About the documentary

Name: Truth and Denial - Germany and Japan's Postwar Redemption
Episodes: Four
Length: 23 minutes per episode
Introductions to each episode
	Episode one (click to see the full video) After WWII, the United States exonerated Emperor Hirohito of war crimes, ensuring that it could use his authority to control Japan. Subsequently, Japan was made to partner up with The United States during the Cold War, which left no room for Japan to consider its actions in World War II. On the other hand, the postwar generations of Germany have been brave enough to uncover the scars left by their country's actions in the war and face history head-on.
	Episode two (click to see the full video) Even today, Japanese right-wing politicians continue to deny or blur the facts of the Nanking Massacre to try to distract the general public from seeing the truth. Meanwhile, modern-day Germany has enacted laws to punish those who deny the massacres committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
	Episode three (click to see the full video) Japanese politicians use the Yasukuni Shrine to promote right-wing thought among ordinary people in Japanese society, while German politicians are introspective about the crimes their country committed in WWII, and make efforts to build and maintain a new and noble national identity.
	Episode four (click to see the full video) The success of the EU today is largely based upon postwar reconciliation and cooperation between Germany and France. Germany has made a series of efforts to aid the postwar recovery of the EU, while Japan remains in conflict with its neighbors due to its disinterest in earning redemption.

Commentary

Global Times: Film puts Japan’s invasion under global lens

Japan's view on history will have negative effects on the security and development of Asia and even the whole world. From my point of view, the possibility that Japan will again become the source of war exists, and this is something that the whole world should be alert about.

People's Daily (overseas edition)

The following experts believe that this documentary is very rational, convincing and trustworthy, as well as inspirational.

Zhang Haipeng, a researcher at Institute of Modern History of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, thinks that this documentary will help the public learn more about the attitudes of the German and Japanese governments with regard to their respective actions in World War II, and show their influences on their populations by presenting a lot of historical material as well as interviews with politicians, scholars and ordinary people from China, Germany and Japan.

Li Shian, professor at School of International Studies, Renmin University, said that this documentary is genuine, objective and convincing, with lots of details. He says that some of the details may not even be fully known to history professionals, such as Germany giving land to Poland and Russia after World War II.

Liu Jiangyong, a deputy director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University, says that this documentary presents the different attitudes of Germany and Japan with regard to World War II, and provides a comparison between the two countries' influences on their populations. He says while there have been other documentaries on similar topics, this is an improvement on the others.


Global Times: Berlin’s tough repentance lesson for Tokyo

Some Japanese politicians and scholars have argued that the Japanese government has made apologies to its war victims for dozens of times in both formal and informal settings. But according to a four-episode Chinese documentary called Truth and Denial - Germany and Japan's Postwar Redemption that became popular recently, most of these apologies are full of word play and tricks, and would even be denied days or weeks later by other Japanese politicians and experts.


Read more: War documentary now available in 8 languages


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