Over the years I have noticed that there seems to be a bias towards Germans in World War 2 motion pictures from Hollywood versus the depiction of the Japanese or the Italians. In most films made within the last 60 years Germans are still demonized while quite often Japanese are seen as noble warriors and the Italians as a people misled. And yet all three nations committed war crimes of the most heinous kind.

There are some films which give a balanced realistic picture of  Germans in WW2 like “The Enemy Below” or “Cross of Iron”

An example of Hollywood films demonizing Germans:

About the capture by the Americans of a WW2 U-boat.

Set just after D-Day about an American squad sent to find one man in combat.

About Jewish resistance fighters on the eastern front.

About a Soviet sniper in Stalingrad and his duel with a German sniper.

In all of these films all of the Germans are portrayed as evil, cowardly or ignorant. Now look at these film depictions of Japanese in WW2:

About a boy in a Japanese POW camp near an airfield.

About the Japanese attack on Pearl harbour.

Two pilots; 1 American & 1 Japanese shot down on an island trying to survive.

An American escapes from a Japanese POW camp for British prisoners.

In each of these films there is a more balanced, realistic portrayal of the Japanese enemy combatants. There are some who are evil, vicious, some who are cowardly AND some who are trying to do their job as soldiers and survive a war and maintain their humanity.

There are 100’s of films about WW2 and the Japanese and the Germans, but there are few films showing the Italians during World War 2 (about 50-1) and those tend to show the same balance as is shown the Japanese.

Romance set in occupied Greece WW2

Allied POWs escape from the Germans in Italy

Italian-Jewish man uses his humour to protect his son in a Nazi death camp

Exactly as the title suggests.

The only film I came across showing the Italians in a demonizing light similar to the Hollywood portrayals of Germans in the war was a Libyan film of their occupation by Mussolini’s army.

Beduin Leader Omar Mukhtar fights Mussolini’s troops to free Libya.

This is just something that I’ve noticed over the years and it bothers me. And it has continued to this day.  If I say to you, “World War 2 atrocities”, probably the first thing to pop into your head will be the Nazi death/extermination camps and rightly so, but few people even know of Japanese atrocities. Say “evil Nazi doctors” and you have an image in your mind probably based on various films you’ve seen.

Now… if I say, “Unit 731”, “Mukden POW Camp”, “Unit 8604 at Canton”  or “Camp Pingfang” or “Nanking”  probably nothing springs to mind. No image what so ever appears in your consciousness. I have heard some people refer to these Japanese projects as “Black Sun” projects… really evil crimes that equal their Nazi equivalent and in some cases exceed them by miles.

And another combatant we never hear of, the Italians under Mussolini. The Italian Fascist atrocities against the Ethiopians, Abyssinians or the Greeks. I would be willing to bet none of you have a single image appear in your mind when I say Italian Fascist atrocities. If I say, “Rodolfo Graziani”, “Rab Concentration Camp”, “Gonars Concentration Camp”, “Pietro Badoglio” or “Ethnic Cleansing of the Slovenians” I’ll bet that nothing comes to mind.

Also a tragic and obviously politically motivated situation has evolved in both Italy and Japan where they have initiated a revision of history, thus removing war crimes perpetrated by their militaries from their history books.

Can you imagine the storm of controversy that would happen if Germany did that today regarding their war crimes and the Holocaust? And don’t think for a moment that the Allied nation’s militaries fought almost 6 years of war without committing a few war crimes themselves. At the lighter end of the scale we can list the internment camps for Japanese, Italian and Germans in America, Canada, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. I can only speak for my country of Canada and say that we do talk about the interment of Italians, Germans and Japanese during the war, but I have yet to come across anyone who knows of our war crimes. And what of other countries? Do the Americans speak of their war crimes? Do the Australians? What about the French… remember the Vichy French? They did some nasty stuff…

I just want to see a balance restored.

I have learned over the years that everyone’s shit stinks be they Japanese, German, Russian, Canadian, French, Chinese and American.

Every country has done serious evil to others.

I just want balance… balanced accountability. Less demonizing of others. It’s funny to see just how deep propaganda goes into our culture.

Cheers