The history of militarist aggression is undeniable

The Chinese pavilion at Frankfurt Book Fair hosted an international seminar themed "Tokyo Trial: the forgotten Nuremberg trials", on October 8, 2014. Experts attending the seminar pointed out that compared with the Nuremberg Trials, there is much less research on the Tokyo Trials and it is of much less significance. It is necessary to conduct further research on the Tokyo Trials, confirm the truth, remember the lessons, and prevent the tragedy from repeating itself.

The Chinese edition of the book "After Nuremberg Trial and Tokyo Trial" was published at the seminar. German Professor Manfred Kittel is the author. In the book, he compares Japan with Germany after WWII, and conducts a thorough analysis of the causes and motives behind Japan's lack of introspection which go so far as attempting to deny its guilt. Kittel has stressed that Japanese militarism and German Nazis shared great commonalities in ideology, but Japan refuses to reflect on its militarist aggression, and even tries to deny its history. At the Tokyo Trials, the number of Japanese war criminals was small and the severity of the penalties imposed was low. Japan has been avoiding a proper evaluation of its extreme nationalism and militarism for years.

Kittel condemns Japan's inappropriate behavior towards its history. War criminals are still being remembered and honored at Yasukuni Shrine. A survivor of WWII once commented on Japan's behavior by using the analogy of the Germans building a cathedral in memory of Hitler. Kittel emphasizes that Japan needs to "interrogate" its own role and make changes if it wants to reach amicable settlements with its neighbors.

The CEO of German publisher De Gruyter Sven Fund says that the names of Nuremberg and Tokyo symbolize people's attitude towards crimes against humanity, and he hopes these two countries can come to a clear understanding of their historical responsibilities. The Chinese translator of the book "After Nuremberg Trial and Tokyo Trial" Lu Shu says Chinese academics are now paying more attention to the Tokyo Trials, and a lot of original documents will be classified and published.

According to the director of the administration of imports of the State Administration of Radio Film and Television, Zhang Haifu, the publication of the Chinese version of Kittel's book marks China as a peace-loving nation and a staunch force in protecting world peace, and shows its determination to defend the victories of the Chinese people's war of resistance against Japan and the world's anti-fascism war. China will never allow any distortion of history, nor any repeat of the historical tragedy.

This article is edited and translated from 《侵略历史不容否认和歪曲》, source: People's Daily, authors: Guang Kejiang, Huang Fahong