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Lot 134: Premier Kori Hirota Signed Photo

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:700.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Lot  134: Premier Kori Hirota Signed Photo
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Rare Signed Photo of Japanese War Criminal!</b>

<b>KOKI HIROTA, Japanese Premier and Foreign Minister; the only civilian executed as a war criminal at the Tokyo war crimes trials.</b>
Signed Photo, in Japanese, 6.75' x 9.5, sepia-toned; boldly signed in black ink. Choice Extremely Fine; a tiny crease in the lower left corner is the merest taint. Accompanied by a 'spectators pass, good for one trial session' of the Far East Tribunal; and with a magazine clipping showing all the Japanese leaders as their verdicts were read.

Having opposed the militarists and demanded, upon learning of the 'Rape of Nanking', that such atrocities by stopped, Hirota expected to escape charges of war crimes. Instead he was held criminally liable for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military, despite his position as a civilian leader. His execution was meant to serve as an example that the doctrine of command responsibility had been, and would in future be, extended to civilian authorities exercising control over military forces.