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Did Japan Disregard The Geneva Conventions During World War II

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Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources

In the aftermath of World War II there were many allegations that the Axis Powers had repeatedly violated the “rules of warfare”, particularly with respect to abusive treatment of prisoners of war. Consequently, these allegations have been researched thoroughly. Unfortunately most of the focus has been on the abuses of Germany and the Holocaust. There has been much less published research on the actions of the Japanese during this period. So a question that needs to be asked, is “To what extent did Japan disregard the Geneva Conventions during World War II?” One of the main sources studied was Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific, by Gavan Daws. This book is based on interviews with former POWs, collaboration with historians, and research in libraries and archives. Daws is a historian who has taught in universities, worked for UNESCO, and written nine books on Pacific history. The limitations of this book is that much of the information was gained through personal interviews with survivors. As a result, the perspectives are highly biased based on the background of the interviewee. In addition, the Japanese government refused to cooperate with his research, even denying responsibility for the atrocities of the war (this was possibly …show more content…

Despite a surplus of select sources about it – especially information about Nazi Germany and the Holocaust – there is comparably far less information about Imperial Japan under Hirohito, and the atrocities they committed. Historians must dig deep in order find reliable sources, out of the few there are, so they can organize information accordingly. I was forced to call upon numerous sources relating to Japan, just to find any consensus between them. Only then was I able to draw any well-formed conclusions as to what exactly the Japanese had done during World War

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