Hitler and the Nazis

[Cardinals.Ken]

I was going to ask if there are any documentaries or movies talking about Japanese atrocities. I find it confusing that history pretty much glosses over what they did and focuses on what the Nazi's did. Don't get me wrong, there nothing wrong with discussing Nazi atrocities but if you're going to tell the story of WWII, tell it all, both the European and Pacific theaters. I mean, the Japanese went so far as to eat POW's and the Bataan Death March was a Sunday school picnic compared to what they did to the Chinese.

I wondered often about that myself. I'm sure there was a bit of racism involved to a certain extent, we didn't have the best track record with the Chinese or Japanese here in the States. I also remember reading that the war crimes tribunals setup in Japan after the war didn't go very far up the chain of command (as part of their "unconditional" surrender) because the US didn't want to "upset the apple cart" since many in the Imperial army and navy were still more than willing to fight to the last man. I guess that mentality just carried over in terms of history.

 

[Bert]

Just want to follow up on this.

In the 3 months since I discovered this documentary, I have spent a huge amount of my free time diving into all things WW2.

This is just how I am, once I get interested in something, I cant get away from it. I have to know everything. There is SO MUCh to know about this war. So many atrocities and horrors, but also so many heroes and amazing stories, brave tales and most of all, hope.

I want to thank you guys for your suggestions on things to read and watch. I have watched every film/documentary that has been suggested, I have read 3 books, listened to a couple on Audible as well and am currently about halfway through an amazing book THE STORY OF WORLD WAR 2 by Commanger and Miller. It is basically nothing but first hand accounts. My DVR is half full of WW2 documentaries and I even went to a lecture about it on Memorial day.

Anyways, I wont get too deep into it because this is the TV shows part of the forum, but let me just say that World War 2 is probably the most interesting topic I have ever studied, and though now, knowing what I didn't know, I see how flawed this original documentary was, it sparked my interest and has enriched my life along with you guys and your knowledge and opinions on this.

Now I just need some people to talk WW2 with, lol. My friends are all quite amused that I have become a historian but really, anyone that I talk to about it is very interested. I think its one of those things that is so long ago and was so horrible, people dont want to discuss it. But once you get into it, you see that the greatest tribute we can pay to these people is to simply remember them.

 

[Shaggy]

I was going to ask if there are any documentaries or movies talking about Japanese atrocities. I find it confusing that history pretty much glosses over what they did and focuses on what the Nazi's did. Don't get me wrong, there nothing wrong with discussing Nazi atrocities but if you're going to tell the story of WWII, tell it all, both the European and Pacific theaters. I mean, the Japanese went so far as to eat POW's and the Bataan Death March was a Sunday school picnic compared to what they did to the Chinese.

Read Unbroken, the true story of the life and the POW life of Olympian Louis Zamperini. If you are not into reading books, watch the movie but the book goes into way more detail. That will show how bad it was for thousands of POWs in Japan.

 

[Shaggy]

Just want to follow up on this.

In the 3 months since I discovered this documentary, I have spent a huge amount of my free time diving into all things WW2.

This is just how I am, once I get interested in something, I cant get away from it. I have to know everything. There is SO MUCh to know about this war. So many atrocities and horrors, but also so many heroes and amazing stories, brave tales and most of all, hope.

I want to thank you guys for your suggestions on things to read and watch. I have watched every film/documentary that has been suggested, I have read 3 books, listened to a couple on Audible as well and am currently about halfway through an amazing book THE STORY OF WORLD WAR 2 by Commanger and Miller. It is basically nothing but first hand accounts. My DVR is half full of WW2 documentaries and I even went to a lecture about it on Memorial day.

Anyways, I wont get too deep into it because this is the TV shows part of the forum, but let me just say that World War 2 is probably the most interesting topic I have ever studied, and though now, knowing what I didn't know, I see how flawed this original documentary was, it sparked my interest and has enriched my life along with you guys and your knowledge and opinions on this.

Now I just need some people to talk WW2 with, lol. My friends are all quite amused that I have become a historian but really, anyone that I talk to about it is very interested. I think its one of those things that is so long ago and was so horrible, people dont want to discuss it. But once you get into it, you see that the greatest tribute we can pay to these people is to simply remember them.

I am not sure if this was posted here or on another forum, but I found this VERY interesting, and sad. This site is a interactive site that shows the number of deaths that occurred in WWII. Check it out and watch the whole video.

http://www.fallen.io/ww2/

 

[BW52]

If you want to read about Japanese treatment of Allied prisoners I recommend this book.
SHIP OF GHOSTS by James D. Hornfischer. It tells the story of the crew of the USS HOUSTON (FDRs favorite ship) after being sunk in the Java sea early in WW2.The survivors brutal treatment over 3 years and the incredible work they where forced to do under extremely primitive conditions will shock you.It is a very good book and tell how cruel the Japanese treated Allied Prisoners.

 

[Dr. Jones]

You want a crazy book? The Rape of Nanking. Total Insanity

 

[Bert]

Yes that has been one of the biggest wow factor things for me in my study as of late. I think I had the same layman, high school history knowledge of WW2. I went to college but I never took one history class the whole time, now I wish I had. But I really didn't know all the atrocities that the Japanese committed in the war. The Nazis definitely took first in being terrible, but the Japanese were not far behind and I dont think most people nowadays are knowledgeable about it. I know I wasn't. The Bataan death march and other horrible war crimes they committed might not even be the worst they did,,, In one of the books I'm reading they talked about Dolittles raid on Tokyo, how it didn't accomplish much but was a huge inspiration for this country, which it was. But what people dont know, is that Japan "punished" Chinese civilians who helped Americans. Here is a story about it:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...anese-attack-doolittle-raid-180955001/?no-ist

Just unbelivable, like it's so terrible that you cant even bring yourself to believe it.

The crazy thing is that, in a lot of cases the cruelty of the axis soldiers was so bad that it drove a lot of allied soldiers to snap and do some aweful stuff too.

Basically everyone lost their minds in WW2 for long stretches of time. It was truly a horrible chapter in human history.