Survivors remember massacre in Nanjing
Print Edition
Nanjing released new evidence and testimony yesterday from survivors of the massacre that took place in the eastern Chinese city 76 years ago.
At an international peace rally to commemorate the tragedy’s 76th anniversary, about 5,000 people remembered the 300,000 victims killed by invading Japanese troops during World War II.
At 10am, sirens wailed in the square of the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, marking the anniversary of six weeks of killing, burning, looting and rape in the city.
At the rally were survivors, victims’ families, students, workers and monks along with groups and individuals from the United States, Philippines, South Korea and Japan.
“We are here to look back at history and mourn the victims, to remind the world never to repeat the mistakes of history. We are here to expose the conspiracy of right-wing forces in Japan who are trying to deny the invasion and overturn history, and we are here to stress a peaceful development path for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” He Quan, vice chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said.
Mei Shoulan, an 86-year-old survivor, touched the names of her 10 dead family members inscribed on the wall of victims’ names. “Seventy-six years has passed, but the memory still haunts me. I am a living witness,” she said. Mei insists her daughter takes her to the memorial hall every year.
“The truth is right there. No one can ignore it,” she said.
Xiang Yuansong, 85, held a picture of his brother who died in the massacre at the age of 26. “I’ll never forget his death. It’s intolerable some Japanese have tried many times to deny that it happened.”
The memorial hall opened in 1985 on the site where tens of thousands of corpses were piled during the massacre.
To preserve the memories of survivors, the hall has signed an agreement with the US-based USC Shoah Foundation’s Institute for Visual History and Education, which is dedicated to interviewing survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.
Zhu Chengshan, curator of the memorial hall, said that from 2012 they had recorded the testimonies of 12 survivors. Those of Xia Shuqin and Yang Cuiying were released yesterday in both English and Chinese on the Shoah Foundation’s website.
“Survivor testimony is precious first-hand data for the study of the Nanjing Massacre, and represents hope for the peaceful future of humanity,” said Zhu.
The memorial hall received nearly 170 items from Chinese and Japanese people yesterday, bringing total items in the collection to 150,000. More than 25,000 relics are evidence of the massacre.
Of the most recent items, a Japanese flag with the invasion chronicled on it was believed the most significant.
A Japanese soldier called Ienaga Ketsu had written about his wartime experiences in China. At the center of the Japanese flag are four characters meaning “entered Nanjing,” followed by “participated in sweeping attack in Nanjing on December 14, in the 12th year of Showa,” meaning 1937.
Zhu said the flag was direct evidence of the slaughter in Nanjing.
Daito Satoshi of the Kyoto-based Enkoji Temple donated six items, including a newspaper, the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun from December 12, 1937, which reported that Japanese troops had occupied Nanjing.
Daito said that though some right-wing Japanese deny the massacre, there are plenty of people like himself collecting evidence of the truth and will continue to do so.
Ichigo Shoko, another Japanese monk, donated condoms used by Japanese troops and a photograph of two Japanese soldiers and two Chinese women in front of a comfort station where women were raped.
Zhu said the memorial hall would verify the relics and add them to the displayed items if appropriate.
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