The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

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a b c d "Japan and the U.S.: Sidelining the Heterodox". Japan Policy Research Institute. December 2002. Archived from the original on 2004-03-23 . Retrieved 2007-07-22. A report from the San Francisco Chronicle stated that news of her suicide had a strong impact on survivors of the Nanking Massacre and the Chinese community in general. [20] Memorials [ edit ]

The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II, "piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror". (Adam Hochschild, Salon)In the US, a Chinese garden in Norfolk, Virginia, which contains a memorial to Minnie Vautrin, added a memorial dedicated to Chang, including her as the latest victim of the Nanjing Massacre, and drawing parallels between Chang and Vautrin, who also took her own life. [55] Vautrin exhausted herself trying to protect women and children during the Nanjing Massacre and subsequently during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, finally suffering a nervous breakdown in 1940. She returned to the US for medical treatment, committing suicide a year later. [20] Editions [ edit ] English Iris intends to rescue victims of the Nanking massacre from historical oblivion by allowing them to tell their stories. She interviewed several survivors of the Nanking massacre most of whom lived in poverty. Even small financial compensation from Japan could have been a great help to them. a b "The Rape of Nanking". Penguin Group USA. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27 . Retrieved 2007-07-22.

Many of the Japanese troops—hungry, undisciplined and exhausted by weeks of marching and brutal fighting in the battle for Shanghai—were seeking revenge for the comrades lost in that earlier battle. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me. [5] So, I have no problem believing that the incidents Chang chronicles and the eyewitness and diary accounts she relates are true. I am also enough of a historian to recognize that she wrote the book as a journalist not as a historian. That belief does not lessen the importance of what she has done in trying to lift the veil from an episode the Japanese would love to have the world forget. Robert Entenmann". St. Olaf College. Archived from the original on 2007-07-05 . Retrieved 2007-07-23.

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The New York Times bestselling account of one of history's most brutal—and forgotten—massacres, when the Japanese army destroyed China's capital city on the eve of World War II, "piecing together the abundant eyewitness reports into an undeniable tapestry of horror".(Adam Hochschild, Salon) LDP-DPJ group plan to scrutinize 'Rape of Nanking' ". The Japan Times. 2007-02-23 . Retrieved 2007-07-21. I can assure you that virtually none of these errors had anything to do with the historical description of the Nanking massacre itself.” [32] Did you know? Once one of China's most prosperous cities and industrial centers, Nanjing took decades to recover from the devastation it experienced in the Rape of Nanjing. Abandoned as the national capital in 1949 for Beijing, it later grew into a modern industrial city during the communist period and today is home to many of China's largest state-owned firms. David M. Kennedy (April 1998). "The Horror: Should the Japanese atrocities in Nanking be equated with the Nazi Holocaust?". The Atlantic Monthly. Vol.281, no.4. pp.110–116.

Chang wrote three books documenting the experiences of Chinese and Chinese Americans in history. Her first, Thread of the Silkworm (Basic Books, 1995) [8] tells the life story of the Chinese professor, Qian Xuesen (or Tsien Hsue-shen) during the Red Scare in the 1950s. Although Qian was one of the founders of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and for many years helped the military of the United States debrief scientists from Nazi Germany, he was suddenly accused of being a spy and a member of the Communist Party USA, and was placed under house arrest from 1950 to 1955. Qian left for the People's Republic of China in September 1955. Upon his return to China, Qian developed the Dongfeng missile program, and later the Silkworm missile, which was used by the Iraqi military during its war on Iran and against the United States-led coalitions during the Persian Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Success as an author made Iris Chang a public figure. The Rape of Nanking placed her in great demand as a speaker and as an interview subject, and, more broadly, as a spokesperson for the viewpoint that the Japanese government had not done enough to compensate victims of their invasion of China. In one often-mentioned incident (as reported by The Times of London): I teach seniors, and I still struggle with curricular questions of whether a particular focus is too much for high school students, who are only 17 - 18. Should the truth be sanitized for as long as possible? Or, do we owe a tribute to the dead to honor their memories by teaching about the violence and aggression of one group against another, regardless of unsuccessful attempts to stop such violence? What does the future hold for such memories? What should young people learn?

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It was later discovered that she had left behind three suicide notes each dated November 8, 2004. "Statement of Iris Chang" stated: According to William C. Kirby, Professor of History at Harvard University, Chang "shows more clearly than any previous account just what [the Japanese] did," and that she "draws connections between the slaughter in Europe and in Asia of millions of innocents during World War II." [3] Ross Terrill, an associate in research at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard, [36] wrote that the book is "scholarly, an exciting investigation and a work of passion." [37] Beatrice S. Bartlett, Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University, [38] wrote, "Iris Chang's research on the Nanking holocaust yields a new and expanded telling of this World War II atrocity and reflects thorough research." [37] Frederic Wakeman, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that the book was "Heartbreaking ... An utterly compelling book. The descriptions of the atrocities raise fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of the torturers, rapists, and murderers." [37] Criticism [ edit ] The Rape of Nanking is a reminder that even when humanity can be terrible and cruel there are individuals who will stand up with courage and risk everything to help strangers. In her own way Iris Chang did that herself, a young woman undertaking the task to tell the many stories of a horrible history. Facing scorn and death threats, along with the brutal reality of the subject matter, Chang slipped into depression and took her own life in 2004. Her book is a testament to her willingness to tell the truth, to champion the lost victims of history, and to put faces on the forgotten many who remain lost and decomposed in unmarked graves. Thousands of women were raped by Japanese soldiers; death was frequently the penalty for the slightest resistance by a victim or members of her family. Even large numbers of young girls and old women were raped throughout the city, and many cases of abnormal and sadistic behavior in connection with these rapes were reported. Many women were killed after the act and their bodies mutilated. Joshua A. Fogel (August 1998). "Reviewed Works: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang". The Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies. 57 (3): 818–820. doi: 10.2307/2658758. JSTOR 2658758.