The forgotten holocaust
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It is estimated that at least 20, 000 women were raped, including infants and elderly. Japanese soldiers would go door to door searching for women to rape, women would be taken captive, gang raped and finally killed. Reverend James M. McCallum wrote in his diary on 19 December 1937:
"I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet ... People are hysterical ... Women are being carried off every morning, afternoon and evening. The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases." (Hua-ling Hu, American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking, 2000, p.97).
John Rabe, German Nazi and leader of the Safety Zone, wrote many comments on the atrocities of the Japanese, on December 17 he wrote:
"Two Japanese soldiers have climbed over the garden wall and are about to break into our house. When I appear they give the excuse that they saw two Chinese soldiers climb over the wall. When I show them my party badge, they return the same way. In one of the houses in the narrow street behind my garden wall, a woman was raped, and then wounded in the neck with a bayonet. I managed to get an ambulance so we can take her to Kulou Hospital ... Last night up to 1,000 women and girls are said to have been raped, about 100 girls at Ginling College Girls alone. You hear nothing but rape. If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot. What you hear and see on all sides is the brutality and bestiality of the Japanese soldiers." (Woods, John E. (1998). The Good man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe. p. 77),
"I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet ... People are hysterical ... Women are being carried off every morning, afternoon and evening. The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases." (Hua-ling Hu, American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking, 2000, p.97).
John Rabe, German Nazi and leader of the Safety Zone, wrote many comments on the atrocities of the Japanese, on December 17 he wrote:
"Two Japanese soldiers have climbed over the garden wall and are about to break into our house. When I appear they give the excuse that they saw two Chinese soldiers climb over the wall. When I show them my party badge, they return the same way. In one of the houses in the narrow street behind my garden wall, a woman was raped, and then wounded in the neck with a bayonet. I managed to get an ambulance so we can take her to Kulou Hospital ... Last night up to 1,000 women and girls are said to have been raped, about 100 girls at Ginling College Girls alone. You hear nothing but rape. If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot. What you hear and see on all sides is the brutality and bestiality of the Japanese soldiers." (Woods, John E. (1998). The Good man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe. p. 77),
The Men
Rape…? Ha! That must mean the men were much safer then… right? If only it were so, Chinese men were not only just murdered for fun; they were also raped for "fun". Chang writes, "Chinese men were often sodomized or forced to perform a variety of repulsive sexual acts in front of laughing Japanese soldiers." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 95). It doesn’t stop at that though, obviously, the men in the picture to the right are being led away for a mass execution. The issued order by Prince Yasuhiko Asaka even before the fall of Nanjing was to "Kill all captives". When the city was taken, all military age men was taken captive, even citizens. They were massacred on wharves along the Yangtze River with massive numbers of victims, prisoners, adding up to 150, 000 massacred.
The 66th Regiment 1st Battalion received an order on December 13: |
Iris Chang wrote, "The Japanese would take any men they found as prisoners, neglect to give them water or food for days, but promise them food and work. After days of such treatment, the Japanese would bind the wrists of their victims securely with wire or rope and herd them out to some isolated area. The men, too tired or dehydrated to rebel, went out eagerly, thinking they would be fed. By the time they saw the machine guns, or the bloodied swords and bayonets wielded by waiting soldiers, or the massive graves, heaped and reeking with the bodies of the men who had preceded them; it was already too late to escape." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 83).
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Battalion battle report, at 2:00 [p.m.] received orders from the Regiment commander: to comply with orders from Brigade commanding headquarters, all prisoners of war are to be executed. Method of executed: divide the prisoners into groups of a dozen. Shoot to kill separately. ... It is decided that the prisoners are to be divided evenly among each company ... and to be brought out from their imprisonment in groups of 50 to be executed. ... The vicinity of the imprisonment must be heavily guarded. Our intentions are absolutely not to be detected by the prisoners. Every company is to complete preparation before 5:00 p.m. Executions are to start by 5:00 and action is to be finished by 7:30. (Quoted in Yin and Young, The Rape of Nanking, pp. 110, 115).
Whilst the contest between Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda was a horrific idea, it was held in the heat of battle. During the massacre of Nanking, however, Japanese soldiers weren't "satisfied" with just executing Chinese men. Instead the held more grotesque killing contests. "A competition to determine who could kill the fastest. As one soldier stood sentinel with a machine gun, ready to mow down anyone who tried to bolt, the eight other soldiers split up into pairs to form four separate teams. In each team, one soldier beheaded prisoners with a sword while the other picked up heads and tossed them aside in a pile. The prisoners stood frozen in silence and terror as their countrymen dropped, one by one." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 85).
They held killing contests and mass executions? That's horrible!?!?! Wait! That's not all… If you have prisoners and an extremely aggressive captor that doesn't want to kill the prisoner… yet. What would… Happen? Torture, atrocious tortures were inflicted by the Japanese on Chinese prisoners. "The Japanese not only disembowelled, decapitated, and dismembered victims but performed more excruciating varieties of torture. Throughout the city they nailed prisoners to wooden boards and ran over them with tanks, crucified them to trees and electrical posts, carved long strips of flesh from them, and used them for bayonet practice. At least one hundred men reportedly had their eyes gouged out and their noses and ears hacked off before being set on fire. Another group of two hundred Chinese soldiers and civilians were stripped naked, tied to columns and doors of a school, and then stabbed by zhuizi -- special needles with handles on them -- in hundreds of points along their bodies, including their mouths, throats, and eyes. ... The Japanese subjected large crowds of victims to mass incineration. In Hsiakwan [along the Yangtze] a Japanese soldier bound Chinese captives together, ten at a time, and pushed them into a pit, where they were sprayed with gasoline and ignited." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, pp. 87-88.)
In 1937, the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun and the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun wrote about a "contest" between two Japanese soldiers. They were Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda from the 16th division. The goal was to see who would be the first to kill and behead 100 men prior to the capture of Nanking. Between the cities Tangshan and Jurong, one had killed 89 whilst the other killed 78. When they reached Zijin Mountain, Tsuyoshi Noda had massacred 105 whilst Toshiaki Mukai had massacred 106. Without a way of determining who won the contest, they decided to increase it to 150 kills. The Nichi Nichi headline read "'Incredible Record' [in the Contest to] Behead 100 People—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go into Extra Innings". Upon the surrender of Japan both were arrested and executed in Nanking, charged with "Civilized Public Enemy".
Whilst the contest between Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda was a horrific idea, it was held in the heat of battle. During the massacre of Nanking, however, Japanese soldiers weren't "satisfied" with just executing Chinese men. Instead the held more grotesque killing contests. "A competition to determine who could kill the fastest. As one soldier stood sentinel with a machine gun, ready to mow down anyone who tried to bolt, the eight other soldiers split up into pairs to form four separate teams. In each team, one soldier beheaded prisoners with a sword while the other picked up heads and tossed them aside in a pile. The prisoners stood frozen in silence and terror as their countrymen dropped, one by one." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 85).
They held killing contests and mass executions? That's horrible!?!?! Wait! That's not all… If you have prisoners and an extremely aggressive captor that doesn't want to kill the prisoner… yet. What would… Happen? Torture, atrocious tortures were inflicted by the Japanese on Chinese prisoners. "The Japanese not only disembowelled, decapitated, and dismembered victims but performed more excruciating varieties of torture. Throughout the city they nailed prisoners to wooden boards and ran over them with tanks, crucified them to trees and electrical posts, carved long strips of flesh from them, and used them for bayonet practice. At least one hundred men reportedly had their eyes gouged out and their noses and ears hacked off before being set on fire. Another group of two hundred Chinese soldiers and civilians were stripped naked, tied to columns and doors of a school, and then stabbed by zhuizi -- special needles with handles on them -- in hundreds of points along their bodies, including their mouths, throats, and eyes. ... The Japanese subjected large crowds of victims to mass incineration. In Hsiakwan [along the Yangtze] a Japanese soldier bound Chinese captives together, ten at a time, and pushed them into a pit, where they were sprayed with gasoline and ignited." (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, pp. 87-88.)
In 1937, the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun and the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun wrote about a "contest" between two Japanese soldiers. They were Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda from the 16th division. The goal was to see who would be the first to kill and behead 100 men prior to the capture of Nanking. Between the cities Tangshan and Jurong, one had killed 89 whilst the other killed 78. When they reached Zijin Mountain, Tsuyoshi Noda had massacred 105 whilst Toshiaki Mukai had massacred 106. Without a way of determining who won the contest, they decided to increase it to 150 kills. The Nichi Nichi headline read "'Incredible Record' [in the Contest to] Behead 100 People—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go into Extra Innings". Upon the surrender of Japan both were arrested and executed in Nanking, charged with "Civilized Public Enemy".
Other war crimes
Approximately one-third of the city was destroyed due to arson; the Japanese were reportedly seen torching newly built government buildings and the homes of many civilians. The damage was apparent outside and inside the city wall and the poor and the wealthy alike were robbed and pillaged. The Chinese troops and civilians offered little no resistance thus the Japanese was left do as they saw fit with the city's valuables resulting in widespread looting and robbery. John Rabe wrote a letter of complaint to Kiyoshi Fukui, second secretary of the Japanese Embassy, on the 17 of December. The following is an excerpt of the letter:
In other words, on the 13th when your troops entered the city, we had nearly all the civilian population gathered in a Zone in which there had been very little destruction by stray shells and no looting by Chinese soldiers even in full retreat ... All 27 Occidentals in the city at that time and our Chinese population were totally surprised by the reign of robbery, raping and killing initiated by your soldiers on the 14th. All we are asking in our protest is that you restore order among your troops and get the normal city life going as soon as possible. In the latter process we are glad to cooperate in any way we can. But even last night between 8 and 9 p.m. when five Occidentals members of our staff and Committee toured the Zone to observe conditions, we did not find any single Japanese patrol either in the Zone or at the entrances! (Woods, John E. (1998). The Good man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe. p. 271)
In other words, on the 13th when your troops entered the city, we had nearly all the civilian population gathered in a Zone in which there had been very little destruction by stray shells and no looting by Chinese soldiers even in full retreat ... All 27 Occidentals in the city at that time and our Chinese population were totally surprised by the reign of robbery, raping and killing initiated by your soldiers on the 14th. All we are asking in our protest is that you restore order among your troops and get the normal city life going as soon as possible. In the latter process we are glad to cooperate in any way we can. But even last night between 8 and 9 p.m. when five Occidentals members of our staff and Committee toured the Zone to observe conditions, we did not find any single Japanese patrol either in the Zone or at the entrances! (Woods, John E. (1998). The Good man of Nanking, the Diaries of John Rabe. p. 271)
All this evidence… Who does it point to? What happened afterwards? Is it Reliable?
Reliability
The Majority of the evidence above comes from John Heinrich Detlev Rabe's (November 23, 1882 - January 5, 1950) diary accounts and Iris Chang's (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) bestselling 1997 non-fiction book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. John Rabe's diary accounts can be considered primary sources and trustworthy as he was actually there during the events. Whereas Iris Chang's is a secondary source based on research she did on the massacre. Her book became very controversial with some claiming it to be "a more clear account than any other previous accounts" and others claiming it to be "misleading with wrong information". Her book, however, is based on her research on the diaries of John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin, whom were both present at the time of the massacre and assisted in the mapping out of the Nanking Safety Zone. |
The Responsible
The people responsible were most obviously the senior members of the Japanese high command. They have direct responsibility of the mass atrocities that occurred in China during their invasion. These people include Emperor Hirohito, the man responsible for making all important military decisions which of course includes the decision to invade China in 1937; Hirohito's uncle, Prince Asaka, was the main puppeteer pulling the strings behind the gendercide committed against Chinese men and he also issued the order to "Kill all captives"; General Yanagawa Heisuke; and Lieut. General Nakajima Kesago, commander of the 16th division, who "supervised the beheading of two prisoners-of-war to test his new sword, thus setting an example for his troops in mass-scale killing in Nanking" (Yin and Young, The Rape of Nanking, p. 284). |
Aftermath and Denial
Eventually, on around about January, 1938, the massacre came to an end lasting about 6 weeks. The genocidal rampage of massacres and rapes were replaced with the occupation conducted under an authority known as the “Nanking Self-Government Committee.” It was a brutal occupation, however, slowly, life began to return to the city with the population stabilising at approximately 700,000, which was approximately two-thirds of the population prior to the war.
With the surrender of Japanese and the end of the Second World War, in 1946-47 a number of war-crime trials were held in Nanjing. However, as noted by Chang “Only a handful of Japanese war criminals were tried in Nanking.” Despite this, it still gave the Chinese a chance to mourn and participate in a mass catharsis. Executed war-criminals include Tani Hisao, commander of the 6th division, whom was responsible for many atrocities committed within Nanjing and elsewhere. Tani was sentenced to death in March 1947 and executed in April in the same year. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried approximately 30 key Japanese commanders. One of them was Matsui Iwani, commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force, however, Iwani is suspected to be a mere scapegoat and according to Chang "may have served as the scapegoat for the Rape of Nanking. A sickly and frail man suffering from tuberculosis, Matsui was not even in Nanking when the city fell" (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 174). General Yanagawa Heisuke and Lieut. General Nakajima Kesago are both field commanders in charge the occupation of Nanjing; however they could not be prosecuted as they both died of natural causes in 1945. The Emperor Hirohito and Prince Asaka, of the Japanese imperial family, both received immunity.
It is noted that many “revisionists” in Japan have attempted to deny or suppress the involvement of the Japanese Military in the massive atrocities during World War II. Fujio Masayuki, on September 1986, stated that the Rape of Nanking was “just a part of war.” A Japanese film distributor had 30 seconds of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor removed as it contained a scene depicting the Rape of Nanking. This occurred in 1988. Believing that there was insufficient evidence to verify the number of Chinese massacred in the Rape of Nanking, in 1991, censors at the Ministry of Education ordered textbook authorities to eliminate all reference to the number of Chinese killed.
Eventually, on around about January, 1938, the massacre came to an end lasting about 6 weeks. The genocidal rampage of massacres and rapes were replaced with the occupation conducted under an authority known as the “Nanking Self-Government Committee.” It was a brutal occupation, however, slowly, life began to return to the city with the population stabilising at approximately 700,000, which was approximately two-thirds of the population prior to the war.
With the surrender of Japanese and the end of the Second World War, in 1946-47 a number of war-crime trials were held in Nanjing. However, as noted by Chang “Only a handful of Japanese war criminals were tried in Nanking.” Despite this, it still gave the Chinese a chance to mourn and participate in a mass catharsis. Executed war-criminals include Tani Hisao, commander of the 6th division, whom was responsible for many atrocities committed within Nanjing and elsewhere. Tani was sentenced to death in March 1947 and executed in April in the same year. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East tried approximately 30 key Japanese commanders. One of them was Matsui Iwani, commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force, however, Iwani is suspected to be a mere scapegoat and according to Chang "may have served as the scapegoat for the Rape of Nanking. A sickly and frail man suffering from tuberculosis, Matsui was not even in Nanking when the city fell" (Chang, The Rape of Nanking, p. 174). General Yanagawa Heisuke and Lieut. General Nakajima Kesago are both field commanders in charge the occupation of Nanjing; however they could not be prosecuted as they both died of natural causes in 1945. The Emperor Hirohito and Prince Asaka, of the Japanese imperial family, both received immunity.
It is noted that many “revisionists” in Japan have attempted to deny or suppress the involvement of the Japanese Military in the massive atrocities during World War II. Fujio Masayuki, on September 1986, stated that the Rape of Nanking was “just a part of war.” A Japanese film distributor had 30 seconds of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor removed as it contained a scene depicting the Rape of Nanking. This occurred in 1988. Believing that there was insufficient evidence to verify the number of Chinese massacred in the Rape of Nanking, in 1991, censors at the Ministry of Education ordered textbook authorities to eliminate all reference to the number of Chinese killed.