The Nanking Massacre was a horrible tragedy that killed 100s of thousands of Chinese civilians in 1937. The Japanese military stormed Nanking and looted, raped, and killed for months on end. In Iris Chang’s book The Rape of Nanking – The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, she talks about the massacre extensively. Who what when where, its all covered. The important part of her book, and the one that I feel must have lead to its massive success, was that this event actually is not well known at all to the world at large, especially when considering the magnitude and severity of the atrocity. On pages 4 through 7, Chang talks about how the massacre has been all but erased from various countries histories, with Japan being the biggest culprit. Examples such as the Japanese government censoring textbooks, American textbooks not even mentioning the massacre, and even prominent figures such as Winston Churchills 1000 page account of WWII not mentioning the massacre once are plenty to see just how well buried this “forgotten holocaust” was.
One of the reasons Chang gives to help explain this incredible erasure of history is that the victims of Nanking were, for the most part, silent. While holocaust survivors had been given a voice after the war, and even got their own new country, Nanking victims never really spoke up. This, combined with the complacent silence of the U.S. and China, allowed Japan to shape history exactly as they wanted, mainly by not making themselves guilty of a mass torture-rape-murder. This explains the how, but it still doesn’t tell us why. Why would multiple massively powerful and knowledgeable nations sit around and not say anything about such a horrific crime? Another reason given was that as opposed to Germany, who owned up to the Holocaust, Japan deflected or denied what happened at Nanking. This in my opinion probably isn’t quite as big a factor as the previous, but it does sound like Japan may have been effectively been rewarded for denying a massacre they committed (by erasing it from history they absolve themselves of the generational guilt something like that very likely comes with, look at Germany).
In Tanaka Masaaki’s What Really Happened in Nanking – The Refutation of a Common Myth, Masaaki refutes every point made by Chang at every possible turn. He effectively says Chang made everything up using fabricated or otherwise unrelated evidence, and that not only did the Nanking Massacre never happen as detailed in Chang’s book, but the General in command at the time, Matsui Iwane, had expressly forbidden any looting, burning, entering of certain sacred sites such as tombs, and other acts that we would consider war crimes. I feel this reading was full of empty claims, but starting on page 112 he does give us a good number of examples of photos that he claims are doctored, outright fake, or otherwise unrelated to what happened and Nanking.
What these readings have taught me most of all is that history can change based on what one is taught, how evidence is presented, and a multitude of other factors. I don’t believe that Masaaki is trying to be deceptive with his work, he probably truly believes the innocence of Japan in this matter. The issue is how successful Japan has been in covering up this atrocity. This also raises a question in my mind: is it bad that there are a significant number of people who are willing to go to lengths to prove that the Nanking Massacre was a hoax? From their perspective they are just people trying to win justice for their nation. This of course is not a pass to do whatever you want, and muddying such a horrific event in history is a bad thing, but what if they were right? After learning about the debates this event in history has sparked and seeing how Japan was actually able to practically erase an almost unparalleled act of violence, I would almost not believe it if something similar to this hasn’t happened elsewhere. What if some people we think of as crazy, as believing something that obviously isn’t true because we’ve been told it isn’t true our whole lives, are actually right? Food for thought.
Without exonerating Masaaki, I believe that it is important to look at his perspective in a different light. Certainly, if he is deliberately trying to present lies to the world, then he there is no gray in his faults. However, should he be a product of the lies rather than a creator of them, then a little bit more empathy is needed. If he grew up in a Japan that was not stained by this reality, if he was fed a lie that denied the truth of the Nanking Massacre, then he is simply trying to protect himself. He is trying to protect the vision that he has of his nation, and is afraid of what it means to admit what happened. Of course, this does not make it right for him to continue in the lies, but, if it is true, it gives us a picture of where he might be coming from.
I think the silence of the victims of Nanking is what allowed the Japanese to deny that they committed these crimes and allowed for Masaaki’s book. I think Masaaki truly believed that the Nanking massacre never occurred because his country said it did not. He wants to believe that his country and the people he respects are not capable of such atrocities. Denial only makes it harder for the truth to come out.
I think what is tricky about this subject is what you stated in your post, how and what people learn about play a huge role in the legitimacy of an event. If there is a serious of parents not teaching their children about this topic, and it doesn’t exist in textbooks, then it will soon disappear in history.
From what we talked about in class one of the big reasons for the lack of attention towards the Rape of Nanking was western nations need to rebuild Japan. The US sphere of influence needed Japan to be stable and one their side in the cold war. The question of whether covering things up is interesting. I’m sure that other horrible event have been covered up throughout history. However, I tend to believe that transparency is good and that knowing the faults of your government is helpful to future generations.
I think that the historiography you discussed is important when considering how this topic of the Rape of Nanking will be perceived in the future by historians and societally. With the Japanese completing omitting these events from their history, this leads to the possibility further issues as their country will never be able to come to terms with what truly happened in Nanking.