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”.
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