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In November 1948, the two-year Tokyo Trial came to an end, which ended with the death sentences of Japanese militarists Hideki Tojo and Kenji Dohihara.
On December 23 of the same year, Hideki Tojo, a war criminal who invaded China, stood on the gallows, wearing a black hood and a rope on his body.
Why is the former head of militarism so afraid of death? Why allow yourself to die such an undignified death?
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I want to eat Japanese rice before I leave
Hideki Tojo, a Class A war criminal in World War II, known as the "Hitler of the East", served as a Japanese army general, minister of war and prime minister in the war of aggression against China.
He was also the most powerful Japanese official in the Meiji Restoration, but such a careerist became the biggest culprit of Japan's war of aggression against China, and on September 11, 1945, Hideki Tojo's private residence was surrounded by the Allied Legions.
When the Allied commander gave the order to raid, the soldiers immediately advanced to Hideki Tojo's quarters, each of them well-trained, and once they entered the room, they did not miss a corner, making sure that no clues were left behind.
At this time, Hideki Tojo was standing by the window, he knew that the Allies had come in, and the unwillingness and fear in his heart reached its peak, Hideki Tojo immediately took out a pistol, in fact, since the defeat of Japan, Hideki Tojo has already had thoughts of suicide.
He deliberately asked the doctor to mark a dot on his heart in order to give himself a fatal blow at a special moment, and because he was too nervous, and because Hideki Tojo was left-handed, his arm kept shaking, and finally hit his chest with a "bang".
However, God did not intend to let go of this war demon so easily, and in the end, due to the deviation of the muzzle of the gun, Hideki Tojo failed to kill with one shot, and when the American GIs found Hideki Tojo, they found that he was bleeding profusely and had a gunshot wound to his left chest.
It didn't take long for him to faint, and then the U.S. military took him to the hospital, and after being rescued by military doctors, Hideki Tojo was quickly out of danger of his life, and he recovered his health a month later.
Hideki Tojo then explained why he chose to shoot himself in the heart, mainly so that others could see his face and know that he was dead.
Class A war criminals were sent to the gallows
On February 15, 1946, the Allied High Command appointed 11 judges of the International Military Law System for the Far East on the basis of nominations from the Allied governments.
Before going to the Far East Military Tribunal, Mei Ruao, a Chinese representative, swore: "Since I have been entrusted by the people of the country, I am determined to act according to the law and never let the culprits of the war escape justice!" ”
On May 3, 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East officially opened, known as the "Tokyo Trial", which lasted more than two years, and there were thousands of testimonies enumerating the crimes found in Japan.
On 10 September, the Tokyo trial began with a personal defense process, in which many of the war criminals spoke in unison and refused to admit guilt.
In the court's verdict, 55 crimes were listed, and Hideki Tojo alone accounted for 54 of them, which was the most serious crime, and 28 Class A wars, in order to reduce their crimes, they tried their best to dissociate themselves from Hideki Tojo, including Hideki Tojo's once most trusted subordinate, Akira Muto, the chief of military affairs of the Japanese Army.
Because Hideki Tojo's crimes were too serious and there were too many charges involved, the court decided to put Hideki Tojo on trial last, and he himself was waiting for the court to hear in solitude.
During Tojo's captivity, the Allies provided him with only a modest cell, surrounded by cold walls, with only an iron bed and a desk with paper and pens.
The Allies took a humanitarian approach when guarding these war criminals, and there is a picture of Hideki Tojo in prison, in which Hideki Tojo wants to talk to other prisoners after lunch, but the prisoners only care about eating their own food and have no time to talk to him.
Hideki Tojo talks to the prisoner
At this time, Hideki Tojo was not for a long time, he was once the commander of the Japanese army, if he put aside these colleagues or subordinates who worked with him before, how dare he ignore him? Now that Tojo has lost his power, he has lost his former prestige, and perhaps these people have sprinkled all their old grievances on him.
There is also a picture of Hideki Tojo walking with other war criminals, it is not difficult to find from the photo that Hideki Tojo is holding a cigarette and has a leadership style, while the person on the right is holding his head down, following Hideki Tojo's pace, and can smoke in prison, which shows that the Allies still give these prisoners preferential treatment.
Hideki Tojo holding a cigarette
From Hideki Tojo's imprisonment to the trial, Hideki Tojo waited a full year and seven months, during which time Hideki Tojo did not express repentance for his crimes, but wrote his own defense, revising it over and over again in an attempt to escape the death penalty.
Hideki Tojo wrote a 220-page defense, and after he finished the draft, he said, "I will die without regrets." In court, except for his own defense at the beginning, the rest of the defense was read aloud by American lawyers.
Since a large number of wars waged by Japan were authorized by Hideki Tojo, Hideki Tojo is also generally regarded as the main person responsible for causing tens of millions of civilians killed in the Asian War, as well as tens of thousands of prisoners of war, and researching chemical weapons.
Even if Hideki Tojo denied it again, he would not have escaped death, and what made people feel angry was that Hideki Tojo said openly in court: "Japan's war is an act of self-defense, and the promotion of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere is a decision made in accordance with the will of the Asian nations, not aggression but liberation."
At 3 p.m. on December 12, 1948, the court made a final verdict, and Hideki Tojo was hanged.
Hideki Tojo wanted to eat Japanese food before he died
On December 22, 1948, the night before Hideki Tojo was sentenced to death, prison staff were on patrol when they suddenly discovered that Hideki Tojo was preparing to hang himself in his room.
When the staff saw this, they immediately hugged him, and Hideki Tojo attempted suicide again, and it can be seen from his two suicides that the once invincible war maniac will still be cowardly and timid in the face of reality.
This suicide also made the U.S. military more vigilant, and they immediately sent additional manpower to ensure that Hideki Tojo could walk to the gallows alive, and all Hideki Tojo could do was to wait for death alive.
Before the execution, the prison staff asked him what he wanted to eat. Hideki Tojo replied that he wanted to eat Japanese food, and then the caretaker handed the prepared Japanese rice to Hideki Tojo, at this time he ate quickly, perhaps because he had not had Japanese food for too long, but after eating a few bites, Hideki Tojo thought that this was the last meal, and he was no longer in the mood to eat it.
Hideki Tojo at the time of hanging
On December 23, 1948, the day of hanging finally arrived, and in the early morning of that day, Hideki Tojo walked out of the prison cell, accompanied by prison guards, and walked step by step towards the end of his life.
There were thousands of people at the scene of the gallows, including judges, soldiers, and journalists, and Hideki Tojo was so distraught that he walked 13 steps to the gallows, but it was the end of his life for Hideki Tojo.
When the black gallows was put on his head, Hideki Tojo cried bitterly, afraid of death, and did not look like he refused to confess his guilt in court, he was not repentant but afraid of death.
With the order of the executive officer, the gallows was kicked off, and Hideki Tojo gradually died in pain and struggle, after Hideki Tojo's death, his body was cremated by the U.S. military, and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean, Hideki Tojo was one of the three fascist leaders on a par with Hitler and Mussolini in World War II, and was one of the chief war criminals of Japanese militarism's aggression against China and Asia, and his death was also deserved.
War Maniac
In 1937, Hideki Tojo led the Japanese army to occupy the Northeast region, and he became the chief of staff of the Japanese Kwantung Army.
In February 1940, Hideki Tojo was inaugurated as a provisional military senator, and in July he was appointed Minister of War and President of the Manchurian Affairs Bureau, and he even shouted the slogan of "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."
After Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States, Hideki Tojo ordered an attack on Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and other places, and in less than half a year, Japan invaded 3.8 million square kilometers of land in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Among them, the population of the occupied area was 150 million, and Hideki Tojo ordered the Japanese army to plunder resources frantically, brutally kill local residents, and abuse American and other Allied prisoners of war.
Hideki Tojo's life was a life of crime, his war of aggression against China, as well as the launching of the Pacific War, all allowed the flames of war to spread, and Hideki Tojo's ending was also his own fault.
summary
Today, although Hideki Tojo has been dead for decades, extremism in Japan still exists, and even 14 Class-A war criminals such as Hideki Tojo have been put into the Yasukuni Shrine to pay respects, the evil will never disappear, hatred should always be remembered, and the name Hideki Tojo is deeply imprinted in the hearts of Chinese.
History is a wake-up call and a mission to remember. In the face of the humiliation of the past, we must all the more bear in mind the lessons of history and keep a clear head, and our younger generation should always remain sober-minded, strive for self-improvement, uphold justice, defend peace, and defend human dignity.
References
China News Network2014-09-18 "Hideki Tojo asked to eat Japanese food before he was executed (picture)"
CCTV2015-05-14 "Beijing Documentary-Archive" 20150513 War Maniac Hideki Tojo Walks to the Gallows
Communist Party Network "Fourteen Class A War Criminals Heinous Crime Record"
Xinmin Evening News2021-06-17"It's confirmed! Hideki Tojo's ashes were carried into the Pacific Ocean by the U.S. military"
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