SDHF Newsletter No.343 Primary Historical Sources Reveal The Truth About The Nanjing Incident Series No.6: Chapter 5 Verdict at the Tokyo Trials induced by neutral third party American Missionaries

Primary Historical Sources Reveal The Truth About
The Nanjing Incident (Revised Version)

Ikeda Haruka
(translated by The Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact)

Series No.6: Chapter 5

Verdict at the Tokyo Trials induced by neutral third party American Missionaries

Currently, the prevailing view of the Nanjing Incident can be called “the American missionaries’ view of history.” This view is based on the accounts of American missionaries who were regarded as neutral, third-party witnesses and as such constituted the core of statements for the prosecutors at the Tokyo Trials. The view justified the missionaries’ activities during the period surrounding the Nanjing Incident and their statements were blindly swallowed up as fact without verification. Thus, China’s propaganda after the War and “newly discovered” documents by a handful of Japanese of cases of disorderly conduct during the postwar years were created along the American missionaries’ view.

There were also reports made by American Embassy officials, Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone prepared by the International Committee, reports to the German Embassy by the German, Mr. Rabe, and “A Report of a German Eyewitness,” submitted by German Lieutenant General von Falkenhausen to Ambassador Trautmann. But Falkenhausen was a military advisor to Chiang Kai-shek–any claim to “neutrality” from Falkenhausen is dubious. The author verifies that there are forged sections in “A Report of a German Eyewitness.”

It was said at the Tokyo Trials that contemporary burial records were the basis for an alleged massacre of more than 100,000 people. According to sources submitted to the court, the Red Swastika Society buried 43,071 and Chong Shan Tang buried 112,266. In a memorandum that Chancellor Scharffenberg wrote, “The Red Swastika Society has been given permission to bury the bodies.” But no mention was made about Chong Shan Tang. Burials were allowed with permission of the Japanese army and there was no mention about Chong Shan Tang in Japanese army records. Mr. Ara Kenichi says that Chong Shan Tang was not active at that time. So, Chong Shan Tang’s records are merely forgeries. It is reasonable to estimate that about 40,000 out of a total 100,000 Chinese soldiers were killed in battle, rather than a massacre of civilian.

The defense brought up the population of Nanjing, but Chief justice Webb overruled the defense.

The International Committee wrote: “It is estimated that altogether some 200,000 people will have to be cared for, when the zone is put into operation.” Throughout December, the Committee’s record stated that there were 200,000 in the Nanjing Safety Zone. But on January 14, they wrote that the population was 250,000, as a result of the Japanese army’s registration of citizens. Anyway, there is no evidence the population decreased—there was a huge slaughter of people but no population decrease?

URL: https://www.sdh-fact.com/book-article/1864/
PDF: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Primary6E.pdf

MOTEKI Hiromichi, Acting Chairman
for KASE Hideaki, Chairman
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact