Chapter 18 1. German and Japanese war criminals behave differently

The world after the Second World War has formed a bipolar pattern that has lasted for decades. The United States and the Soviet Union confront each other, and each draws a group of small partners to form two camps.The bipolar structure is also called the Yalta system. Under the Yalta system, the US-Soviet Cold War situation was formed.Under the Cold War, the US-Soviet struggle for hegemony began.The bipolar structure actually started in 1945, and the Cold War started in 1947.The US-Soviet rivalry for hegemony began in the mid-1950s, and ended in 1991 with the Warsaw Pact and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

After World War II, the United States became the number one power in the world, and Western European countries generally declined.Militarily, the US monopolizes nuclear weapons, and economically, the US-led Bretton Woods system has been established. Due to the huge loss and destruction of Britain in the war, the capitalist world currency centered on the British pound has become difficult to maintain. To rebuild the post-war world order, it is necessary to establish a mechanism that is conducive to the sustainable and stable development of the world economy. The Second World War impacted Europe's central position in the world, and Western European countries generally declined.The economic strength of the United States expanded unprecedentedly during the war, and it has an overwhelming advantage in the field of industrial production. Its gold reserves account for more than half of the total reserves of the capitalist world. It has also established a dominant position in international trade and finance, becoming the number one in the capitalist world. strong country.The United States is trying to establish a world currency system dominated by itself in order to establish its hegemony in the world economy.

In July 1944, representatives of 44 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and China, held the United Nations International Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA, referred to as the "Bretton Woods Conference".The meeting adopted the "Final Protocol of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference" and its annexes based on the US plan. These documents are collectively referred to as the "Bretton Woods Agreement".According to the agreement, two international monetary and financial organizations, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, were established, collectively known as the Bretton Woods system.

In 1945, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, were formally established. The purpose of the International Monetary Fund is to stabilize the international monetary system, and its main task is to stabilize the international exchange rate; strengthen international cooperation on currency issues, and provide short-term loans to member countries experiencing temporary difficulties in the balance of payments. The purpose of the World Bank at the beginning of its establishment was to devote itself to the economic recovery of post-war Europe, and later turned to global development assistance, providing long-term loans and technical support to member countries.

With its strong economic strength, the United States has subscribed the most funds and obtained the largest voting rights. Therefore, the United States has obtained absolute control over these two institutions. The International Monetary Fund stipulates that the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and gold is fixed, and the U.S. dollar acts as the equivalent or representative of gold, and the exchange rates between the currencies of each member country and the U.S. dollar are basically fixed.As a result, the United States has grasped the economic lifeline of the capitalist world. So far, a world currency system centered on the US dollar has been established, known as the "Bretton Woods System".

The impact of the Bretton Woods system is that it provides a unified standard and foundation for world currency relations, stabilizes the world economic order to a certain extent, and creates conditions for the recovery and development of the world economy.This system has also strengthened the privileged and dominant position of the United States in the international financial field. And because of the world economic crisis from 1929 to 1933, governments of various countries stepped up trade protectionist measures, which caused further shrinkage of international trade and deepened the crisis.

In 1947, 23 countries including the United States and China signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.Its purpose is to reduce tariffs, reduce trade barriers, and achieve international trade liberalization.It objectively created a free trade environment and promoted the development of the post-war world economy. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have become the three pillars for the post-war adjustment of world economy, trade and finance.The emergence of the three pillars is a reflection of the development of the world economy towards systematization and institutionalization.On this basis, the post-war capitalist world economic system was formed.Today, the three pillars of the Bretton Woods system - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (today's WTO) are all operating normally and playing a role.

In the early days after the war, the only country that could compete with the United States was the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union could only compete with the United States politically and militarily, but not economically, so it was doomed to fail in the future.But the U.S. military had 12 million troops in 1945, and only 1.4 million in 1947. They were all demobilized and stopped fighting. There was no need for the country to maintain such a large army.The Soviet army cannot be demobilized. After demobilization, there is nothing to do. The factories are all blown up. Why should they be demobilized?Therefore, the Soviet Union maintains a terrorist army of more than 5 million people all year round.Therefore, the military strength of the Soviet Union is strong, and the economic strength of the United States is strong, forming a balance.

If war broke out, the Soviet Union would definitely fight Europe.In fact, the more developed countries are today, the more they are afraid of war, and the easier it is to fight.The Europeans said that if Moscow decides to attack on Sunday night, Munich can be captured on Monday morning, Paris on Wednesday, Athens and Madrid on Saturday, and before the American allies arrive from across the ocean, the whole of Europe will be in danger. Fallen.Because the Soviet Union is all armored forces, advancing quickly.The roads in Europe are very good and suitable for the march of armored troops.If you arrive in Afghanistan, the mountain roads are rugged and you can only ride donkeys. The American soldiers will definitely not be able to ride the Taliban; you said that I want to drive up the armored vehicle, sorry, there is no way; Your war resources, there are no war resources at all; I want to blow up your economic center, it has no economic center, please blow it up.How much is a bomb?Is it worth ten yuan to blow up a Taliban tent?It doesn't cost ten cents to fry Vietnamese bamboo houses, they are all built by themselves.Therefore, the backward is invincible, and the advanced must be afraid of being defeated.

Due to the balance of power between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United States and the Soviet Union divided their spheres of influence from the Elbe River to the 38th parallel according to their own strategic intentions.Whoever is the boss has the final say, you are younger than me, you are my second child, listen to me, I point east, you can't point west.The Yalta system fully embodies the characteristics of a great power. An important aspect of international relations after World War II is the handling of German and Japanese fascism.I have seen two photos. One is that on December 7, 1970, West German Chancellor Brandt visited Poland and knelt down at the Holocaust Memorial.In the drizzle, no one offered him an umbrella, so he just knelt there.The victims on the monument were not killed by Brandt, he was a staunch anti-Nazi fighter.However, he said that I feel remorse for the crimes committed by the German nation. Although I did not kill these people, they were killed by my compatriots, so I want to repent.The other one is a photo of Japanese prime ministers worshiping ghosts at that time. Beginning with Takeo Miki, Yasuhiro Nakasone, Ryutaro Hashimoto, and Junichiro Koizumi, successive prime ministers all went to worship the Yasukuni Shrine.Why did the prime minister of West Germany kneel to the victims and the prime minister of Japan salute the murderers?In addition to the different cultural genes and national concepts of the two countries, an important reason is that the two countries are treated differently.

After the war, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France implemented divisional occupation of Germany, and the Nazi war criminals were severely punished.The Nuremberg International Military Tribunal in Europe tried Nazi war criminals. Why should Nazi war criminals be tried in this place?Because the previous Congresses of the Nazi Party were held in Nuremberg, the death penalty for the Nazi Party was announced in this place.Both the SS and the SA were declared criminal organizations. If you joined the Nazi Party or the SS, you were a member of a criminal organization. Now that you have withdrawn, you were once a member of a criminal organization. 12 Nazi class A war criminals went to the gallows. When these Nazi class A war criminals went to the gallows, no one shouted "Heil Hitler". There was a Nazi war criminal Hans?When Frank was hanged, he said that a thousand years is easy to pass, but the sins of Germany are hard to erase.Most of these Nazi war criminals have realized their mistakes.When the Japanese war criminals went to the gallows, they shouted "Long live the Great Japanese Empire" and "Long live His Majesty the Emperor", and there was one person leading the way. Everyone shouted three times in unison, and then they went to the gallows.That is to say, even the German Nazi war criminals made a confession when they were dying, "When a person is about to die, his words are good." The Soviet-occupied area became the later Democratic Germany, and the British, French and American-occupied areas later became the Federal Republic of Germany.Mr. Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, was released from a concentration camp by the Allied forces.The old man has been a German politician since the 1920s and 1930s and the Weimar Republic, and he opposed the Nazis.As soon as the Nazi Party came to power, he went to a concentration camp.This old man is really hardworking, he has not been tortured to death for so many years.After he was released, he hated the Nazis more than the Soviets.How far was Germany de-Nazified?In Germany, it is illegal to buy or sell souvenirs from the Third Reich era.You bought a German Iron Cross from a German veteran. You either admired the Nazis or thought the medal was very beautiful. You took it out of the customs. Luckily for you, you will be found out. You can’t handle it. will be sentenced.Public officials who spread Nazi-related remarks and salute Nazis in public will be sentenced to prison. It can be seen that the degree of repentance of the Germans is very obvious, which is why Brandt knelt down to the Holocaust Memorial.At that time, the world press commented that when Brandt knelt down, the Germans stood up. On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany announced its surrender. Every May 8th is Liberation Day in Germany, and the Germans should solemnly commemorate it.Therefore, Germany's reflection is very thorough and remarkable. Why are Japan's anti-fascist measures not in place? China and the United States contributed the most to defeating Japan.China held back the main force of the Japanese army, but Japan’s technical arms—the navy and air force—were eliminated by the United States. Therefore, China and the United States contributed the most. At the beginning, the United States imagined that China, the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom would occupy Japan, the Soviet Union would occupy Hokkaido, and the United States would occupy Honshu. , Britain occupies Kyushu, and China occupies Shikoku Island.As a result, the United Kingdom said that I would not go. I was in a difficult situation, and I was unable to occupy Germany.It is certainly impossible to expect countries such as Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Philippines to occupy Japan.It is said that New Zealand sent more than a dozen people, one platoon, to direct the traffic there, which is considered to have fulfilled the obligations of the allies.The United States can only pin its hopes on China, because the United States least wants the Soviet Union to occupy Japan, so it gave the Soviet Union the most backward Hokkaido. At that time, Admiral Shang Zhen of the Republic of China had already set off with the members of the contingent. The headquarters was located in Sendai, and the signs were all hung up - the headquarters of the occupation forces of the Republic of China in Japan.The United States asked Chiang Kai-shek to go to an army with more than 30,000 people; Chiang Kai-shek said to go to a brigade with several thousand people.Later, after bargaining, I planned to go to a division, which was the 206th Division of the Kuomintang Youth Army.The Kuomintang Youth Army is composed of intellectuals among the Kuomintang troops. The general soldiers have a junior high school education or above and belong to the elite troops.They were given new military uniforms and new weapons. After boarding the ship, the ship did not sail eastward, but sailed northward, occupying Shenyang and robbing the northeast.Therefore, the Chinese occupation of Japan fell through, and it became the monopoly of the United States.If China does not come, the United Kingdom does not come, and the Soviet Union wants to come, but the United States refuses to let it, and the United States monopolizes Japan with carelessness. The five-star general MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the US military stationed in Japan, became the overlord of Japan, and he reformed Japan according to his own intentions.Many Japanese war criminals were pardoned. The biggest difference between the laws of the British and American countries and China is the presumption of innocence.Chinese law used to be a presumption of guilt. When I arrested you, I already considered you a criminal.In the past, there were often such reports in the news that in the process of fighting criminals, so-and-so died heroically.Now we suddenly understand that the judge has the final say on whether he is a criminal, not the police, let alone the city management.So if you want to prove him guilty, you have to produce evidence.However, in China’s eight-year war of resistance, the government has been torn and displaced, and the evidence collected is not enough. The Japanese have learned the lessons of Germany, and the Germans are rigorous in their work. I even wrote down how many people I burned to death in the concentration camp today. charges for trial. So, in the month before Little Japan surrendered, every office in all the offices was on fire, why?Busy burning archives.When you interrogate him, if you can't produce evidence, then there is nothing you can do.The American trial of Japanese war criminals is based on their own interests. Anyone who has anything to do with Hideki Tojo (one of the main criminals of Japanese fascism in World War II and a representative of Japanese militarism) is definitely a war criminal, and has nothing to do with him. Much better.Hideki Tojo was the Prime Minister of Japan when he attacked Pearl Harbor. The Americans hated Tojo so much, so Tojo was the first war criminal to be arrested.Tojo attempted suicide with a shotgun. He hit the heart, and the shot missed. The Bushido spirit has not been carried forward. Why don't you dare to have a laparotomy?In the end, Tojo was hanged by the Americans. The most interesting thing is that there is a staff officer of Tojo, named Ken Sato, with the rank of lieutenant general.Under Japan's military rank system, lieutenant generals are worthless, there are hundreds of them, and Sato was promoted only when the war was about to cease.Just such a person, because of his close relationship with Tojo, was given a Class A war criminal.This kid was very proud when he went to court, saying that I, a little lieutenant general, actually got a Class A war criminal like the prime minister of the cabinet. I feel like I was promoted. It feels so good to stand with the generals up. The three culprits who launched the "September 18 Incident": Itagaki Seishiro and Doihara Kenji were Class A war criminals who were later hanged; the other Ishihara Kanji was fine.He was the number one person who launched the "September 18th Incident". He was the one who made the plan, and the other two carried it out.But Ishihara Waner disagreed with Tojo. He said that Tojo's brains were only good enough to be a senior soldier, not a general at all. Moreover, he opposed war with Britain and the United States, and advocated using China as a base to attack the Soviet Union and occupy the Far East of the Soviet Union. Yes, because there are too many Japanese people, they have to immigrate there.Therefore, he quit active duty in 1941. When the International Military Tribunal for the Far East opened, Ishihara surrendered himself, but was rejected twice.He said you are not arresting war criminals?I'm here, why don't you get me a Class A war criminal?I didn't expect that the court would not accept it. You are not a war criminal. Go home.The second time he came again, he was driven home again.Shi Yuan was in a hurry, how could someone like me not be a war criminal?It's too embarrassing for me!At any rate, I was a respectable figure in the Japanese military circle, but in the end I didn't even get involved with a war criminal. It's too shameful. Will you let me live?I will have to hang out in this area in the future.Later, Seishiro Itagaki and Kenji Doihara went to the gallows, but Wanji Ishihara was on the witness stand.Why did they go to the gallows?When the two of them surrendered in Japan, one was the commander stationed in Singapore and the other was the commander stationed in Indonesia, and they tortured and killed Western prisoners of war.However, because of Shi Yuan's opposition to war with Britain and the United States, nothing happened.Shigeru Yoshida, the first prime minister of Japan after the war, was the Consul General in Fengtian in 1928. He participated in the Huanggutun Incident that killed Zhang Zuolin. He was involved in many plots to invade China.When he was in Hideki Tojo's cabinet, he was the Minister of Industry and Commerce and the Minister of Colonial Affairs. He resigned because he opposed war with Britain and the United States. It is said that this person was a heinous crime to China, but because he opposed war with Britain and the United States, nothing happened. Served as prime minister for a long time. How unreasonable!Germany is an anti-Nazi fighter and Japan is a war criminal.In addition, the Americans saw the great power of the emperor, and ordered more than 3 million Japanese soldiers to put down their weapons and surrender obediently. Therefore, the emperor must not be killed, otherwise it would hurt the feelings of the Japanese people too much. But what went wrong with keeping the emperor?The Japanese soldiers believed that I was fighting for the emperor, he was not guilty, and we were even more innocent, and we did not reflect.Therefore, the lingering poison of Japanese militarism has not been eliminated.