Beijing Review: Remembering the history of Tokyo Trial so that tragedies never repeat

BEIJING, May 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- May 3, 2026 was the 80th anniversary of the opening of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE)—the Tokyo Trial, which aimed to deliver justice after World War II. From May 1946 to November 1948, the IMTFE tried 28 Class-A Japanese war crime suspects. The Tokyo Trial was significant to resuming world peace, reestablishing international order and upholding justice.

Eight months before this anniversary, an English book, Tokyo Trial: Evidence and Judgment of the Nanjing Massacre, was published by the Foreign Languages Press. The book was compiled by experts from the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders and the Institute for National Memory and International Peace Studies.

It consists of historical archives and documents of the IMTFE related to the Nanjing Massacre, and systematically displays the evidence of the Japanese army's atrocities in Nanjing collected by the prosecution as well as judgments made by the tribunal on Class-A war criminals. The historical materials collected in this book include the Charter of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, witness testimonies, documentary evidence, transcripts of proceedings, and summaries.

As a volume of the book series Memories of World War II: The Nanjing Massacre, this book keeps the original texts unchanged despite some inaccuracies related to the names of relevant persons and places, spelling errors and mistakenly used words, but gives explanations in the form of footnotes.

Daniel Filmus, a former minister of education of Argentina, read the book soon after its publication. "The Nanjing Massacre is one of the most horrific war crimes humanity has ever experienced. The condemnation of what happened in Nanjing and the example set by the Tokyo Trial are not sufficiently known in the West," he said. "It is an essential and necessary text, not only because of what happened to Chinese citizens, but also to ensure that it never happens again anywhere in the world."

Evandro Menezes De Carvalho, a professor of international law at Fluminense Federal University in Brazil, said the book is a testimony. "As we turn its pages, we are confronted not only with facts, documents, and legal arguments, but with voices--voices of victims, of witnesses, and of those who refused to remain silent in the face of unimaginable cruelty," he said.

What impresses Carvalho most is a sentence in the book: War, like a mirror, reminds people of the value of peace. "The Tokyo Trial was an attempt to affirm that justice must follow atrocity. That those responsible for crimes against humanity must be held accountable, and that the dignity of human life must stand above power, above war, above silence. To remember is not to cultivate hatred. To remember is to honor the victims, to restore their humanity, and to reaffirm our collective commitment to peace," he said.

Comments to [email protected]

SOURCE Beijing Review