Two major syntheses revisit lesser-known aspects of the Second World
War: the Asian front and the Soviet front. These comprehensive syntheses
offer a history of the Second World War in Asia and the USSR from a
grassroots perspective. These two regions bore the brunt of the war's
violence. The total number of victims there exceeded 50 million,
representing more than 80% of the total deaths during the conflict. The
authors reconstruct the main military operations but give central
importance to eyewitness accounts and, above all, demonstrate that this
war was primarily a war against civilians. The war in Asia began in
1937—or even in 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria—and ended after
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
As in Nazi Germany, Japanese nationalists considered themselves superior
to other Asian peoples. This sentiment was compounded by an imperial and
anti-Western view that Europe had corrupted and impoverished the
country. These factors legitimized the annexation of neighboring
countries and, above all, authorized the massacre of civilian
populations. The first example of these massacres was the destruction of
Nanjing. It was accompanied by the murder of 30,000 to 60,000 Chinese
soldiers and 30,000 civilian victims. The Japanese army also engaged in
widespread wartime rape. These practices of rape and mass murder
continued throughout the war. In 1945 in Manila, while the Japanese army
was in retreat on all fronts, the last fighters in this pocket massacred
nearly 1,000 people in a similar manner. Simultaneously, the Japanese
reduced first the captured Chinese to a state of near-slavery, and then
the entire population of the continent, including the Indonesians, who
were subjected to the same treatment. Thus, Margolin lists the
systematic methods of looting, plundering, and mass murder practiced by
the army. A welcome synthesis of the often-forgotten violence of this
part of the world. The chapter on Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be extended
by two works that highlight the reversal of violence.
The first is Keiji Nakazawa's manga, Barefoot Gen. It recounts the lives
of the city's inhabitants after August 6, 1944. Literally, Gen is a
contraction of several terms meaning symbol, chemical, vitality, and
courage. The protagonist lost most of his family in the bombing. His
pacifist father, ostracized by Japanese society, dies, as do his brother
and sister. The work analyzes the long process of reconstruction in a
society still dominated by nationalism, violence, and racism. Thus,
Koreans are seen as inferior beings. The protagonist, as a
counter-example, dreams of a different Japan; Gen and his brother choose
life and friendship. Keiji Nakazawa also discusses the American presence
in the archipelago.
While the geopolitical dimensions of the American presence in Japan
after 1945 are evident, Michael Lucken demonstrates that it cannot be
reduced to this perspective alone. There was a pragmatic vision. The
primary objective was to re-educate the Japanese, not in the way the
Soviets might have done by establishing a dictatorship, but to instill
in them the fundamentals of freedom and equality through national
reform. While the early years were marked by an educational focus, a
conflict quickly arose between Japanese leaders and the Americans, the
latter twisting the principles of liberty to embrace the myths of
Imperial Japan. Ultimately, faced with this rejection, which was
nonetheless accepted by the majority of the population, the Americans
abandoned this approach to refocus on economic interests.
Alexandre Sumpf's synthesis analyzes the dual phenomenon of violence
perpetrated by both the Nazis against the Soviets and the Party-State
against its own people.
The signing of the German-Soviet Pact of 1939, while offering a respite
to the USSR, was also, in a sense, a "phony war" and the beginning of a
war of conquest for the USSR, with the annexation and Sovietization of
the Baltic states and eastern Poland. This was accompanied by the Katyn
massacre and the deportation of some of the elites from the annexed
territories to Siberia. This "phony war," however, was the prelude to a
temporary defeat. The USSR was not ready for a large-scale conflict, and
the Great Terror had only exacerbated the situation, as demonstrated by
the disastrous attempted invasion of Finland. Operation Barbarossa
caught the high command off guard. This debacle was accompanied by a
scorched-earth policy; wherever the Red Army retreated, it left nothing
behind. It massively relocated part of the population to the rear of the
front: more than 3 million people and several hundred factories. At the
same time, the Nazis were practicing mass terror, murdering nearly one
million Jews by shooting and killing several hundred thousand other
Soviet citizens in the same way. The disaster continued until mid-1942.
On July 28, 1942, Order 227 forbade soldiers from taking "one step
back." The Soviet regime resorted to repression; NKVD detachments
executed 158,000 people for desertion or treason, and nearly one million
were court-martialed and sent to disciplinary units. The violence
against traitors was accompanied by calls for revenge against the enemy,
as evidenced, for example, by Ilya Ehrenburg's poem, "Kill Me." In both
cases, the war was accompanied by wartime rape; the author notes that
nearly 10 million women were raped by Germans between 1941 and 1945.
Stalingrad symbolizes the turning point. Within a year, the Red Army had
recaptured most of the lost territory. Furthermore, partisan units
reached a record number of nearly 10,000 people, who often lived
according to their own laws. Considered heroes, they were nevertheless
brought to heel and purged by the NKVD between 1944 and 1946. The
"liberation" of western Russia and then Eastern Europe was accompanied
by a renewed systematic subjugation of the annexed or dominated
countries. The war resulted in the deaths of at least 27 million Soviet
citizens, including 16 million civilians, largely due to the war of
annihilation waged by Germany. This war stemmed from Stalin's
paradoxical view that man was the most valuable asset, used to serve the
interests of the Party. The author extends his work by showing how
Stalin exploited the Allied victory, largely due to American aid and the
sacrifice of the Soviet people, to consolidate his power over half the
world.
The Other Second World War
Asia-Pacific, from Nanking to Hiroshima
Jean-Louis Margolin
Perrin 2025, 462 pp. €25
Barefoot Gen
Keiji Nakazawa
2 volumes, 288 and 252 pp. €13.90 each
Le Tripode, 2025
The Occupiers
Michael Lucken
La Découverte, 2025, 336 pp. €22
The Soviets at War
Alexandre Sumpf
Tallandier, 2025, 622 pp. €27.50
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8693
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
War: the Asian front and the Soviet front. These comprehensive syntheses
offer a history of the Second World War in Asia and the USSR from a
grassroots perspective. These two regions bore the brunt of the war's
violence. The total number of victims there exceeded 50 million,
representing more than 80% of the total deaths during the conflict. The
authors reconstruct the main military operations but give central
importance to eyewitness accounts and, above all, demonstrate that this
war was primarily a war against civilians. The war in Asia began in
1937—or even in 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria—and ended after
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
As in Nazi Germany, Japanese nationalists considered themselves superior
to other Asian peoples. This sentiment was compounded by an imperial and
anti-Western view that Europe had corrupted and impoverished the
country. These factors legitimized the annexation of neighboring
countries and, above all, authorized the massacre of civilian
populations. The first example of these massacres was the destruction of
Nanjing. It was accompanied by the murder of 30,000 to 60,000 Chinese
soldiers and 30,000 civilian victims. The Japanese army also engaged in
widespread wartime rape. These practices of rape and mass murder
continued throughout the war. In 1945 in Manila, while the Japanese army
was in retreat on all fronts, the last fighters in this pocket massacred
nearly 1,000 people in a similar manner. Simultaneously, the Japanese
reduced first the captured Chinese to a state of near-slavery, and then
the entire population of the continent, including the Indonesians, who
were subjected to the same treatment. Thus, Margolin lists the
systematic methods of looting, plundering, and mass murder practiced by
the army. A welcome synthesis of the often-forgotten violence of this
part of the world. The chapter on Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be extended
by two works that highlight the reversal of violence.
The first is Keiji Nakazawa's manga, Barefoot Gen. It recounts the lives
of the city's inhabitants after August 6, 1944. Literally, Gen is a
contraction of several terms meaning symbol, chemical, vitality, and
courage. The protagonist lost most of his family in the bombing. His
pacifist father, ostracized by Japanese society, dies, as do his brother
and sister. The work analyzes the long process of reconstruction in a
society still dominated by nationalism, violence, and racism. Thus,
Koreans are seen as inferior beings. The protagonist, as a
counter-example, dreams of a different Japan; Gen and his brother choose
life and friendship. Keiji Nakazawa also discusses the American presence
in the archipelago.
While the geopolitical dimensions of the American presence in Japan
after 1945 are evident, Michael Lucken demonstrates that it cannot be
reduced to this perspective alone. There was a pragmatic vision. The
primary objective was to re-educate the Japanese, not in the way the
Soviets might have done by establishing a dictatorship, but to instill
in them the fundamentals of freedom and equality through national
reform. While the early years were marked by an educational focus, a
conflict quickly arose between Japanese leaders and the Americans, the
latter twisting the principles of liberty to embrace the myths of
Imperial Japan. Ultimately, faced with this rejection, which was
nonetheless accepted by the majority of the population, the Americans
abandoned this approach to refocus on economic interests.
Alexandre Sumpf's synthesis analyzes the dual phenomenon of violence
perpetrated by both the Nazis against the Soviets and the Party-State
against its own people.
The signing of the German-Soviet Pact of 1939, while offering a respite
to the USSR, was also, in a sense, a "phony war" and the beginning of a
war of conquest for the USSR, with the annexation and Sovietization of
the Baltic states and eastern Poland. This was accompanied by the Katyn
massacre and the deportation of some of the elites from the annexed
territories to Siberia. This "phony war," however, was the prelude to a
temporary defeat. The USSR was not ready for a large-scale conflict, and
the Great Terror had only exacerbated the situation, as demonstrated by
the disastrous attempted invasion of Finland. Operation Barbarossa
caught the high command off guard. This debacle was accompanied by a
scorched-earth policy; wherever the Red Army retreated, it left nothing
behind. It massively relocated part of the population to the rear of the
front: more than 3 million people and several hundred factories. At the
same time, the Nazis were practicing mass terror, murdering nearly one
million Jews by shooting and killing several hundred thousand other
Soviet citizens in the same way. The disaster continued until mid-1942.
On July 28, 1942, Order 227 forbade soldiers from taking "one step
back." The Soviet regime resorted to repression; NKVD detachments
executed 158,000 people for desertion or treason, and nearly one million
were court-martialed and sent to disciplinary units. The violence
against traitors was accompanied by calls for revenge against the enemy,
as evidenced, for example, by Ilya Ehrenburg's poem, "Kill Me." In both
cases, the war was accompanied by wartime rape; the author notes that
nearly 10 million women were raped by Germans between 1941 and 1945.
Stalingrad symbolizes the turning point. Within a year, the Red Army had
recaptured most of the lost territory. Furthermore, partisan units
reached a record number of nearly 10,000 people, who often lived
according to their own laws. Considered heroes, they were nevertheless
brought to heel and purged by the NKVD between 1944 and 1946. The
"liberation" of western Russia and then Eastern Europe was accompanied
by a renewed systematic subjugation of the annexed or dominated
countries. The war resulted in the deaths of at least 27 million Soviet
citizens, including 16 million civilians, largely due to the war of
annihilation waged by Germany. This war stemmed from Stalin's
paradoxical view that man was the most valuable asset, used to serve the
interests of the Party. The author extends his work by showing how
Stalin exploited the Allied victory, largely due to American aid and the
sacrifice of the Soviet people, to consolidate his power over half the
world.
The Other Second World War
Asia-Pacific, from Nanking to Hiroshima
Jean-Louis Margolin
Perrin 2025, 462 pp. €25
Barefoot Gen
Keiji Nakazawa
2 volumes, 288 and 252 pp. €13.90 each
Le Tripode, 2025
The Occupiers
Michael Lucken
La Découverte, 2025, 336 pp. €22
The Soviets at War
Alexandre Sumpf
Tallandier, 2025, 622 pp. €27.50
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8693
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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