Thursday, April 14, 2005
The forgotten history of the Pacific War
42,693 pages of lost stories from the Second World War
It's surprising to me that so few people use the transcript of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, best known as the Tokyo war crimes trial, when they are looking for the history of the war in the Pacific, whether they are academics or simply searching for personal or family information.
There was a posted question on the Far East Prisoners of War mailing list asking about the execution of three British soldiers at Changi Beach on Singapore in March, 1942. I was able to answer that question because I knew from my own research that there had been testimony at that execution at the trial.
Those 42,693 pages include the evidence, including testimony and affidavits, together with the prosecution and defense summations. There is more, the judgment and dissents, for a total of 22 volumes.
That trial transcript has been neglected for years. One reason is that unlike the Nuremberg trial in Germany, the Tokyo transcript was not published at the conclusion of the proceedings. A second, as some scholars have pointed out, there's been a 60-year tendency to see Tokyo as less important.
As a journalist, I find it similar to what they say in newsrooms, the story's been done.
The transcript of the Tokyo trial was finally published in 1981. It's The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, Pritchard, R. John and Zaide, Sonia Magbanua. 22 volumes vols. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1981.
When I checked out some volumes of the trial from the Osgoode Hall Law Library in Toronto as I was working on my Masters degree, in 2001, I was the first person to borrow those books in the 20 years the set had been held by the library.
What makes it a historical gem is its excellent index. Almost every key name mentioned at the trial from Tojo Hidecki to American GI privates, British Tommies and Aussie Diggers can be found in that index.
Then there are the exhibits, which again have remained mostly untouched in the archives around the world for all those 60 years, and never used by historians.
Part of the Sonkrai Tribunal includes the official Japanese investigation of the Burma Thailand Railway. I am borrowing the idea from the various Abu Ghraib reports which are named for the generals who issued those reports, I am calling it "The Yoshimoto Report" after Yoshimoto Shigeeki, who signed the final draft.
And that Tokyo transcript is not just relevant to those who may trying to find out about relatives who were prisoners of war. Part of the defence in the Pearl Harbor phase of the trial was that the surprise attack was, to some in the Japanese government, a justified pre-emptive strike, a defence which was, of course, rejected by the tribunal but is somewhat relevant today's world.
(If anyone is interested in the Far East Prisoners of War list, it is a moderated list on Yahoo Groups.
The direct link is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fepow-Community )
9:01 AM posted by Robin Rowland
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42,693 pages of lost stories from the Second World War
It's surprising to me that so few people use the transcript of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, best known as the Tokyo war crimes trial, when they are looking for the history of the war in the Pacific, whether they are academics or simply searching for personal or family information.
There was a posted question on the Far East Prisoners of War mailing list asking about the execution of three British soldiers at Changi Beach on Singapore in March, 1942. I was able to answer that question because I knew from my own research that there had been testimony at that execution at the trial.
Those 42,693 pages include the evidence, including testimony and affidavits, together with the prosecution and defense summations. There is more, the judgment and dissents, for a total of 22 volumes.
That trial transcript has been neglected for years. One reason is that unlike the Nuremberg trial in Germany, the Tokyo transcript was not published at the conclusion of the proceedings. A second, as some scholars have pointed out, there's been a 60-year tendency to see Tokyo as less important.
As a journalist, I find it similar to what they say in newsrooms, the story's been done.
The transcript of the Tokyo trial was finally published in 1981. It's The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, Pritchard, R. John and Zaide, Sonia Magbanua. 22 volumes vols. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1981.
When I checked out some volumes of the trial from the Osgoode Hall Law Library in Toronto as I was working on my Masters degree, in 2001, I was the first person to borrow those books in the 20 years the set had been held by the library.
What makes it a historical gem is its excellent index. Almost every key name mentioned at the trial from Tojo Hidecki to American GI privates, British Tommies and Aussie Diggers can be found in that index.
Then there are the exhibits, which again have remained mostly untouched in the archives around the world for all those 60 years, and never used by historians.
Part of the Sonkrai Tribunal includes the official Japanese investigation of the Burma Thailand Railway. I am borrowing the idea from the various Abu Ghraib reports which are named for the generals who issued those reports, I am calling it "The Yoshimoto Report" after Yoshimoto Shigeeki, who signed the final draft.
And that Tokyo transcript is not just relevant to those who may trying to find out about relatives who were prisoners of war. Part of the defence in the Pearl Harbor phase of the trial was that the surprise attack was, to some in the Japanese government, a justified pre-emptive strike, a defence which was, of course, rejected by the tribunal but is somewhat relevant today's world.
(If anyone is interested in the Far East Prisoners of War list, it is a moderated list on Yahoo Groups.
The direct link is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fepow-Community )
9:01 AM posted by Robin Rowland
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