Wednesday 29 October 2019, 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
SOAS | Russell Square | College Buildings Room: 4429
Register online here
Synopsis
In September 1950 the Daily Worker journalist Alan Winnington released his pamphlet “I Saw The Truth in Korea” which documented atrocities in Daejeon during the Korean War presided over by the South Korean and American authorities. The news was suppressed in both South Korea, America and England until very recently, and Alan himself spent the next twenty years in exile in China and East Berlin until his death in 1983. In that pamphlet he interviewed people at the site of the Daejeon massacre where he claimed 7,000 people had been killed. This statistic is still used as a projected figure at the site today where much is still to be found out before a Peace Museum and Memorial is built in 2023.
“Returning, After Seventy Years” is a film documenting the return of Esther Winnington – the widow of Alan – to the site of the Daejeon Massacre nearly seventy years after the original event. In the film Esther is taken on a tour of historical sites of importance in the city and gives her personal reflections on those times, as well as meeting survivors, activists, and local people involved in the search for truth. In Esther’s own words she hopes that by visiting Daejeon “Alan’s sacrifices have will not have been in vain”. The film aims to show the complexity of this issue, but at the same time contribute towards a body of knowledge on these events that can be the only route towards peace and reconciliation in the future.