'Bad' Sites Created by War and Massacre
From the Jeju April 3 Incident to the Holocaust and the Nanjing Massacre
Why We Must Face Our Dark History

The Holocaust occurred during World War II.
As many as 6 million people lost their lives in this massacre.
Around the same time, in Nanjing, China, Japanese troops brutally murdered 300,000 people in just six weeks.
The history of massacre was neither the beginning nor the end.
Before the Holocaust, there was the Armenian genocide, which Hitler used as an example, and after World War II, there was the Rwandan genocide, where families and neighbors killed each other.

“Who on earth is talking about the Armenian genocide now?”
This is what Hitler said in his autobiography.
Only when we face the back of history can we know what to watch out for and how to act.
The 'bad relics' left behind by war and massacre, which should not have existed, are historical sites that we must remember today to avoid repeating the same tragedies.

The Nanjing Massacre refers to the indiscriminate killing of Chinese prisoners of war and civilians by Japanese troops from 1937 to 1938.
The most infamous of these is the 100-man neck-cutting contest.
Two Japanese officers competed to see who could be the fastest to behead 100 Chinese prisoners.
Surprisingly, the match was covered in Japanese newspapers with headlines like “Unbelievable Record” and “106 to 105, Two Lieutenants Go into Overtime.”
--- p.19 From “Chapter 1_China, Nanjing Massacre”

Their thinking was this:
They said that the problem would be solved if they brought in women from various countries that were then Japanese colonies and operated 'comfort women'.
They thought it would prevent soldiers from contracting sexually transmitted diseases and help Japan avoid being criticized by other countries.
Thus, comfort stations were created all over China.
It is said that there were more than 40 comfort stations in Nanjing alone.
Many women were brought here by force or by deception with promises of money.
Among them were women from our country.
--- p.21 From “Chapter 1_China, Nanjing Massacre”

René Cassin was a French lawyer and Jew who participated in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Having lost 29 relatives in Nazi concentration camps, he wrote a draft of what would happen if human rights were trampled.
And we must all speak together so that everyone can speak freely, practice their religion, and be free from fear and want.
Later, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this content was slightly changed. The Holocaust was the impetus for the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but the lesson was to be made into a principle that all of humanity must follow, regardless of race or religion, not just a specific country or ethnicity.
--- p.56-58 From “Chapter 2_Germany, the Holocaust”

Darangshi Cave was also a place where people gathered to live.
The punitive force, realizing that people were hiding, fired into the Darangshi Cave.
Those who were afraid would have gone deeper into the cave.
Then, the punitive force set fire to the cave and blocked the entrance with a stone as it gradually filled with smoke.
When the place was discovered later, it is said that the people inside the cave had died with their noses buried in the ground or digging the ground with their hands.
--- p.78 From “Chapter 3_Korea, Jeju 4.3”

The bodies of those who were arrested as a precautionary measure and died at Seottal Oreum were not returned to their families until six years later.
However, the bodies were entangled with each other and rotting together with leaves, clothes, etc., making it difficult to even tell who was who.
Eventually, people had to gather the bodies together, hold a funeral, and bury them in the ground.
And they erected a monument inscribed with the names of the victims.
The name of the tombstone was Baekjo Ilsonji Myo (百祖一孫之墓).
It means that more than 100 ancestors died on the same day and in the same place and became one, so their descendants are now one lineage.
--- p.84 From “Chapter 3_Korea, Jeju 4.3”

What fueled the massacre was a broadcast coming through the radio.
The Hutu-controlled radio station broadcasted broadcasts vilifying the Tutsi all day long.
The voice was low and heavy.
“Kill the Tutsi.
They are cockroaches.
“Find the Tutsi living in my neighborhood right now and kill them.”
--- p.101 From “Chapter 4_Rwanda, Tears of Africa”

Rwandans who barely survived the genocide were in the absurd position of having to repay the money they borrowed to buy machetes.
He cried out to the world that it was unfair to demand repayment of the money used to kill his family and friends, but was ignored.
France, which had lent the money, also remained silent.
In the end, the Rwandan people had to suffer from hunger for a long time to repay the money they borrowed from France.
--- p.106 From “Chapter 4_Rwanda, Tears of Africa”

What if the Ottoman Empire had been the first to acknowledge and apologize for the Armenian Genocide? Just as the great powers came together after World War I to ensure such a war would never happen again?
So, what if humanity had recognized that genocide was a clear crime and atrocity? Perhaps the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews might never have happened.
Isn't this why we should remember history?

--- p.186-188 From “Chapter 7_Armenia, Mez Yegern”