Selected Documents & References

• Butchery Marked Capture of Nanking (New York Times articles by F. Tillman Durdin, December 18, 1937)
• Documentary: Nanking Massacre-Japanese Atrocities filmed by John Magee – Watch video now
• Documentary: A video by John G. Magee in 1937 – Watch
• Genocide Fast Facts (CNN Library)
• The Occupation of Nanking: Two Accounts by Eye-witnesses (by anonymous staff of the Red Cross)
• Statement of Miner S. Bates, Professor of History in University of Nanking, on Feb 6, 1947

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Related Websites

• The Nanking Massacre Project from the Special Collections of the Yale Divinity School Library
• The Visual History Archive: Collection on the Nanjing Massacre [USC Shoah Foundation]
• WWW Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre [ Chinese University of Hong Kong]
• Nanjing 1937: The Memorial Hall
• National Memorial of China
• Documentary of the Nanjing Massacre [State Archive Administration of China], 2014 (in Chinese, with original English and Japanese documents)
• The Nanking Massacre December 1937 (originally titled “The Nanking Atrocities” by Masato Kajimoto in 2000)
• The Basic Facts on the Nanking Massacre and the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. Online: New Jersey Hong Kong Network, 1990.
• Online Book: Gray, Robert (Translator). Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing, 1996
• John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall; (Chinese and English site by Nanjing University)
• The Fall of Shanghai: Prelude to The Rape of Nanking & WWII (2015, Warfare History Network)

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Books and DVDs

• "You can never forget, never…" – Her Stories. Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, 2008.

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  Offers an overview of the highly controversial issue regarding "comfort women".
• Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York: Penguin, 1997. Print. ISBN: 0-14-027744-7.

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  From http://www.irischang.net/biography.cfm "Chang examines one of the most tragic chapters of World War II: the slaughter, rape and torture of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in the former capital of China." (grade 11+)
• Chang, Ying Ying. The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before And Beyond The Rape Of Nanking. New York: Pegasus, 2011. ISBN: 978-1605981727

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  A moving, illuminating memoir about the life of world-famous author and historian, Iris Chang, as told by her mother. Iris Chang's best-selling book The Rape of Nanking forever changed the way we view the Second World War in Asia. It all began with a photo of a river choked with the bodies of hundreds of Chinese civilians that shook Iris to her core. Who were these people? Why had this happened and how could their story have been lost to history? She could not shake that image from her head. She could not forget what she had seen.

  A few short years later, Chang revealed this "second Holocaust" to the world. The Japanese atrocities against the people of Nanking were so extreme that a Nazi party leader based in China actually petitioned Hitler to ask the Japanese government to stop the massacre. But who was this woman that single-handedly swept away years of silence, secrecy and shame?

  Her mother, Ying-Ying, provides an enlightened and nuanced look at her daughter, from Iris' home-made childhood newspaper, to her early years as a journalist and later, as a promising young historian, her struggles with her son's autism and her tragic suicide. The Woman Who Could Not Forget cements Iris' legacy as one of the most extraordinary minds of her generation and reveals the depth and beauty of the bond between a mother and daughter. 24 pages of black-and-white photographs.
• Hu, Hua-ling. American Goddess at the Rape of Nanking: The Courage of Minnie Vautrin. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2000. ISBN: 0809323036. (Grade 9+).

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  Relying on original documents and interviews with people like Vautrin's niece, the book presents the biography of an American educator/missionary who stood up to Japanese soldiers and protected the lives of thousands of women and children during the Rape of Nanking.
• Hua-ling Hu & Lian-hong Zhang (eds.) The Undaunted Women of Nanking: The Wartime Diaries of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang. Carbondale Southern Illinois University Press, 2010. ISBN-10: 0809329638 ISBN-13: 978-0809329632

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  In response to the atrocities committed during the Rape of Nanking, a group of westerners organized the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and attempted to shelter refugees. Among these humanitarian heroes was Minnie Vautrin, an American missionary and acting president of Ginling College. She and Tsen Shui-fang, her Chinese assistant and a trained nurse, turned the college into a refugee camp, which protected more than 10,000 women and children during the height of the ordeal. Even though both women were exhausted mentally and physically from caring for so many, they kept detailed diaries during the massacre.

  The Undaunted Women of Nanking juxtaposes the two women's wartime diaries day-by-day from December 8, 1937, through March 1, 1938. Both diaries provide vital eyewitness accounts of the Rape of Nanking and are unique in their focus on the Ginling refugee camp and the sufferings of women and children. Tsen Shui-fang's diary is the only known daily account by a Chinese national written during the crisis and not retrospectively. As such, it records a unique perspective: that of a woman grappling with feelings of anger, sorrow, and compassion as she witnesses the atrocities being committed in her war-torn country.

  Editors Hua-ling Hu and Zhang Lian-hong have added many informative annotations to the diary entries from sources including the proceedings of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial of 1946, Vautrin's correspondence, John Rabe's diary, and other historical documents. Also included are biographical sketches of the two women, a note on the diaries, and information about the aftermath of the tragedy, as well as maps and photos—some of which appear in print for the first time. This book has been selected as one of the 10 best books by Chinese American Librarians Association for 2010.
• Iris Chang Memorial Fund. Denial and Its Cost: Reflections on Nanking Massacre 70 Years Ago and Beyond - Best Essays from Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest 2007. New York: Cozy House, 2008. ISBN: 9781593430801
• Iris Chang Memorial Fund, Iris Chang and The Forgotten Holocaust - Best Essays from Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest 2006.New York: Cozy House, 2007. ISBN:9781593430603
• Katsuichi, Honda. The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame. Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 1999. Print. ISBN: 0765603349 ISBN: 0765603357

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  An account of Imperial Japan's systematic atrocities in China by a Japanese investigative journalist. The author followed the murderous path of the Japanese troops in their capture of Nanking. From the troops' landings on Chinese coast and their advance towards Nanking to the ultimate carnage in Nanking. The author told the story by assembling interviews with Chinese victims and writings by Japanese perpetrators and observers.
• Rabe, John. The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe. New York: Vintage, 1998 (reprinted 2000). ISBN: 0375701974. 294 p.: ill. (Grade 10+)

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  John Rabe, a German businessman and leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking who saved so many lives in the Nanking massacre that some refer to him as the "Oskar Schindler of China". This book is the journal Rabe kept each night during those horrible months of the Nanking Massacre and the difficult years that followed.
• Shulman, William L. The Nanjing Massacre: Genocide and Denial. Bayside, NY: Holocaust Resource Centre, (Year not specified).

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  "The Holocaust Center and Archives was established to provide an educational resource for organizations and schools in the community" (inside back cover). This catalogue could be a representation of an exhibit by the Holocaust Center and Archives. Includes Recommended Readings (grade 6+)
• Smalley, Martha L. (ed). American Missionary Eyewitnesses to the Nanking Massacre, 1937 – 1938. Yale Divinity School Library Occasional Publication No. 9, 1997.

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  A collection of letters and diaries written by 9 American missionaries in China during the Nanking Massacre. The book documents these missionaries' great contributions to humanity not merely because they saved so many lives but because their legacy of defending the truth and justice and cherishing good will toward man will brighten the future of mankind.
• Young, Shi and James Yin. The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs. Chicago: Innovative, 1996.

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  Black and white photos (many are very disturbing), testimonies, maps, appendices, index. (grade 12+)
• Zhu, Chen Shan, ed. The Picture Collection of Nanjing Massacre and International Rescue. Jiangsu: Ancient Book, 2002.

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  Black and white photos (many are disturbing). Includes images of the Memorial to the victims of the Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing.
• City of Life and Death (Nanking Nanking – original title) (DVD) Director: Lu Chuan. 2009 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124052/

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  The film deals with the Battle of Nanjing and its aftermath during the Second Sino-Japanese War. City of Life and Death takes place in 1937 during the Imperial Japanese Army's capture of the then-capital of China, Nanjing. the capture of the capital and the ensuing bloodshed is known as the Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking; a period of several weeks when tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. The film tells the story of several figures, both historical and fictional, including a Chinese soldier, a school teacher, a Japanese soldier, a foreign missionary, and John Rabe, a Nazi businessman who would ultimately save thousands of Chinese civilians.
• Forgotten Holocaust. (DVD) Director Raymond Lemoine. British Columbia Association for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA), 2007. archive.alpha-canada.org/oralhistory

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  The video documentary contains the stories of Nanking Massacre, "Comfort Station" and Forced Labor during the Asia-Pacific War with testimonies from 6 survivors. The documentary was recorded during the 2006 Peace and Reconciliation Study to China for Canadian Educators by Raymond who was an educator himself.
• Good Nazi. Videorecording. ABC News Nightline of December 11, 1997.

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  Story of John Rabe who was a German businessman and leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking. He saved hundreds of thousand of lives in the Nanking Massacre by setting up an International Safety Zone together with some other 20 western foreigners.
• In the Name of the Emperor. Videorecording. Producer/directory Nancy Tong. New York: Filmakers Library, 1996.

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  "An account of the Nanking Massacre. Integrates diary entries, actual film footage of the massacre shot by an American missionary (the Rev. John Magee), interviews with Japanese scholars and former soldiers who recalled in detail how they savagely killed and raped Chinese civilians, and the related story of the comfort women" (summary from BPL online catalogue)
• Iris Chang – The Rape of Nanking. (DVD) Director Bill Spahic & Ann Pick. Produced by Real to Reel in association of Canada Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia , Toronto, 2007. http://www.irischangthemovie.com

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  A feature-length documentary film about a young woman's journey to bring one of the darkest chapters of history to light.

  In July 1937 the Japanese Imperial Army, which already controlled a large section of northeastern China, launched an undeclared war against the Republic of China. Five months later, on December 13, its troops entered the capital city of Nanking and began raping and murdering its citizens in an orgy of violence that has few parallels in modern history.

  Tens of thousands of Chinese prisoners-of-war were machine gunned en masse. An estimated 20,000 women were raped. Countless defenseless civilians; men, women and children were killed on the streets or in their homes. A British reporter who was on the scene compared the Japanese troops to Attila and the Huns. Writer George Will described the mass slaughter, which became known as "The Rape of Nanking" as "perhaps the most appalling single episode of barbarism in a century replete with horror."
• John Rabe. Director Florian Gallenberger. Co-Producers Benjamin Herrmann & Mischa Hofmann. Distributed by Strand Releasing in North America, 2009.

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  A 2009 Chinese-French-German biopictorial film. A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
• May and August. (DVD) Director Raymond To. Hong Kong: Universe, 2002.

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  After the outbreak of the war, two young girls were orphaned and taken to a refugee camp. One by one, all their relatives are arrested and executed by the Japanese, and they are forced to become strong to face all the challenges posed by their new life.
• Nanking. (DVD) Co-Directors Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman. Producer Ted Leonsis. Distributed by Fortissimo Films, 2007. Watch the movie trailer, click here

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  In the winter of 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanking and killed over 200,000 and raped tens of thousands of Chinese, one of human history's worst atrocities. In order to protect Chinese civilians, a small group of European and American expatriates, Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen banded together to save 250,000, risking their own lives.

  The film describes the Nanking Massacre by reading from letters and diaries which shows the activities of John Rabe (Jurgen Prochnow), a German businessman, Robert O. Wilson (Woody Harrelson), the only surgeon remaining to care for legions of victims, and Minnie Vautrin (Mariel Hemingway), an educator who passionately defends the lives and honor of Nanking's women during the war time.

  The film includes survivors who tell their own stories, the archival footage of the events, and the testimonies of Japanese soldiers who participated in the rampage.
• Rev. Magee's Testament – A Documentary of Nanjing Massacre 1937 – 1938. Videorecording. 1996.

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  An American missionary used his 16 mm movie camera to recording what he saw in 1937 during the Nanking Massacre. Part of the documentary is quite gruesome which requires teacher's discretion.
• The Rape of Nanking. (DVD) Director: Lou Reda, The History Channel, 1997.

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  The film documents the death and destruction that followed the Japanese occupation in Nanking in December 1937. In the next two months, hundreds of thousands Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed. Interviews with descendants of the victims and eyewitnesses to the crimes along with gruesome photos help separate fact from fiction.
• Torn Memories of Nanjing. (DVD) Director Tamaki Matsuoka, 2009

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  Although Japanese activist Ms. Tamaki Matsuoka is not a professional filmmaker, "Torn Memories of Nanjing" breaks new ground with interviews of both aggressors and victims. As described by Ms. Matsuoka, Chinese and Japanese perceptions of the war are completely different Hence, her mission is to reveal the facts. Ms. Matsuoka spent more than a decade interviewing hundreds of Chinese victims and Japanese veterans. Writing newspaper articles, compiling her interviews in books, holding photo exhibitions showing the atrocities and bringing victims to Japan, she was able to persuade some of them to speak on camera.
• Voices of Survivors of the Asian Holocaust. Compact disc. Collected by Souad Sharabani. Toronto Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia.

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  Topics covered include: chemical warfare, comfort women, Nanjing massacre and slave labour. Various voices represented. Can be heard online here

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News Reports

• Scarred by History: The Rape of Nanjing (BBC News – 11 April 2005) A news background article with witnesses and testimonies made by westerners working in Nanjing at the time as well as Japanese soldier and correspondent.