How should Japanese War Criminals be treated?
An
Exploration
A WebQuest
You are a group of
prosecutors, your job is to prosecute the Japanese soldiers accused of war
crimes during World War II. You will
need to explore all of Japans militaristic history, even as far back as 1931,
to get the complete picture. It is up to
you to be sure that these criminals get the punishment they deserve. You will face the difficulty of having few
witnesses, many are unavailable (either they are now to far away, or are
already dead), so you will have limited sources to prove your case. However,
some of your evidence comes from the future, do not ask how you got it, but use
this information as an opportunity to change the future. It will be your job to
investigate all the evidence and present a report to the president regarding
how best to proceed in the up coming trials.
Task:
Can you change History?
Investigate the
sources available to you, study the pro’s and con’s of each issue, and
determine the best course of action.
Study the
information available to you, the history the reasons to drop the bomb, and
quotes from knowledgeable Americans about why we should never had done it.
Consider:
- China
Prosecutor- study the
evidence of what happened in Nanking, look at photos and study the history
of the War in China see if you can determine the best course of action
against those that are guilty, remember if you feel you need to arrest
more people you can do so. Look for
names in the articles to add to list of those to be arrested.
- Baatan
Prosecutor-Study the
evidence of the treatments of the American POW’s, study the available
testimony and the history of the events that took place. Study the maps and photos for more
information. Look for names in the
articles to add to list of those to be arrested
- Liaison- study one to two of the sites for
each of the prosecutors, come to a general conclusion about possible
prosecution of the Japanese War Criminals.
Use all the information you find to make your decision. Yours is the opinion that will be
presented last to the president. So
you can take into consideration the recommendations of your prosecutors,
or you can make your own choice, that is up to you. Look for names in the articles to add to
list of those to be arrested
When you have done
your research compile your recommendations into a report for the President.
The
http://www.gotrain.com/dan/nanking1.htm
Genocide in the 20th
Century,
http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm
Second Sino-Japanese War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_War_(1937-1945)
Photos of the Rape of
Pictures
of Rape of Nanking.htm
Article on the Rape of
Nanking
Massacre Wikipedia.htm
Fall of
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_of_singapore.htm
Map of Japanese Landings
http://geocities.com/batt2_20/images/Malaya.jpg
Japans push through Burma
- http://www.hellfirepass.com/historical_facts_hellfire_pass.html
- OR click for a Word version
of the above website
Thai-Burma Railroad-view all
pages, see top of first page
http://www.war-experience.org/history/keyaspects/thai-burma/index.html
A brief history
- http://www.tbrconline.com/default.asp?PageID=4
- OR click for a Word version
of the above website
Wikipiedia Article-Bataan
Death March
Bataan, Corregidor, and the Death march in
Retrospect
The road to
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/the_road_to_bataan/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version of the
above website
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/the_bataan_death_march/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version of
the above website
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/the_san_fernando_train_ride/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version
of the above website
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/camp_odonnell/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version of the above
website
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/clark_field_concentration_camp/1.php
- OR
click for a Word
version of the above website
Bilibid Prision eyewitness account-view
every page
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/bilibid_prison/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version of the above
website
Hell Ships eyewitness testimony-view every
page
- http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/the_hell_ships/1.php
- OR
click for a Word version of the above
website
Click to read recent article of Japanese
soldier admitting to war crimes
Philippines-Japanese
treatment of POWS
You have been assigned one of the
following roles for your part in this WebQuest.
Prosecuting
Attorney –
Prosecuting Attorney –
Liaison to the
president -- You are the only contact between your group and to President
Roosevelt himself. You will take the
proposals of the prosecuting and your research of 1-2 of each of your
prosecuting attorneys websites and prepare a comprehensive proposal for the
President. Your final proposal can be different
that the suggestions than your prosecutors.
Yours will be the last report given to the president. Use the proper
format for your proposal.
Evaluation
Ø
You
will be evaluated on the writing quality of your final report, your use of
sources, depth of your analysis, internet use, and how well you worked together
as a group.
Ø
Your
report must be at least one page long.
Ø
You
will also be graded on your notes, so you must turn those in with your report
Ø
Click
here for the Rubric for this
assignment.
Conclusion
Deciding how to punish such crimes is a
difficult task for any attorney, but when these crimes take on the scope of the
Japanese atrocities during WWII, the task is even more difficult. The difficulties you faced doing this
webquest do not compare to the real difficulties faced by the attorneys at the
time. Few Japanese were ever punished
for the crimes against humanity committed during WWII. In many cases it was too hard to find the
perpetrators, the witnesses, and hard evidence tying the two together. Even hard to overcome was the lack of support
for more war trials, remember the Nuremburg Trials were going on in