The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang,
1997, Excerpts
Few atrocities in world history compare in intensity and
scale to the Rape of Nanking during World War II. Looking back upon millennia
of history, no race or culture has a monopoly on wartime cruelty. The veneer of
civilization seems to be exceedingly thin – one that can be easily stripped
away, especially by the stresses of war. When the city fell on December 13,
1937, Japanese soldiers began an orgy of cruelty seldom matched in world
history.
Atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking can be seen as a
predictable if not inevitable outgrowth of ceding to an authoritarian regime,
dominated by a military and imperial elite, the unchallenged power to commit an
entire people to realizing the sick goals of the few with the unbridled power
to set them.
Japan’s behavior during World War II was less a product of
dangerous people than of a dangerous government, in a vulnerable culture, in
dangerous times, able to see dangerous rationalizations to those whose human
instincts told them otherwise. The Rape of Nanking should be perceived as a
cautionary tale – an illustration of how easily human beings can be encouraged
to allow their teenagers to be molded into efficient killing machines able to
suppress their better natures.
Governor of Japan broadcaster NHK
denies Nanjing massacre
04 Feb 2014
A governor of Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, has denied
that the Nanjing massacre took place. "In 1938, Chiang Kai-shek tried to
publicize Japan's responsibility for the Nanking Massacre, but the nations of
the world ignored him. Why? Because it never happened. Atrocities were
committed by all sides in wars and that there was no need to teach such things
to Japanese children.” Mr Hyakuta's comments come days after the broadcaster's
new head, Katsuto Momii, said that the Japanese military's use of sex slaves
during World War Two was a practice common in any country at war. "Such women could be found in any nation
that was at war, including France and Germany," he said, describing
international anger as "puzzling".
Nanjing massacre: China's Xi Jinping
leads first state commemoration
13 Dec 2014
Chinese President Xi Jinping has presided over his country's
first state commemoration of the Nanjing massacre. China says 300,000 civilians
were massacred when the city was occupied by Japan's troops in 1937, although
some Japanese nationalists dispute this. President Xi told survivors that to
deny a crime was to repeat it but insisted the ceremony was to promote peace,
not prolong hatred. Beijing says Tokyo has never properly apologized or atoned
for its wartime past. China says tens of thousands of civilians were
slaughtered in Nanjing, some Japanese politicians and nationalists deny a
massacre even took place. Millions of Chinese people were killed when Japan
occupied China in the 1930s and 1940s.
Novels:
Tree of Heaven by Binstock
Tent of the Orange Mist by Paul West, 1997.
Pictorial:
The Rape of Nanking: An undeniable History in Photographs,
published in 1996.
Film:
City of Life and Death [2009]: Director Chuan Lu pulls off a rare
feat by providing a clear-eyed drama about an event in Chinese-Japanese history
-- the 1937 Rape of Nanking following that city's capture by Japan -- that still
casts a shadow over relations between the countries. Shot in black and white,
the film chronicles the six-week period through the eyes of multiple characters
-- including a Japanese soldier, a refugee camp supervisor, a resistance
fighter and others.
One of the best war movies I've ever seen, especially
effective in bringing to the screen the horrors that befall a besieged city,
both from the victims' and the victors' perspective. Surprised this movie
hasn't gotten more widespread attention.
Nanking: Co-directors Bill Guttentag and
Dan Sturman helm this Sundance selection chronicling the story of "the
Rape of Nanking," a World War II-era tragedy in which more than 200,000
Chinese citizens were murdered and tens of thousands were raped at the hands of
Japanese soldiers. Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Dorff portray
some of the Westerners who rose to the occasion with quiet acts of heroism.
John Rabe: Chairman of the International
Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, the good Nazi. Florian Gallenberger
directs this gripping drama about John Rabe (Ulrich Tukur), a German
businessman living in Nanking, China, who in 1937 used his Nazi party
affiliation to save some 200,000 Chinese civilians from slaughter at the hands
of the Japanese army. As Rabe labors to establish an official safety zone to
shelter the innocent, he forms an unlikely friendship with an American doctor
(Steve Buscemi). Anne Consigny and Daniel Brühl co-star.
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