On April 29, an international exchange marking the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials was held at the Memorial Hall. More than 50 participants, including descendants of Tokyo Trial witnesses, descendants of foreign friends who aided China, and scholars from China and abroad, attended the event.

Eric Foster, nephew of Edgar Snow, author of Red Star Over China, noted that the Tokyo Trials represented an important exploration of international judicial justice.

Kléber Arhoul, Director General of the Caen Memorial Museum in France, stated that the study of historical facts is the most effective way to counter historical denial.

Einar Tangen, a well-known American current affairs commentator and Senior Fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation, pointed out that Japan has yet to fully confront its history of aggression, largely due to incomplete accountability during the trials.

Participants also learned from Xiang Longwan, son of Xiang Zhejun, about how his father refuted Japanese lawyers. Chris Magee, grandson of John Magee, an American witness at the Tokyo Trials, spoke via video.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and the SJTU Institute of War Trials and World Peace have donated the “War Trial Document Database” to the “Nanjing Massacre Document Center” established under the leadership of the Memorial Hall. The database contains valuable archival materials, including court documents from the Nanjing Massacre trials.

On site, the Memorial Hall, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press and the SJTU Institute of War Trials and World Peace signed the Cooperation Agreement on the Construction of the Nanjing Massacre Document Center Database, promoting the digital preservation and long-term inheritance of historical records.

The event also featured a micro-book exhibition of research publications on the Tokyo Trials.