Crime’ of Interpreting: Taiwanese Interpreters as War Criminals of the Second World War

Abstract

After WWII, 173 Taiwanese who had served in the Japanese army were convicted as war criminals. Among the 21 executed Taiwanese, at least 13 were convicted for crimes committed while working as interpreters, formal or informal, during the war. In addition, a handful of Taiwanese interpreters were sentenced to various prison terms. In the Australian, British, Chinese, Dutch, and US courts established in Asian regions, most of those Taiwanese interpreters were prosecuted for crimes against local civilians and prisoners of war. Some were originally recruited as laborers, but they were assigned to ad hoc interpreting duty because of their unique language proficiency and forced into situations where war crimes occurred. They took the responsibility of the Japanese military and suffered the consequences.