Louis Zamperini: The Ethical Treatment Of Japanese Prisoners

Following the Geneva Convention documents of 1929, prisoners of war were supposed to be treated in a very particular and respectful way. Instead of being treated as inferior, prisoners were supposed to be treated in ethnic ways, live in healthy conditions and be fed. Unfortunately, for Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner and also an American fighter pilot was taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II. After barely surviving in the pacific ocean on a raft for 47 days, Zamperini was taken to a Japanese prison camp, where things did not get much better for him. Zamperini suffered the negative effects of a prison camp and also witnessed and experienced first hand the unethical ways the Japanese treated other prisoners and himself. The United States followed the Geneva Convention and treated their prisoners in fair, ethical, and humane ways. German prisoners who were held in America, were nourished, lived in hygienic and comfortable living spaces and were not overworked. Viewed as other human beings, the German prisoners were respected and also received …show more content…
The Japanese had no respect for the prisoners since the prisoners surrendered and in the eyes of the Japanese, surrender meant you were a coward. For the Japanese, the word surrender is not in their vocabulary, if you were a Japanese soldier, you either died in battle or survived through the war. In result to this strong belief, the Japanese didn’t even view their prisoners as human beings, rather they viewed them as trash and cowards and treated them according to that belief. Any signs of exhaustion or disobedience was not taken lightly by the guards and to them, meant the prisoner was showing disrespect. To the Japanese, surrender meant you had given up your rights and you were no longer a “human being,” this is the main reason why the prisoners of the Japanese were treated so