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| |  | | Koki Hirota | | | context : | Japan  | | judgement place : | Tokyo IMT | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) for war crimes and sentenced to death; executed on December 23, 1948 | | position : | Prime Minister of Japan (1936-1937), Foreign Minister until 1938 |
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| | | | Koki Hirota was born on February 14, 1878 in Fukuoka Prefecture and graduated with law degree from Tokyo Imperial University. He entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to become a career diplomat, and served as ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1932 before becoming foreign minister in 1933, the same year of Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. In 1936, the emperor Hirohito named Hirota Premier. He stayed in office until February 2, 1937. As premier, he led his cabinet in planning the invasions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, in addition to continuing the undeclared war against China.
Hirota's government signed its first treaty with Germany. However, early in 1937, Hirohito named a new premier, General Hayashi, who lasted only four months. The emperor then named Prince Konoe Fumimaro as Premier. Hirota held the position of Foreign Minister until his retirement in 1938.
During Hirota's second tenure as foreign minister, late in 1937, Japanese forces marched into Nanking. Thousands of innocent civilians were buried alive, used as targets for bayonet practice, shot in large groups and thrown into the Yangtze River. Rampant rapes (and gang rapes) of women ranging from age seven to over seventy were reported. The international community estimated that within the six weeks of the Massacre, 20,000 women were raped, many of them subsequently murdered or mutilated; and over 300,000 people were killed, often with the most inhumane brutality.
While Hirota was not in charge of the army units that invaded Nanjing, he was well informed about the massacre. The international community had filed many protests to the Japanese Embassy. Bates, an American professor of history at the University of Nanking during the Japanese occupation, provided evidence that the protests were forwarded to Tokyo and were discussed in great detail between Japanese officials and the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo.
The military forced Hirota to retire in 1938. In 1945, however, Hirota came back onto the diplomatic scene by leading Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade Stalin's government to stay out of the war, but he ultimately failed: the Soviets entered the war between the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Japan | | | date of birth : | | | 14.02.1878 | | | period of charges : | | | 01.01.1928 - 02.09.1945 | | | judgement period : | | | 06.05.1946 - 12.11.1948 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 08.07.2006 |
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