Exposing the Nanjing Incident and its numerous historical misrepresentations

A recent symposium dealt with historian Bryan Mark Riggs' controversial book on the Nanjing Incident. Provocatively titled Japan's HolocaustThe volume was published in March and has since sparked debates about historical representation and accuracy.

Three Japanese historians and experts examined Riggs' claims, including his use of propaganda images, raising questions about their validity and context. Speakers discussed Riggs' reliance on American missionary accounts, which were heavily based on hearsay and often served as propaganda for the Chinese military. They also stressed the need for careful historical analysis of Japan's actions during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

False images

In his lecture, modern historian Ikuo Mizoguchi critically examined Riggs' use of Chinese propaganda photos, pointing out inaccuracies and misrepresentations. One photo Riggs used was said to show Japanese soldiers rounding up villagers en masse and was in the Memorial Hall for the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre. Iris Chang also included it in her book. The Nanking MassacreChang claimed the image showed Japanese soldiers rounding up thousands of women, many of whom were either gang raped or forced into military prostitution. However, as Mizoguchi clarified, this photo dates from before this time and has no connection to Nanjing.

The image in question first appeared in the Asahi diagrama weekly photography magazine that was published in Japan on November 10, 1937. That was about a month before the Battle of Nanjing. The photo, taken in Paoshan near Shanghai, shows Japanese soldiers protecting Chinese women and children returning from working in the fields.

Mizoguchi also analyzed another photo. This one, according to Riggs, shows the Japanese army dragging the bodies of civilians from Nanking into the Yangtze. In reality, Japanese soldier Moriyasu Murase took this photo after a battle in the town of Xinhe near the river. The Chinese forces suffered heavy losses and attempted to retreat across the Yangtze on makeshift rafts. According to Mizoguchi, the Japanese forces fired on the retreating Chinese soldiers, resulting in more casualties.

Misuse of the term “Holocaust”

In his book, Riggs argues that the so-called Nanking Massacre is representative of Japan's brutal behavior during the Second Sino-Japanese War. As part of this narrative, he emphasizes that widespread rape and murder also occurred after the Battle of Shanghai.

However, historian Kenichi Ara refutes Riggs' argument based on extensive interviews with people who witnessed the fall of Nanking, including key figures such as Hajime Onishi, a former captain and staff officer in the Shanghai Expeditionary Forces who later became head of the Nanking Special Agency.

Ara challenges Riggs' use of the term Holocaust in his comparisons, questioning its appropriateness and contrasting it with Japan's documented efforts to protect Jewish refugees during World War II. Ara's analysis of the Battle of Shanghai offers a more nuanced view of Japan's actions, contradicting Riggs' account.

The Battle of Shanghai

The Battle of Shanghai began on August 13, 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. As Japanese troops advanced, the residents of Hongkou fled across Suzhou Creek to seek refuge in the International Settlement and the French Concession.

In late August, the Imperial Japanese Army began landing in agricultural fields far from urban areas, where numerous bunkers had been built. The local farmers had been displaced, so there were no civilian casualties at first, Ara explains. The fighting in southern Shanghai lasted two weeks and ended in early November.

Events in Suzhou

General Iwane Matsui then ordered Onishi to protect the city of Suzhou, 100 kilometers northwest of Shanghai. Onishi arrived before the Japanese troops. “There he put up signs prohibiting Japanese troops from entering, except for medical personnel,” explains Ara.

When the Japanese 35th Infantry Regiment finally entered Suzhou on November 19, it encountered minimal resistance and captured about 2,000 Chinese soldiers. Journalists from the Asahi And Maine Newspapers reached Suzhou and reported a calm and orderly situation.

General Onishi visited the city's refugees and told them that the Japanese army would not harm the city and encouraged them to return home. As a result, many residents made their way back to the city. Remarkably, Suzhou's beauty remained intact despite the devastation, says Ara. Famous landmarks such as the North Temple Pagoda and its famous gardens were spared from the conflict.

Japan's Jewish refuge

Riggs uses the term Holocaust to describe the actions of the Imperial Japanese Army. In contrast, however, the efforts of individual Japanese to help Jewish refugees reflect a humanitarian approach. This, Ara argues, is in stark contrast to the systematic atrocities associated with the Holocaust.

During the war, military officers such as Kiichiro Higuchi, chief of the Harbin military police, facilitated entry into Manchukuo for Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union. In June 1940, Chiune Sugihara, as vice consul in Lithuania, issued visas for Jewish refugees from Poland.

As Ara points out, notable figures included Colonel Yasue Senko and Navy Captain Koreshige Inuzuka. Senko championed Jewish resettlement in Manchukuo, while Inuzuka played a crucial role in protecting Jewish refugees during their transit.

The members of the Pan-Asian Study Group discussed Japan's relationship with the Jews a lot. The organization eventually evolved into the Greater Asia Association, with General Iwane Matsui as president. The goal was to build partnerships with China while considering the prosperity of Asia as a whole. These four individuals who were actively saving Jews (Higuchi, Inuzuka, Matsui and Sugihara) were all members of this association, with Higuchi and Inuzuka holding central positions.

Missionaries and misinformation

Riggs also relied heavily on outdated evidence from American missionaries' reports. Historian Hisashi Ikeda questioned the authenticity of reports about Nanjing, especially those based on hearsay from Western missionaries. He argued that “far from being neutral observers, US missionaries actively supported Chiang Kai-shek's regime while attempting to promote Christianity.” Moreover, they used the Nanjing security zone to aid Chinese troops, thus constructing a story of mass killings of the civilian population.

The core allegations of the Nanjing Incident, particularly the claim that over 300,000 civilians were killed, emerged shortly after Japanese troops entered Nanjing on December 13, 1937. U.S. missionaries, particularly Miner Bates, played a crucial role in spreading these claims. Bates, an adviser to the Chinese government, wrote a memo that laid the foundation for many early reports.

The International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone, made up of Western missionaries and observers, documented alleged atrocities. But according to Ikeda, “many reports, including John Rabe's diary, were based on hearsay and were unverified,” raising doubts about their authenticity.

Even before the Japanese entered Nanjing, the Protestant Church in China had pledged its support to Chiang's New Life Movement. Under the pretext of protecting civilians, missionaries actively supported the Chinese military. “In reality, the Nanjing Safety Zone was used as a base for Chinese troops to escape,” Ikeda noted. He added that many civilian deaths were due to Chinese military activities within the zone, not direct actions by Japanese forces.

Support for the Chinese armed forces

The story of mass murder spread quickly. On January 28, 1938 Daily Telegraph And Morning Post reported the massacre of 20,000 people based on information from an anonymous missionary.

The Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo and the book by the American writer Harold Timperley What war means played a key role in shaping global perceptions. Koo, who represented China in the League of Nations, was instrumental in bringing the atrocities to the attention of the international community. Published in July 1938 and commissioned by the Chinese government's Central Propaganda Department, Timperley's book was designed to influence Western opinion in particular.

Both relied heavily on the testimony of US missionaries such as Bates, George Fitch and John Magee. All three were central figures in the Nanjing Security Zone. Although they could not produce operational records, Bates and Magee testified at the Tokyo Trials, thereby reinforcing the figure of 300,000 civilian deaths.

Ikeda concluded that the Nanjing Security Zone was “a mechanism to support the Chinese forces.” Missionary James McCallum's confession to involvement in looting for Chinese soldiers reveals the reality behind these operations. After the Zone was dissolved in February 1938, law and order returned to Nanjing and rumors of massacres began to die down.

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Author: Daniel Manning