Thoughts on war: Japanese soldier Nakamura Tokuro on his efforts to show human kindness and compassion in war, March 1944 (Published on 02/01/2026)
(Source: Bähr, Die Stimme des Menschen – Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der ganzen Welt 1939 – 1945 [“Man’s Voice – Letters and Notes from Around the World, 1939 – 1945”] (1961), p. 527 [translation from German language]):
“5 March 1944
When living among people who are brutally insensitive, one must strive again and again to remain virtuous. Despite the many hard battles we have to endure, we must not lose our kindness and goodness, and we must strive to protect the richness of our hearts from all external challenges. Even in the fiercest battle, I want to preserve kindness, virtue among bad people, and equanimity in the midst of strife.
Those who do not draw the attention of others demonstrate strength in life. In contrast, those who stand in the way of others, robbing them of their position and happiness and taking away their light, appear lifeless.
Where the longing for truth is lost, a country can no longer flourish.”
Nakamura Tokuro, born in Japan in 1919, died in June 1944 in the Pacific Ocean.
(Head picture: Oak leaf under snow in the Düsseldorf city forest,
January 2019)
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