Dean Aszkielowicz

Japanese War criminals: The politics of justice after the Second World War

Beginning in late 1945, the United States, Britain, China, Australia, France, the Netherlands, and later the Philippines, the Soviet Union, and the Peoples Republic of China convened national courts to prosecute Japanese military personnel for war crimes. The defendants included ethnic Koreans and Taiwanese who had served with the armed forces as Japanese subjects. In Tokyo, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried Japanese leaders. While the fairness of these trials has been a focus for decades, Japanese War Criminals instead argues that the most important issues arose outside the courtroom. What was the legal basis for identifying and detaining subjects, determining who should be prosecuted, collecting evidence, and granting clemency after conviction? The answers to these questions helped set the norms for transitional justice in the postwar era and today contribute to strategies for addressing problematic areas of international law. Examining the complex moral, ethical, legal, and political issues surrounding the Allied prosecution project, from the first investigations during the war to the final release of prisoners in 1958, Japanese War Criminals shows how a simple effort to punish the guilty evolved into a multidimensional struggle that muddied the assignment of criminal responsibility for war crimes. Over time, indignation in Japan over Allied military actions, particularly the deployment of the atomic bombs, eclipsed anger over Japanese atrocities, and, among the Western powers, new Cold War imperatives took hold. This book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the construction of the postwar international order in Asia and to our comprehension of the difficulties of implementing transitional justice.

Repatriation and the Limits of Resolve: Japanese War Criminals in Australian Custody

In 1953, the Australian government repatriated convicted Japanese war criminals. These were the last war criminals held by the wartime allies to be returned to Japan. The Australian governments decision to repatriate war criminals was made after a complex series of negotiations with other wartime allies and within the government itself. At play was the need to balance domestic opinion and the interests of the Australian government with a desire to have similar policies on war criminals to those of key allies such as the United States. Moreover, after 1952, Japan and Australia entered a new era of diplomatic and economic relations, far removed from the immediate postwar years. Official sources reveal that the Australian government aimed to strike a balance between maintaining a tough stance on Japanese war criminals and not hampering the emerging new era of foreign relations with Japan.

The Australian Pursuit of Japanese War Criminals, 1943-1957

Previous scholarship on trials of war criminals focused on the legal proceedings with only tacit acknowledgment of the political and social context. Dean Aszkielowicz argues in The Australian Pursuit of Japanese War Criminals, 1943–1957: From Foe to Friend that the trials of Class B and Class C Japanese war criminals in Australia were not only an attempt to punish Japan for its militaristic ventures but also a move to exert influence over the future course of Japanese society, politics, and foreign policy, as well as to cement Australias position in the Pacific region as a major power. During the Allied occupation of Japan, Australia energetically tried Japanese Class B and Class C war criminals. However, as the Cold War intensified, Japan was increasingly seen by the United States and its allies as a potential ally against communism and was no longer considered a threat to Pacific security. In the 1950s, concerns about the guilt of individual Japanese soldiers made way for pragmatism and political gain when the sentences of war criminals became a political bargaining chip.

Australia’s Pursuit of the Taiwanese and Korean ‘Japanese’ War Criminals

The Australian government was an enthusiastic participant in the postwar prosecution of Japanese class B and C war criminals. Almost 1000 war criminals faced Australian military courts between 1945 and 1951. Around 100 of those convicted were former Japanese colonial subjects of Korean or Taiwanese origin who had served in the Japanese military during the war. Japan lost its empire immediately after it surrendered to the Allies in 1945 and Korean and Taiwanese ‘Japanese’ subjects had their nationality restored to that of their country of origin. Nonetheless, the Australian government continued to regard war criminals of Korean and Taiwanese origin as Japanese subjects for the duration of their prosecution and imprisonment, since they had been so at the time of their crimes. Some argued that the prosecution and imprisonment of war criminals of Korean and Taiwanese origin was unjust because it failed to recognize the difficult circumstances that colonial subjects serving in the Japanese military were in.