Refugee Zone: 100 Days - Westerners Who Witnessed the Massacre by Japanese Forces

Author: (Japanese) Kishihara Toshio
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-09-08
Features: My book One Hundred Days in the Nanjing Refugee Area—Westerners Who Witnessed the Japanese Massacre (published by Iwanami Shoten in 1995) has recently been translated and published by Nanjing Normal University. It is truly an immense honor and joy for me. Here, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Zhang Lianhong, Director of the Nanjing Massacre Research Center at Nanjing Normal University, and all my friends who provided assistance, as well as Professor Li Guanglian, who dedicated his time and effort to the arduous translation work. My book was first published in 1995, the 50th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II and the 50th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japan. Ten years later, in 2005, the 60th anniversary of Japan's defeat and the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japan, the Chinese edition of this book has finally been published, which fills me with profound emotion. I have been researching the Nanjing Massacre (Nanjing Incident) since 1984. At that time, to support Professor Kazuhiko Yasue's lawsuit against the Japanese government for violating the Japanese Constitution in the name of textbook censorship, scholars, journalists, and lawyers organized the Nanjing Incident Investigation Research Society (established in 1984, with the late Professor Toyofusa Toyama as its representative). Joining this society became the turning point in my research on the Nanjing Incident. In the Yasue textbook lawsuit, the Nanjing Massacre and the atrocities against women during the Nanjing Battle were among the key points of contention. In December 1984, with the help of the Nanjing Historical Society (President Zhang Yunran), the Nanjing Incident Investigation Research Society conducted a field investigation in Nanjing. Another field investigation with the same purpose was carried out in December 1987, the results of which were compiled in the book The Way to the Nanjing Massacre (published by Asahi Shimbun in 1988), edited by Toyofusa Toyama, Akira Fujiwara, and Kozo Honda. During the second field investigation, we received great help from Director Yang Zhengyuan, Deputy Director Duan Yueping, and many Chinese scholars such as Sun Zhaiwei, Gao Xingde, Zou Mingde, Hu Juru, and Chen Juan of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing by the Japanese Invading Forces, which was established in 1985. During the two field investigations in Nanjing, we heard firsthand accounts from Nanjing Massacre survivors and examined historical materials collected by Nanjing University, the Nanjing Library, and the Second Historical Archives. These experiences became invaluable to me in my later research on the Nanjing Incident. At that time, Nanjing could only boast the Jinling Hotel as a high-rise building; the rest were old buildings and streets preserved as they were before the liberation. Many of the Western-style buildings and public buildings used as refugee shelters in the Nanjing Refugee Area were also well-preserved. I borrowed bicycles from Nanjing university students and searched the ruins of the Nanjing Refugee Area and the streets of Nanjing City. The confirmation of the geographical conditions of the historical sites of the Nanjing Massacre at that time greatly helped my later research. During the Nanjing Incident, strict censorship was imposed on public opinion in Japan, and the massacre and atrocities committed by the Japanese army were completely unknown to the Japanese people. At the same time, before and after Japan's defeat, the Japanese government and military ordered the burning of evidence and records to conceal the facts of the Nanjing Massacre. As a result, officers and soldiers of the Japanese army thoroughly destroyed all relevant documents. Therefore, when I began researching the Nanjing Massacre, the only materials I could access were publicly available in Japan. So, I adopted a research method of visiting university libraries, congressional libraries, and the National Archives in the United States to investigate and collect letters, records, and news reports from American missionaries who lived in or were stationed in Nanjing during the Nanjing Incident. I traveled to the United States three times between 1984, 1986, and 1987 to gather materials. Among them, I successfully collected a large amount of materials from the libraries of American missionaries who served as international committee members of the Nanjing Safety Zone (Refugee Area) at Yale Divinity School. It was also a great fortune to interview F.T. Timllman Durdin of The New York Times and A.T. Steele of The Chicago Daily News, who were stationed in Nanjing during the Nanjing Incident and reported on the atrocities of the Japanese army to the world (both have since passed away). In 1992, a large amount of materials I collected in the United States were published as Nanjing Incident Materials① U.S. Related Materials (compiled by the Nanjing Incident Investigation Committee, published by Aoki Shobo in 1992). Based on the above historical material investigation, collection, and the compilation and translation of the materials, I was able to write this book, One Hundred Days in the Nanjing Refugee Area. In supporting the Yasue textbook lawsuit, I personally went to the Tokyo High Court in April 1991 to testify that the Nanjing Massacre was a historical fact and obtained a ruling (in October 1993) that the Ministry of Education's censorship of Yasue's textbook, which described the Nanjing Massacre and the atrocities against women during the Nanjing Battle, was illegal. The Tokyo High Court also upheld this ruling, and the Nanjing Massacre as a historical fact was finally confirmed by the Japanese judiciary (in August 1997). Afterward, although the content and weight were not sufficient, all current Japanese elementary school history textbooks, junior high school history textbooks, high school Japanese history textbooks, and the majority of high school world history textbooks began to include records of the Nanjing Incident. My monograph Japanese Atrocities in Asian Countries was published by Taikyo Shobo in 1994, and this book, One Hundred Days in the Nanjing Refugee Area, was published by Iwanami Shoten in 1995. Subsequently, I published other monographs on the Nanjing Massacre, such as The Nanjing Incident (Iwanami Shinsho, 1997), The Nanjing Incident and the Three Light Operations (Taikyo Shobo, 1999), and The Nanjing Incident and the Japanese People (Bakusho Shobo, 2002). In Japan, publications by the Nanjing Massacre denialists, who claim that the Nanjing Massacre is "fabricated" or "a fabrication made by China and the United States for propaganda purposes," are allowed to be published in large quantities. In contrast, books that record the facts of the Nanjing Massacre face great difficulties in publication, and even a single error found can lead to threats and pressure from right-wing and denialist groups to stop publication. Therefore, the writing and publication of this book, One Hundred Days in the Nanjing Refugee Area, required a great deal of my energy. To avoid any errors in the record, I first carefully reviewed it and asked experts hired by Iwanami Shoten to examine my manuscript. I also consulted with Professor Akira Fujiwara of the late Aichi University to proofread the galley proofs. As a result, after the book was published, it did not receive any attacks from right-wing or Nanjing Massacre denialist groups. Later, because I published a new book, The Nanjing Incident (Iwanami Shinsho), Iwanami Shoten withdrew the second edition of this book. Therefore, I consider the Chinese edition of this book being published in China to be its rebirth, and it fills me with infinite joy. Additionally, I am moved by the fact that this book was published by Nanjing Normal University, with the help of professors at Nanjing Normal University, who were once located in Jinling Women's College, the center of the Nanjing Refugee Area during the Nanjing Incident. This is also a bond of history. I hope this book can contribute to deepening exchanges in Japanese-Chinese Nanjing Incident research and advancing Japanese-Chinese friendship. In the end, I dedicate this Chinese edition of the book to Miss Minnie Vautrin, as well as the international committee members of the Nanjing Safety Zone (Refugee Area), such as John H.D. Rabe, M.S. Bates, Louis S.C. Stuart, and Robert O. Wilson, who fought and sacrificed their lives to protect the people of Nanjing from the atrocities of the Japanese army.