The Ghosts of Nanking
Part One of a Special Multi-part series about the Forgotten Holocaust of WWII
12/09/09
By Jesse Horn

   The standard accepted English definition of humanity is the condition or quality of being human. It is typically understood as being a word representing the basic fundamental standard of a good human, in all our most virtuous attributes. But what does this mean to us when we display actions that are vile, and demonstrate that we are capable of becoming what is essentially a monster in all of our most abominable horrors? Our history books, though rarely with enough emphasis, teach us that during World War II there were unspeakable acts of violence and evil committed between warring groups, but there are so many atrocities that go unspoken in western culture. When this topic comes up there are many of us who are reminded of unspeakable images of concentration camps and victims whose wounds transcend generations of people. There were a staggering estimated 6 million Jews killed by the Third Reich during their brutal reign of destruction. But unimaginably there is worse.
   How often do we think about the relentless terror and tragedy that was inflicted on the Eastern Front and the terrible slaughter by both the Germans and the Russians? Researchers and historians estimate that over 10 million Russian soldiers died during World War II and over 18 million military wounded. British Historian Richard Overy estimates that 84% of the massive Russian military where wounded or killed with a mind boggling 17 million civilians killed, and 25 million wounded. 70,000 Russian villages were completely wiped off the map during just a 6 year period. With every horror learned about this grim period in our world’s history there is something that surfaces even more unspeakable.
   Possibly the most unimaginable atrocities committed in modern history occurred in an event author Iris Chang refers to as the “Forgotten Holocaust of WWII” and is more commonly known as the Rape of Nanking. This week marks the 72 year anniversary of the Japanese Imperial Armies taking of the Chinese city, and in this multipart series we will explore the events surrounding the atrocities, and what has come as a result. In this series we will have exclusives with Dr. Peter Stanek, President of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia, Yasuhisa Kawamura of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as well as other notable professionals, professors and historians such as psychotherapist Armand Volkas, who is the son of Auschwitz survivors and resistance fighters.
   The history of this event is a truly dark chapter in humanity. After the fall of Shanghai to the Japanese in August of 1937, leaders, knowing that the Capital of Nanking would be a vital target, moved not only their headquarters, but their elite troops so they would be prepared for further battle. This left soldiers who had little to no training, and limited weaponry to defend the city and its hundreds of thousands of civilians. Leaders who remained in the city announced as the Japanese approached, that they would not surrender and would fight to the death. There were even measures taken to block the panicked civilians from being allowed to flee. The Chinese defense forces barred roadways and destroyed nearby villages and boats in a scorched earth policy that was designed to eliminate widespread evacuation. However, on December 1, 1937, the remaining government left Nanking to an International Committee led by German businessman John Rabe, who knew that someone had to stand and fight. From Rabe’s diary he wrote "...there is a question of morality here...I cannot bring myself for now to betray the trust these people have put in me, and it is touching to see how they believe in me." His group established the Nanking Safety Zone in an attempt to protect and aid civilians during the impending massacre.
   The Japanese Imperial Army descended upon the city on December 9, 1937, and after the retreat of the remaining Chinese soldiers, the city fell into chaos. It is difficult for a public news paper to convey the immensity of what took place over the next six weeks. Although there were warnings given by Japanese leadership as to the need for soldiers to exercise proper restraint and behavior, nothing was done about the depravity and barbaric heathenism that took place.
 It is believed that hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians were murdered within the city walls over that six week period, and between 20 to 80 thousand rapes committed by Japanese Imperial Soldiers that included infants and the elderly. Some girls were reportedly raped as many as 8 to 10 times in one day, and many were murdered to cover up what had taken place. In addition to their murders, many had their bodies defiled and desecrated before and after their death in unspeakable ways. Soldiers were reported as stating while they were raping a girl she was seen as a being a woman, but afterwards she was only seen as a pig and therefore be done with as they pleased. There is graphic and explicit photographic evidence taken by Japanese soldiers involved currently accessible online. They are deeply and profoundly disturbing.
   According to accounts taken by foreigners present during the siege, there were countless mass killings and despicable horrors committed to those who were defiant. Some men were required to dig their own mass graves, and then lay on top of one another as they were buried alive. Others were forced to have their hands wired together in mass groups and then shot into the Yangtze River so their bodies would float together through the city, further traumatizing the citizens. It is said that the river literally ran red with blood.
   The scope of the atrocities could not possibly be given justice in the realm of this paper or series, and the magnitude and severity has never been truly understood or seen justice. But what could motivate the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces to act with such depravity in Japan's attempt to establish a massive empire in the Pacific?  
   “This issue has been studied by many scholars and researchers,” explained Dr. Peter Stanek, President of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WW II in Asia, “and several answers have been offered.” The Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia is a non-profit federation of over 40 organizations dedicated to issues regarding World War II in Asia, such as remembrance, redress and reconciliation. It has become recognized as the leading organization safeguarding humanity and international justice relating to World War II and its aftermath.
“What happened? Why?” Dr. Stanek continued. “First, the treatment of civilians and POWs by the Japanese Imperial Army amounted to the worst catastrophe of the twentieth century.  The episode known as the Rape of Nanjing is but an icon of Japanese Imperial Armed Forces strategy and tactics.  The whole story is far worse. Why did this happen?  Explanations range from Japanese Religious Training, Military Training, Metaphysical Indoctrination, Social Disintegration, and others.  Yet it remains that Japan's ambitions for empire paralleled Germany's: A master race destined to rule the world.  Japan, in fact, managed to conquer far more territory and subjugate one-fifth of the world's population at their peak in early 1942…all at the cost of inhuman treatment of their victims.”
  The Japanese Army forced all remaining refugees in the Safety Zone to return home in late January 1938, claiming to have restored order after those who remained were left unimaginably traumatized. Gradually the attrosities lessened and the last refugee camp was closed in May of 1938. The people of the nation would never be the same.
“The dimensions of the Asian Holocaust,” Dr. Stanek stated, “far exceed the European Holocaust.  But Japan has somehow escaped condemnation and judgment.”
The Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal was created in 1946 by the Chinese Government for the trial of only four Japanese Imperial Army officers. Lieutenant General Hisao Tani was the only officer actually prosecuted for the Nanking massacre. He was convicted on Feburary 6, 1947, for instigating, inspiring and encouraging the men under his command, the IJA 6th Division, to commit savage massacres of prisoners of war and non-combatants, and to perpetrate such grievous crimes as rape, robbery and the ruthless destruction of property. He was executed on April 26, 1947, by firing squad.
  There are still those who cry out now for those who have been lost, not as collateral damage or a subsequent cost of war, but for the nightmarish world of hell they endured before succumbing to the twisted whims of those giving into the unleashed beast that man can become. Over the next several weeks we will examine the aftermath of this dark stain on the history of mankind, and what has come as a result. Next week we speak to the Japanese Government on what they feel they have done to reconcile what took place. We will also continue our conversation with Dr. Stanek on how this may be insufficient and further action   needed to bring about justice. Then in the weeks to come we will speak to others, such as psychotherapist Armand Volkas, whose groundbreaking work Healing the Wounds of History has focused on helping groups who share a common legacy of historical trauma traverse the emotional terrain to reconciliation. In this six part journey, it is intended to not only help readers understand the grim injustice that plagued those of Nanking, and the complications surrounding resolution, but also to serve as a clock. This series begins on December 9, and will have its final installment on January 13, 2010. This will represent the anniversary and time frame of what those people had to endure to survive, and imagine what it would take to do so. For more information read Iris Chang’s remarkable “The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II” or the disturbing “The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs”.