hmTv at HMTC Podcasts Ep 355: The Fog of War and Humanity with Richard Acritelli and guest Jenny Chan P1 on hmTv
Ep. 355: The Fog of War and Humanity
Host: Richard Acritelli
Guest: Jenny Chan
hmTv / Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center
In this gripping first installment of a two-part conversation, host Richard Acritelli welcomes researcher and nonprofit founder Jenny Chan for a chilling dive into one of World War II’s least-taught chapters — Japanese war crimes in Asia.
Jenny retraces her journey from childhood stories in Hong Kong — dismissed at the time as prejudice — to uncovering archival evidence that her grandmother’s trauma was real, widespread, and systematically buried.
Her research into the Rape of Nanking, forced labor, and the secret biological weapons program known as Unit 731 reveals:
• Tens of millions killed in Asia — far beyond the limited numbers most textbooks mention
• A US–Japan bargain that granted immunity to war criminals in exchange for biological data
• A network of scientists who went on to become respected leaders, doctors, and industrial founders
• Documented human experimentation on Chinese civilians, Koreans, Russians — and likely Allied POWs
• Ongoing denialism in Japanese culture, social media, and educational narratives
Richard and Jenny also draw striking parallels between wartime censorship, erased memory, and modern-day propaganda — underscoring why historical truth matters.
This episode delivers history with urgency — not as dusty archives, but as a warning about how atrocities are forgotten, rewritten, or denied when we don’t defend the evidence.
Part Two dives deeper into Nanking, comfort women, USS Panay, and the politics of global apathy — so stay tuned.