SDHF Newsletter No.11: Der Mythos vom “Nanking-Massaker”

Posted on 15/06/2015

The movie “John Rabe” debuted on April 2nd in Berlin. John Rabe was the chairman of
the International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone, when Nanking was occupied by
the Japanese. He was chosen as chairman since he was the representative of Siemens’
Nanking office and had a close relationship with the Chinese government. Germany had
sent a military advisory group headed by von Falkenhausen, who even proposed a pre-emtive
atttack against a Japanese marine landing force of 3,000 just prior to the outbreak of
the second Shanghai Incident in August 1937. Therefore it is quite natural that Rabe
erroneously wrote about the Japanese in his diary. He wrote many things which were
completely contradictory to the descriptions in the “Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone”,
which were the official documents of the “International Committee”.
Ms. Yamato presents what really happened in Nanking, in German, summarizing much of
Prf. Higashinakano’s findings on the “Nanking Incident”, including “The Nanking Massacre:
Fact versus Fiction “(https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/9_S4.pdf) and “Analyzing the
‘Photographic Evidence’ of the Nanking Massacre” (https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/26_S4.pdf).
It is highly recommended that for those who watched the film also read her depiction of the
“Nanking incident” to have a fair view on the incident. Here are the abstracts and full text:

・ Abstract: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/60_S2.pdf
・Full text: https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/60_S4.pdf

Sincerely,

MOTEKI Hiromichi
Deputy Chairman and Secretary General
Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact