In 1937, some of the most horrific and unforgivable acts in all of human history were committed. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army established an ultra-secret chemical and biological warfare research unit. This special unit worked in a facility that was passed off to the public as a water purification and epidemic prevention facility and was kept secret by some of the most powerful Japanese officials of the time. After World War II the unit was closed and its members were released without punishment in exchange for data from their experiments. While some of the data provided by Unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely and unjustifiably cruel, and the punishment was not severe enough to prevent such actions from occurring in the future. In 1932 the chief medical officer of the Japanese Army unit, Shiro Ishii was put in charge of the army's epidemic prevention research laboratory. Soon after taking charge of the research laboratory, Shiro Ishii formed a top secret group known as Unit 731 with the aim of developing chemical and biological weapons. Shiro Ishii justified the unit by arguing that Western powers also had biological and chemical warfare programs and that Japan desperately needed field research. The unit began in a small research facility called Zhongma Fortress but was quickly moved to Pingfang, Manchuria, where they set up a much larger facility that "rivaled Auschwitz in size." Shiro Ishii wasted no time gathering subjects to use in his experiments and quickly collected 500–600 men, women, and children. The test subjects were a mix of people that included prisoners of war, politicians... half of paper... although many indications pointed to Masaji Kitano's involvement, this was never proven. In conclusion, the subject of Unit 731 is highly controversial due to the immunity granted to scientists by the United States. Most people believe that the members of Unit 731 should have been punished much more extensively. There is also intense debate as to whether or not the information gained from the brutal experiments was beneficial or whether it was simply a tragic loss of life. In many circles today it is considered worse than the Holocaust due to the incredibly sick nature of the experiments conducted and the relatively low amount of scientific knowledge gained as a result. While some of the data provided by Unit 731 was useful, the experiments that took place were extremely and unjustifiably cruel, and the punishment was not severe enough to prevent such actions from occurring in the future..