Nanjing Massacre Documentation Series. 3 -- Diaries and Memoirs of Survivors

Author: Zhang Lianhong (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The complete set of "The Nanjing Massacre Historical Materials" consists of 25 volumes, totaling approximately 12 million words. The first eight volumes published comprehensively introduce important historical materials related to the Nanjing Massacre. The content includes historical archives of the Chinese army's fierce battles to defend the capital Nanjing against the invading Japanese forces, a large amount of data on the burial of the bodies of victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese troops, diaries, letters, memories, and testimonies of Japanese officers and soldiers who invaded China, written records by Westerners about the Nanjing Massacre, testimonies of survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, historical materials from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Military Court of the National Defense of China for the Trial of War Criminals, as well as a large number of post-war statistical materials by the Nationalist government on the Nanjing Massacre, covering all aspects of the massacre history. With irrefutable facts, it presents the historical truth of that time to the world. This volume of materials is divided into four parts: diaries and weekly records, memories of surviving soldiers and officers, memories and narratives of surviving refugees, and a narrative poem written by Mr. Chen Zhongfan. Most of the materials in this part are diaries and weekly records of survivors. During the Nanjing Massacre, many important diaries and letters were left by Westerners who stayed in Nanjing at that time, such as "The Rabe Diary," "The Weitling Diary," and "The Wilson Diary." However, due to the harsh environment at that time, few diaries were left by Chinese victims themselves. Currently, the diaries we have discovered from survivors can be divided into two categories based on the way they were recorded: one is the daily records of survivors at that time; the second is the recollections written by survivors after the event in the form of diaries. The second and third parts of the materials mainly consist of the memories of survivors after the Nanjing Massacre. The inclusion criteria are primarily to reflect the survival experiences of survivors after the fall of Nanjing, the atrocities of the Japanese army, and the social and economic conditions of Nanjing after its fall. The fourth part actually only contains one piece, a narrative poem written by Mr. Chen Zhongfan, which vividly reflects the real situation of Nanjing's occupation during the Nanjing Massacre.