The investigative committee has begun its work, thanks for the equipment. Omok was noticeably pale, as if he'd missed something important.
"How are they?" I asked, not even wanting to start watching, even though I knew it was unavoidable.
"It couldn't be worse. We've always considered our reason superior to our emotions, but what's happening defies logic. It was all pointless." Omok sighed heavily. I quickly got the cognac out and set it on the table. He poured himself some and drained it.
"Can't we skip the process itself and just scan the paperwork?" I asked him. After all, they were entrusted with the entire technology in exchange for this.
"Investigative actions are about documenting facts. Unfortunately, no. I don't really want to know anything about Earth anytime soon. I don't consider myself above them. My ancestors brought our planet to complete ruin: animal life disappeared, everything was polluted. And who knows how our race would have reacted if we had had those who could be declared 'non-human'... but..."
"Omok, you're overcomplicating things. Anyone can be declared 'inhuman.' You don't even have to be of a different nationality. It can be done to political opponents, too. Be proud of your people. You've passed your tests, and passed them with honor." I felt the need to support him. If it weren't for the gravity of the situation, it might even seem ironic. The Goa'uld encourages the Tolan. "I'm sorry I put this on you, but shooting them all wouldn't be justice. They destroyed all their data, and digging through the remaining debris took far more time than I could spare. But Earth needs this inoculation— everyone needs to see this. And understand how vile it is. If Earthlings are unable to condemn them, considering their work something 'useful,' then they are still too immature."
- That makes sense. Thank you.
"Yes, it's surprising that humanity's homeland itself turned out to be more rotten than we thought, especially considering the existence of the Goa'uld Empire in the galaxy. And thank you, Omok."
He left, and I went about my usual routine: receiving reports on the progress of Ra's war with Apophis, sent to me via comms when I transmitted naquadah to the metropolis, information on general regional developments, and other current affairs. I had already introduced Egeria and McVay to the court, so they were perceived as my subordinates. Soon we would travel together to Argos to save the locals from the nanites. Or rather, their nanites had long since stopped working. Like a madman, I used a remote connection via a tape device, tapped into their computer via standard Goa'uld frequencies, and disabled it. Accessing the code was still impossible—apparently only Pelops could do that remotely. But I did have the ability to start or stop the device on a frequency I knew. Egeria was needed for public relations. And I would, just in case, search for information, like the gate addresses.
I hope that when the story with Mengele and Unit 731 ends, Earth will learn something... But then, this is Earth. It feels like the Goa'uld only took the smartest slaves and left the dumb ones behind. It eventually resulted in an episode of "Idiotocracy."
"The Summer of Terror" is how the summer of 1950 is known in historiography. At its outset, Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, contacted the Soviet ambassador to Sweden. The latter's relations with that country were extremely strained: he himself had been persecuted and nearly died in Soviet custody. Nevertheless, it was Wallenberg who provided the Soviet ambassador with a massive amount of information about the atrocities of Unit 731 and other Japanese units operating in China and Indochina, as well as about German human experiments.
The Soviet government sought to bring to justice Lieutenant General Shiro Ishii, the main organizer of biological warfare against the USSR and horrific experiments on living humans. This information became known because some of Unit 731's personnel were captured during the defeat of the Kwantung Army. The United States, however, denied knowledge of Ishii's whereabouts. Wallenberg, however, presented evidence that America had spared the lives of many Japanese war criminals, acquiring their invaluable research in exchange. The diplomat emphasized that the USSR was gaining a powerful tool—the ability to deal a crushing propaganda blow to the United States by accusing it of preparing biological warfare, relying on data personally obtained by the Kwantung Army. Along with irrefutable evidence, the Soviet side also received the archive of the German doctor Josef Mengele, as well as Japanese materials on human experiments. Thanks to painstaking legal work, during which hundreds of people were questioned, despite the fact that procedures did not always comply with Soviet ones, significant evidence was collected.
Wallenberg handed over a similar package of documents to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Great Britain, and Ireland. Soon, a book was published in various languages, revealing the monstrous crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis and Japanese.
The opening lines of this book, whose author remains unknown, have become legendary: "On planet Earth there lives only one intelligent race—humans. Not Caucasians, Negroids, Native Americans, Asians—only one—humans. Anyone who denies any group the right to be considered human is following the path of Josef Mengele and Shiro Ishii, whose degeneration of human nature transformed them into beings worse than the demons of Hell."
Prosecutor's office staff and invited specialists, reviewing archival films (the Japanese had kept them for eight years, and the Soviet Union had received them all), emerged from the viewing room with gray hair, although they had entered with brunettes, blondes, or brown hair. The films contained not only material about Unit 731 but also interrogations of its top leadership. They calmly, monotonously, described the structure of the units, the system for collecting human biomaterial (the Japanese called everyone "logs" to dehumanize them), the course of the experiments, their recording, funding, and the connections of the main players. A mountain of information descended upon the world, causing a worldwide outcry. UN meetings became truly heated, and newspapers were full of headlines. The USSR, for its part, accused Japan of numerous bacteriological attacks during the period of "neutrality," sanctioned by the high command of the Kwantung Army. The world was horrified to learn that Japan had sanctioned the escalation of the plague and its attacks on all its enemies. European countries, which had suffered from the disease many times, were shocked. Mengele's experiments were even more shocking, as he wasn't the only one to lose face—his experiments were approved by the Third Reich's high command. Their funding schemes and the individuals involved—all of this came to light. Many criminals believed the documents had been destroyed. As European journalists later discovered, Unit 731 completely liquidated its base in Harbin: all subjects were killed, and the buildings were blown up. Shiro Ishii urged all personnel and their families to commit suicide, but was convinced to agree to evacuation; he himself had not planned to commit suicide.
Subsequent investigations suggested that an unknown group, who staged the "trial" of Unit 731 and other units, had gained access to the Kwantung Army's reserve archives in Japan. It was no longer possible to question the defendants themselves. Along with all the data, Wallenberg was given photographs of each war criminal. All had been executed by impalement. Some considered the execution excessively cruel, but those who saw newsreels of their crimes, filmed by Unit 731 itself, claimed the opposite—that they had gotten off too leniently. The USSR, relying on the testimony of Shiro Ishii and other high-ranking officers, accused the United States of developing biological weapons based on Japanese data. The United States responded in kind, as the USSR had released the captured Unit 731 officers who had testified. The situation was exacerbated by the Korean War.
The world was plunged into horror, realizing the depths of degradation humanity could reach. At the same time, the trial of SS Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann began in Israel. Later, researchers agree that the group that tracked Mengele also captured Eichmann. Many Nazis fled to South America. Subsequent investigations revealed that certain "white men" had been questioning residents of Buenos Aires about doctors, and a man identified as Josef Mengele was later captured by this group. They disappeared in an unknown direction. For other war criminals, such as Shiro Ishii, there were reports of searches undertaken by a group of "strong white men" who generously paid for any information.
The book presented an abridged version of the war criminals' activities, clearly written by the leader of the "death squad." The author emphasized that none of the "specialists" were brought to trial, as he trusted no government to use immoral data obtained from "demons" for its own benefit. Therefore, the guilty were executed. To justify this, he quoted the head of the US Army's biological division: "They handed over invaluable data, which we would have had to conduct similar experiments to obtain, but we cannot do so for moral reasons." The author noted that such data could advance medicine, but it was obtained through immoral experiments. He wondered: does the concept of "fruit of the poisoned tree" exist in jurisprudence? Can evidence of guilt obtained illegally be used? Typically, in legal practice, such evidence is excluded from cases. The author recommended doing the same, pointing out that one of the Japanese war criminals had managed to found a pharmaceutical company. Would this Japanese doctor have saved many people with his research? The author answered affirmatively, but questioned whether this would set a dangerous precedent that would erode moral standards. After all, Japanese scientists experimented on their own people and even their colleagues—one was vivisected for contracting the plague.
"If your scientists have abandoned moral standards in the name of science, then no one is protected. No one who doesn't have a platoon of machine gunners as security."
In 1950, an international tribunal began its work in Stockholm, based on all the information provided to Raoul Wallenberg. Although there were no defendants and all the investigative work was carried out by unknown individuals, this became the first international trial to bring to light the full details of the German and Japanese bacteriological groups. Sweden carefully guards the original archives, and as soon as more advanced methods of preserving information become available, it transfers everything to new media, ensuring that not a single line is lost.
In the book's preface, the author wrote: "They stripped the names of the people they used as test subjects. Now their names are known only to God, but I can do something else. I want the names of their executioners to resound, so that the mention of Shiro Ishii makes people want to vomit, and their hands instinctively reach for a revolver." Preserving the memory of these horrific atrocities became an important milestone in history. Anti-Japanese sentiment grew across the globe, and many began to wonder: "Perhaps Emperor Hirohito, too, should be impaled?" In this situation, the United States sought to protect its ally, which represented a springboard for the Korean War. Much information leaked to America, despite attempts at control; the case was too high-profile. Upon learning that the United States had pardoned the war criminals, a series of anti-government demonstrations followed. But another scandal had recently erupted: Rear Admiral Charles McVay proved in court that the sinking of the heavy cruiser Indianapolis lay with naval intelligence, which had failed to warn the Pacific Command about Japanese submarines entering designated areas. Now a new scourge awaits: collaboration with war criminals, and most importantly, with the Japanese. Anti-Japanese sentiment was still strong in the United States, and the very fact of any collaboration with them was extremely alarming.
Even though the book was banned in the United States following the murder of several American officers involved in bioweapons, the victims were executed by impalement. This didn't stop those seeking information: people traveled to Mexico, where they purchased the book in clear English, learning details that were then retold. Smuggling flourished. The book revealed a colossal amount of information about the Japanese command's plans to wage biological warfare against the United States. The public was outraged by the government's leniency toward those who were preparing a plague to exterminate Americans. A major scandal erupted, fueled by public indignation. The Korean War, of course, dampened the fervor somewhat, but the very existence of such research remained etched in the memory. The names Ishii and Mengele became household names, embodying the idea of retribution, as the author had intended. Meanwhile, the Nazis were in a panic: their influential representatives were hunted down and eliminated across the globe. There were rumors that the Jews had formed a secret unit to find and liquidate them.
The situation took an even more mysterious turn when one of Adolf Eichmann's closest confidants, a war criminal responsible for the deportation of French Jewish children to concentration camps, was assassinated in Canada. Police cordoned off the crime scene and negotiated with the armed group. The unit's commander declared that he was unwilling to use weapons against ordinary police officers doing their duty, even for his own freedom, and surrendered. This Nazi-extermination unit was led by Mayne Payne, a British Army lieutenant colonel and second in command of the legendary SAS. In a private conversation with a police officer, he admitted to participating in the kidnapping and execution of Japanese war criminals, as well as the arrest of Mengele and Eichmann. While reinforcements were en route to police headquarters, the entire group escaped during the night. The British government faced numerous questions from other countries, but responded that Lieutenant Colonel Payne had not served in the armed forces for many years and that the government was not responsible for his private actions. The United States also charged him with murdering its officers and intimidating those who remained, threatening to infect their families in the event of a retaliatory plague attack using biological weapons. He and his comrades were placed on an international wanted list, which many countries, including Israel and China, did not support. Despite the communist regime, Mayne Paine is revered as a hero who overcame imperialist propaganda and was willing to destroy evil, regardless of the consequences. In his native Ireland, he is considered a national hero, while Great Britain remains lukewarm about his achievements. Japan, for a time, harbored hatred for him, especially from the families of the Squadron members, whose husbands were executed and their families disgraced as "war criminals." It didn't help that Emperor Hirohito was threatened in the book with the same execution that befell the scientists. Of course, it has been confirmed that the book was not written by the lieutenant colonel, as his writing style is different. A lexical analysis confirmed this, but the lieutenant colonel remained the only figure to evoke such intense hatred. On the contrary, subsequent generations of Japanese view the Squads' punishment positively, although the idea of uncontrolled death squads found no resonance in Japanese society. The Cold War, in general, was a difficult time for moralists willing to take up arms to punish scoundrels who transgressed moral standards. However, the Israeli intelligence service Mossad later borrowed many of Paine's doctrines and also took up the search for and elimination of Nazis who had escaped punishment.
The declassification of all Japanese biological warfare data, as well as Josef Mengele's research, horrified the public. Numerous international protocols were adopted in response, prohibiting, in addition to those already in place, the development of biological weapons and immoral experiments. However, many researchers agree that what convinces scientists far more than empty UN resolutions is the knowledge that they themselves could end up on the stakes. After all, the government promised safety and protection to Japanese scientists, but where are they now? It's telling that the plaza, located in an undisclosed location where more than 500 stakes stood, where Japanese and German scientists died, is a more powerful symbol of justice than any UN resolution.
In Stockholm, a museum was established, funded by the Wellenberg family, to commemorate those who perished within the walls of the facility located in Harbin. The originals of all the films and the indictments for every executed Japanese scientist were also kept there. The indictments detailed every crime committed during the entire period of operation of the Kwantung Army's Bacteriological Department; the indictment for each could be read for days. Using various documents, the museum attempts to identify each executioner and each victim. Two escape attempts were recorded from this facility. The first occurred at a testing ground, when the effectiveness of special ammunition was being tested on people. One of the prisoners managed to free himself from the cross to which he was tied and began freeing the others. These prisoners demonstrated complete moral superiority over their tormentors: despite the Japanese considering themselves a superior race, it was the "logs" who did not escape until everyone had been freed. The "master race" plundered its own treasury to open clinics with the money, and encouraged junior staff to commit suicide. The escape failed: all the freed prisoners were caught in vehicles and crushed, but they still had a sense of freedom. A second escape occurred when two Russian prisoners faked illness for one of them and then attacked the guards. The garrison was alerted. Some of the rebels were killed by bullets, others by gas. But these people died a much easier death than the experimenters had in store for them.
The valor of these men was fortunately captured on film by the Japanese, and thanks to this film we know their faces and their courage.
It remains unknown who directed the entire operation and where such detailed information was obtained. However, in recordings and tapes of the interrogation of the Squad members, the investigator repeatedly left the room in tears. Apparently, even those leading the investigation could not bear the information they were receiving. One of them said, "I'll turn to Sarek. I can't stand it, I want to strangle him right here." The identity of Sarek remains unknown, but he may have been the leader of the entire operation. Regardless, the author of this article expresses gratitude to the organization that brought these... representatives of the human race to justice.