During the Second World War, Japan expanded to China and in Southeast Asia. During that time, prisoners of war and civilians were used for experiments on humans. Unit 731 became known for experiments with chemiclal agents and pathogens, such as those causingthe plague, or smallpox. They also did experiments with poison gas. In Japanese, the people were called "maruta," which can be translated as wood, or material. This a similar value judgement than that of Untermensch.