly sick nature of the experiments performed and the relatively small amount of scientific knowledge gained as a result. Although some of the data provided by Unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely and unjustifiably cruel, and the punishment was not severe enough to prevent such actions from happening in the future..