#302 Nanjing Massacre

Memorial Hall to the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre

​
​And maps can really point to places
Where life is evil now:
Nanking; Dachau.
⸺W.H. Auden, “Here War is Simple”

Essential question:

• If war and revolution entail the breakdown of normal order, can and should there be rules for the use of violence in these circumstances?
  • With a partner, identify the strongest argument on each side of this argument.
  • How do you think the statement relates to the Nanjing massacre?

Technical set up for Devils at the Doorstep

Nanjing Massacre context:

• For China, World War II began in July 1937 when Chinese and Japanese forces skirmished just outside Beijing at Lugouqiao (the Marco Polo Bridge). Jiang then committed to “throw every last ounce of
  energy into a struggle for national survival.”
• In the next major round of fighting in Shanghai between August-November 1937, Jiang lost 60% of the modern core of his army.
• Having captured Shanghai, Japanese forces then turned their attention to the capital at Nanjing, where they would go on to murder between 200,000-340,000 civilians in December 1937 and January 1938.

Discussion on John Rabe’s diary:

• What’s surprising here?
• How would you summarize what Rabe is observing?
• Why did Rabe think people would need to know about this? What did he expect from the international community?
• Compare Rabe’s diary entries with the battalion report from Japanese forces, below. What is similar? What is different?
  • Battalion report, at 2:00 (p.m.) received orders from the regiment commander: to comply with orders from brigade commanding headquarters, all prisoners of war are to be executed. Method of execution: to divide the prisoners into groups of a dozen. Shoot to kill separately. It is decided that the prisoners are to be divided evenly among each company . . . and to be brought out from their imprisonment in groups of 50 to be executed. The vicinity of the imprisonment must be heavily guarded. Our intentions are absolutely not to be detected by the prisoners. Every company is to complete preparation before 5:00 p.m. Executions are to start by 5:00 and action is to be finished by 7:30 (Empire of Japan’s 66th Regiment 1st Battalion Report, 13 December 1937).
• Based on both accounts, what can you infer about the possible causes of the massacre?