Documents on the Rape of Nanking

Book Overview

The Japanese Army's invasion of China in 1937 was the first step toward a hemispheric war that would last until the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. What ended in one atrocity began with another: the savage military takeover of China's capital city, which quickly became known as the Rape of Nanking. The Japanese Army's conduct from December 1937 to February 1938 constitutes one of the most barbarous events not just of the war but of the century. The violence was documented at the time and then redocumented during the war crimes trial in Tokyo after the war. This book brings together materials from both moments to provide the first comprehensive dossier of primary sources on the Rape.
Part 1, "The Records," includes two sources written as the Rape was underway. The first is a long set of documents produced by the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, a group of foreigners who strove to protect the Chinese residents. The second is a series of letters that American surgeon Dr. Robert Wilson wrote for his family during the same period. These letters are published here for the first time.
The evidence compiled by the International Committee and its members would be decisive for the indictments against Japanese leaders at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. Part 2, "The Judgments," reprints portions of the tribunal's 1948 judgment dealing with the Rape of Nanking, its judicial consequences, and sections of the dissenting judgment of Justice Radhabinod Pal.
These contemporary records and judgments create an intimate firsthand account of the Rape of Nanking. Together they are intended to stimulate deeper reflection than previously possible on how and why we assess and assign the burden of war guilt.
Timothy Brook is Professor of Chinese History and Associate Director of the Joint Centre for Asia Pacific Studies, University of Toronto, and is coeditor of Nation Work: Asian Elites and National Identities and Cultureand Economy: The Shaping of Capitalism in Eastern Asia, both published by the University of Michigan Press.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472086626
• ISBN13: 9780472086627
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Very Readable Primary Source Collection on Nanking Massacre

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who desires to read primary source accounts of the war crimes committed by units of the Japanese Imperial Army in Nanking during 1937-38. The book is divided into 2 areas: The first section covers items of evidence, including correspondence to Japanese authorities in Nanking and numerous eyewitness accounts as transcribed by the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. Heart-wrenching letters composed by Dr. Robert Wilson are also included in this section. The second, much-smaller part of the book details the majority opinion and findings of the International Military Tribunal in 1948. Finally, the rambling and unconvincing dissent by Justice Radhabinod Pal completes this interesting book. Many of the letters and accounts are no more than a page or two, so it can be easily read in small increments. For those who seeking actual historical evidence after being awakened to this atrocity by Iris Chang's "Rape of Nanking", you will find it in this book. It is not exhaustive by any means, but does present the most notable accounts surrounding the Nanking massacres. Japanese ultra-nationalists have no credible rebuttal for what is fairly documented in this book and thus will say anything to dissuade you from reading it. That in itself is a ringing endorsement for the validity of "Documents on the Rape of Nanking", and the unblemished facts it provides for generations of readers.

Basic Documents on the Nanking atrocity

This book consists of four sets of documents on the Nanking atrocity which took place in 1937 - 1938.The first set is a part of the official documents of the Nanking Safety Zone from December 14, 1937 to February 19, 1938 which was edited and published by Hsu Shuhsi in 1939.These documents were also used in H.J.Timperley's "What War Means: The Japanese Terror in China" and found in Rabe's diaries that were published as "The Good Man of Nanking".The Hsu Shuhsi's book was excerpted and submitted at Tokyo war crimes trial on August, 29, 1946.These are evidently basic historical documents on the Nanking atrocity. However they can tell us what happened in and around the Safety Zone until Feb.19, 1938.The second set of documents is a collection of family letters of Dr.Robert Wilson who served at Nanking University Hospital.Some of his letters were appeared in Reader's Digest of October 1938.( "We Were in Nanking", p41-43)He wrote in the letter of March 7,1938, "The Red Swastika Society has for the last month been feverishly burying bodies from all parts of the city outside the zone and from the surrounding countryside.A conservative estimate of the numbers of people slaughtered in cold blood is some what about 100,000, including of course thousand of soldiers that had thrown down their arms."(p254)The third set is "Judgement of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East" and the fourth is "The Dissenting Opinion of Radhabional Pal".Regarding the Nanking atrocity, Pal had prejudice against the testimonies of eyewitnesses, however he accepted that "..., the evidence is still overwhelming that atrocities were perpetuated by the members of the Japanese armed forces against the civilian population."(p278)"Introduction" written by the editor Timothy Brook is quite helpful to understand these documents.But, readers, please remember that the these documents will never give you complete view of the Nanking atrocity, as the witnesses mostly stayed in the wall city of Nanking during the tragedy.

A rather more detailed collection than other works

For those interested in the events surrounding the Japanese invasion of China, this work is compelling collection of documents. There may be some interested in re-writing history ("What Really Happened in Nanking" being the most flagrant example--"They were happy we came!") and so be it. To those more inclined to study history, this is one of the best on the subject.