Ken Burns’s The War

Six years of making, Ken Burns’s documentary for World War II was finally released on PBS last week. I am a big fan of his earlier series The Civil War. I caught only 3 episodes during the week’s broadcast. Since it is receiving good reviews, I am sure I will catch reruns in the next few months.

For most Americans (and in this series), the WW II began in Pearl Harbor in 1941 and ended in 1945 with over 400,000 American deaths. Ken Burns masterfully adds human touch to the deadliest war in human history and I like the series a great deal. As much as I like it, I cannot help to wish it could go deeper than what the series offer.

What about the other 70 millions deaths during the war? German committed the horrific atrocity of killing over 20 millions Russians and 6 millions Jews. It is easy to blame it on Hitler or Nazi, but one would have a second thought when they see how the common German people being galvanized by Hitler’s speech, or when they see the prewar German harassed Jews on the streets. Those little harassments eventually turned into genocide.

What about the Nanking massacre? 300,000 Chinese were slaughtered, many beheaded. The Rape of Nanking’s author Iris Chang perhaps didn’t realize the power of the atrocity when she started research on the subject. She ended up committing suicide after extended depression like the American heroine missionary she described in her book. Are these thousands of Japanese soldier just ordinary people turned sadistic killers?

It is war. It does what it does best—brings out the worst of human nature.