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Our StoryPacific Atrocities Education was formed in the Bay Area by millennial Chinese-Americans who were inspired by their grandparents' stories of World War II. They were stunned by the lack of mainstream awareness to the happenings in the Asia-Pacific Theater of the war, in which 26 million lives were lost.
MissionPacific Atrocities Education's mission is to increase awareness about atrocities committed in the Asia-Pacific Theater of World War II through public history projects. We believe that it is essential for future generations to learn about, understand, and share with others about this devastating chapter of our world story. Through publishing books, creating educational resources, and heading archival projects on topics such as Korean comfort women, the Bataan Death March, Unit 731, and the Nanjing Massacre, PAE is devoted to helping survivors find closure and reconciliation for these painful memories. Along with this, we hope to increase the dialogue about complex contemporary issues surrounding human rights worldwide.
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Why it is important to examine atrocities in the modern world?
After the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8985 to Establish the Office of Censorship for the national interest as well as for troops' morale. It suppressed many reports on the Japanese-committed atrocities in the Far East for fear of causing public hysteria. Therefore, even though much of the war experience by the world and the United States was experienced in the Pacific Theater of WWII, not much had been discussed or shared due to censorship. The Pacific Asia war was way bigger than Pearl Harbor. As war documents get declassified, we could use the opportunity to examine the past.
This lack of mainstream awareness of WW2 outside of the western lens allowed the American people to be uninformed and consequently indifferent about the heinous human rights violations affecting millions of people, thousands of miles away. This order set a precedent for much of the suffering during the war to go forgotten, still seen today with the media, memorials, and education curriculum's focus on the Western stories of World War II rather than those of the Asia-Pacific Theater. We exist to shed light on the events in this region, and during this time period, to truly say "Never Again," one must understand what happened before.
This lack of mainstream awareness of WW2 outside of the western lens allowed the American people to be uninformed and consequently indifferent about the heinous human rights violations affecting millions of people, thousands of miles away. This order set a precedent for much of the suffering during the war to go forgotten, still seen today with the media, memorials, and education curriculum's focus on the Western stories of World War II rather than those of the Asia-Pacific Theater. We exist to shed light on the events in this region, and during this time period, to truly say "Never Again," one must understand what happened before.
