Shozo Tominaga

Shozo Tominaga (富永 正三, Tominaga Shōzō, 1914 or 1915 – January 13, 2002)^[1] was a Japanese war criminal turned peace activist.

Tominaga served in Manchuria during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In that time, he participated in many war crimes.^[2] He served with the 39th Division, based in Hiroshima, and from July 1941 onward served in Central China.^[3] Tominaga was captured during the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. As with many other Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, he was interred in a harsh POW camp in Siberia. In 1950, he was handed over to People's Republic of China.^[4]

Tominaga was released in 1957 and returned to Japan.^[5] That same year, he co-founded a peace activist group^[1]

In 2001, shortly prior to his death, he participated in the Japanese documentary film Japanese Devils (Riben guizi).^[6]

Notes

1. Obituary: Shozo Tominaga. Japan Times, January 15, 2002
2. Reily et al., 305
3. Article about Tominaga
4. Cook, 463
5. Cook 40 says he left Japan in June 1941. Cook 468 says he arrived home 16 years later.
6. Data at IMDB

Sources

• Cook, Haruko Taya; Theodore F. Cook (1992). Japan at War: An Oral History. New Press. ISBN 1-56584-039-9.
• Reilly, Kevin Taya; Stephen Kaufman; Angela Bodino (2003). Racism: A Global Reader. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-1059-0.

External links

• "Recalling Japanese POWs' Life in Fushun" (China Daily August 25, 2005)