The Nanking Atrocities

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the Nanking-related atrocities and the relationship between the individual soldier and the government in terms of responsibilities assigned for the bloodshed. The writer asserts that the 1937 Japanese slaughter of upwards of 300,000 Chinese in Nanking, China, was as atrocious, savage and bloody as practically any event leading up to and during WWII including the Holocaust by the Nazis. The writer concludes that the responsibility for these atrocities should be accepted by the military leaders but each individual soldier, who was out of control in a savage bloodthirsty rage, also must be held accountable.

From the Paper:

"The biggest mass killing was carried out in Nanking on December 17, 1937, when the Chinese began slaughtering Chinese prisoners by the thousands. The 66th Battalion of Japanese received this command: "All prisoners of war are to be executed. Method of execution: Divide the prisoners into groups of a dozen. Shoot to kill separately."
"It is known that 14,777 Chinese soldiers had been captured by the Japanese, and of those, a majority was believed to have been killed on the 17th."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brooks, Roy L. When Sorry Isn't enough: The Controversy Over Apologies and Reparations for Human Injustice. New York: New York University Press, 1999.
• Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York: Basic Books, 1997.
• Eykhold, Mark. "Aggression, Victimization, and Chinese Historiography of the Nanjing Massacre." In The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography, ed. Joshua A. Fogel, 11-69. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
• Rabe, John. The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.
• Yamamoto, Masahiro. Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000.

More papers on The Nanking Atrocities:

• Research Paper # 149802 : "Nanking's Genocide and Revisionist History"
• Book Review # 94459 : "'The Rape of Nanking'"
• Analytical Essay # 67655 : "The Rape of Nanking"

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