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

by Iris Chang

131. She labored to prepare the campus for female refugees: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 3, 6, and 7, 1937, pp. 94, 97, 98.

  131. Vautrin also commissioned the sewing: Ibid., October 6, 1937, p. 41.

  131. By the second week of December: Minnie Vautrin, “Sharing ‘the Abundant Life’ in a Refugee Camp,” April 28, 1938, box 103, record group 8, Jarvis Collection, Yale Divinity School Library.

  131. Refugees were passing through the city: Letter to parents, probably from Forster, October 4, 1937, from Hsiakwan, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  131. Many of them, exhausted, bewildered, and hungry: 793.94/12060, report no. 9114, December 11, 1937, restricted report, General Records of the Department of State, National Archives.

  131. “From 8:30 this morning”: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 15, 1937, p. 111.

  131. Vautrin allowed the women and children: Ibid.

  132. Vautrin’s heart sank: Ibid., December 16, 1937, pp. 112-13.

  132. They certainly would have been killed: Ibid., December 16, 1937, p. 113.

  132. A truck went by with eight to ten girls: Ibid., December 16, 1937, p. 114. In her diary, Vautrin records that the women screamed “Gin Ming,” but a more accurate translation of the Chinese expression for help is “Jiu Ming.”

  132. “What a heartbreaking sight!”: Ibid., December 17, 1937, pp. 115-16.

  133. “Never shall I forget that scene”: Ibid., pp. 117-18.

  134. On at least one occasion Japanese soldiers: Ibid., December 27, 1937, p. 130.

  134. “the lottery”: Source Materials Relating to the Horrible Nanking Massacre (1985), pp. 9-10.

  134. On New Year’s Day 1938, Vautrin rescued: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, January 1, 1938, p. 137.

  134. “fierce and unreasonable”: Ibid., December 18, 1937, pp. 119-20.

  134. “The request was that they be allowed”: Ibid., December 24, 1937, p. 127.

  135. “Group after group of girls”: Ibid.

  135. A week after the city fell: Enclosure to report, “Conditions in Nanking,” January 25, 1938, Intelligence Division, Naval Attaché Reports, 1886-1939, Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, 1882-1954, Office of Naval Intelligence, box 996, entry 98, record group 38, National Archives; Hu Hua-ling, “Chinese Women Under the Rape of Nanking,” p. 69.

  135. Vautrin noticed that the men who arrived: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 28, 1937, p. 131.

  135. In a few cases the zone leaders were successful: Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, p. 117.

  135. “This proved to be a bluff”: John Magee, letter to his wife, December 30, 1937, archives of David Magee.

  136. The Draconian threats of the Japanese: Hsu Shuhsi, Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone, p. 84.

  136. “You must follow the old customs of marriage”: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 31, 1937, p. 135.

  136. Vautrin observed that the Japanese soldiers: Ibid., January 4, 1938, p. 141.

  136. The soldiers also forced the women: Ibid., January 6, 1938, p. 144.

  136. “because a mother or some other person could vouch for them”: Ibid., December 31, 1937, p. 135.

  136. After registration, the Japanese tried to eliminate the zone itself: Ernest Forster, letter of January 21, 1938, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  136. February 4 was given as the deadline: (Authorship unknown, but probably Lewis Smythe), letter of February 1, 1938, box 228, record group 8, Yale Divinity School Library.

  137. Vautrin was wary of these promises: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, February 4, 1938, p. 183.

  137. crammed themselves into verandas: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 18, 1937.

  137. “slept shoulder to shoulder”: (unidentified author at 145 Hankow Road), letter of February 12, 1939, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  137. “Oh, God, control the cruel beastliness”: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, December 16, 1937, p. 114.

  137. “Don’t you people worry”: Hsu Chi-ken, The Great Nanking Massacre: Testimonies of the Eyewitnesses (Taipei, 1993), pp. 56-57.

  137. “You do not need to wear this rising sun emblem”: Ibid., p. 60.

  138. “China has not perished”: Hua-ling W. Hu, “Miss Minnie Vautrin: The Living Goddess for the Suffering Chinese People During the Nanking Massacre,” Chinese American Forum 11, no. 1 (July 1995): 20; from Ko Chi, “Recording with Blood and Tears the Fallen Capital,” in Source Materials Relating to the Horrible Nanking Massacre (1985).

  138. “She didn’t sleep from morning till night”: Huang Shu, interview with filmmaker Jim Culp; transcript from the personal archives of Jim Culp, San Francisco.

  138. “It was said that once she was slapped”: Ko Chi, “Blood and Tears,” p. 16; Hua-ling W. Hu, “Miss Minnie Vautrin,” p. 18.

  138. Christian Kröger, a Nazi member: Christian Kröger, “Days of Fate in Nanking,” unpublished report, January 13, 1938, archives of Peter Kröger.

  138. Looting and arson made food so scarce: Minnie Vautrin, diary 1937-40, March 4, 1938, p. 208; on mushrooms, see Liu Fonghua, interview with the author, Nanking, People’s Republic of China, July 29, 1995.

  138. They not only provided free rice: Lewis S. C. Smythe to Tokuyasu Fukuda, Attaché to the Japanese Embassy, enclosure no. 1 to report entitled “Conditions in Nanking,” January 25, 1938, Intelligence Division, Naval Attaché Reports, 1886-1939, Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, 1882-1954, Office of Naval Intelligence, box 996, entry 98, record group 38, National Archives.

  138. Yet they acted as bodyguards: James McCallum, diary, December 30, 1937, Yale Divinity School Library.

  139. “threatened Riggs with his sword”: Hsu Shuhsi, Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone, p. 24.

  139. A Japanese soldier also threatened professor Miner Searle Bates: “Cases of Disorder by Japanese Soldiers in Safety Zone,” subenclosure to enclosure no. 1-c, Intelligence Division, Naval Attaché Reports, 1886-1939, Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, 1882-1954, Office of Naval Intelligence, folder H-8-B Register#1727A, box 996, entry 98, record group 38, National Archives.

  139. Another soldier pulled a gun on Robert Wilson: Diary of John Magee in long letter to his wife, entry for December 19, 1937, archives of David Magee.

  139. Still another soldier fired a rifle at James McCallum: “Cases of Disorder by Japanese Soldiers in Safety Zone,” subenclosure to enclosure no. 1-c, Intelligence Division, Naval Attaché Reports, 1886-1939, Records of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, 1882-1954, Office of Naval Intelligence. folder H-8-B Register#1727A, box 996, entry 98, record group 38, National Archives.

  139. When Miner Searle Bates visited the headquarters: John Magee to “Billy” (signed “John”), January 11, 1938, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  139. Hatz defended himself with a chair: John Rabe diary, December 22, 1937 entry, pp. 341-42.

  139. The zone eventually accommodated: In “Days of Fate in Nanking,” Christian Kröger states his belief that 200,000-250,000 refugees fled into the zone on December 12; Miner Searle Bates (“Preliminary Report on Christian Work in Nanking,” archives of Shao Tzuping) echoes the figure of 250,000; the estimate of 300,000 refugees in the zone comes from the IMTFE testimony of Hsu Chuang-ying, who was in charge of housing for the zone; see IMTFE transcript, entry 319, record group 331, p. 2561, National Archives.

  CHAPTER 6: WHAT THE WORLD KNEW

  144. Special meals of Nanking noodles: Morris-Suzuki, Showa, p. 34.

  144. Durdin, a twenty-nine-year-old reporter from Houston: Frank Tillman Durdin, telephone interview with the author, January 1996.

  144. Steele was an older correspondent: A. T. Steele Collection, Arizona State University Library.

  144. McDaniel was perhaps the most daring: C. Yates McDaniel, “Nanking Horror Described in Diary of War Reporter,” Chicago Tribune, December 18, 1937.

  144. Not only did they write rive
ting stories: The first American reporter to break the full story of the massacre was Archibald Steele. When the correspondents boarded the Oahu, the twenty-nine-year-old Durdin was unable to send any dispatches out by radio because the operator said it was against regulations. But somehow Steele got his stories out. “I think he slipped him a $50 bill or something!” Durdin exclaimed decades later in “Mr. Tillman Durdin’s Statement on the News Conference—Refuting the Distortions of His Reports on the Great Nanking Massacre by the Japanese Media” (Journal of Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China, August 1992, p. 66). “I was new and young, Steele was an old hand. So he scooped me on the story.”

  145. During the massacre most were so frightened: C. Yates McDaniel, “Nanking Horror Described in Diary of War Reporter,” Chicago Tribune, December 18, 1937.

  146. “I didn’t know where to take him or what to do”: “Mr. Tillman Durdin’s Statement on the News Conference—Refuting the Distortions of His Reports on the Great Nanking Massacre by the Japanese Media,” Journal of Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China, August 1992, p. 66.

  146. “I could do nothing”: McDaniel, “Nanking Horror Described in Diary of War Reporter.”

  146. Details of Durdin’s and Steele’s last day in Nanking can be found in their news reports, Fitch’s diary, and in “Mr. Tillman Durdin’s Statement on the News Conference.”

  146. There were also two American newsreel men: For information on Norman Alley and Eric Mayell filming the attack, see “Camera Men Took Many Panay Pictures,” New York Times, December 19, 1937.

  146. Though they survived the attack unscathed: Steele, “Chinese War Horror Pictured by Reporter.”

  146. While hiding with the surviving Panay passengers: Hamilton Darby Perry, The Panay Incident: Prelude to Pearl Harbor (Toronto: Macmillan, 1969), p. 226.

  146. On December 13, President Franklin D. Roosevelt: United Press story printed in Chicago Daily News, December 13, 1937.

  146. Filthy, cold, and wearing only blankets: “Sinking of the U.S.S. Panay,” ch. 11 of Some Phases of the Sino-Japanese Conflict (July- December 1937), compiled from the records of the Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, by Capt. W. A. Angwin (MC), USN, December 1938, Shanghai, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Division of Naval Intelligence, general correspondence, 1929-42, folder P9-2/EF16#23, box 284, entry 81, record group 38, National Archives.

  147. When Alley’s and Mayell’s footage hit the theaters: United Press story printed in Chicago Daily News, December 29, 1937; 793.94/12177, General Records of the Department of State, record group 59, National Archives.

  147. “The embassy cuts no ice”: Copy of George Fitch diary, enclosed in file from Assistant Naval Attaché E. G. Hagen to Chief of Naval Operations, March 7, 1938, National Archives.

  147. In February they allowed a few American naval officers: Commanding Officer to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet (letterhead marked the U.S.S. Oahu), intelligence summary for the week ending February 20, 1938, February 21, 1938, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Division of Naval Intelligence, general correspondence, 1929-42, folder A8-21/FS#3, box 195, entry 81, record group 38, National Archives.

  147. As late as April: “Red Machine” Japanese diplomatic messages, no. 1794, translated May 4, 1938, boxes 1-4, record group 457, National Archives.

  147. “The assumption I made”: “Deutsche Botschaft China,”document no. 214, German diplomatic reports, National History Archives, Republic of China. According to this report, the German diplomats returned to the city on January 9, 1938.

  148. A machine cipher had protected: For information on the American Red Machine, see David Kahn, “Roosevelt, Magic and Ultra,” in Historians and Archivists, ed. George O. Kent (Fairfax, Va.: George Mason University Press, 1991).

  148. “If they do return”: “Red Machine” Japanese diplomatic messages, no. 1171, record group 457, National Archives.

  148. For example, Norman Alley: Perry, The Panay Incident, p. 232.

  149. “utmost secrecy”: “Red Machine” Japanese diplomatic messages, box 2, record group 457, National Archives.

  149. “If that is all the news coming out of Nanking”: Robert Wilson, letter to family, December 20, 1937.

  149-50. “Carefully they were herded”: George Fitch diary, reprinted in Reader’s Digest (July 1938).

  150. “tremendously pleased”: George Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, p. 115.

  150. “spontaneous” celebrations: Reader’s Digest (July 1938).

  150. “these acts were not repeated”: The Smythes, letter of March 8, 1938, box 228, record group 8, Yale Divinity School Library.

  150. “the Imperial Army entered the city”: Archives of David Magee. A copy of the article can also be found in George Fitch diary, enclosed in file from Assistant Naval Attaché E. G. Hagen to Chief of Naval Operations, March 7, 1938, National Archives.

  151. “Now the Japanese are trying to discredit”: James McCallum, diary entry for January 9, 1938 (copy), box 119, record group 119, Yale Divinity School Library, reprinted in Smalley, American Missionary Eyewitnesses to the Nanking Massacre, p. 43.

  151. “We have seen a couple of issues”: copy of George Fitch diary, entry for January 11, 1938, enclosed in file from Assistant Naval Attaché E. G. Hagen to Chief of Naval Operations, March 7, 1938, National Archives.

  151. “In March, a government radio station in Tokyo”: Reader’s Digest (July 1938).

  151. “Now the latest is from the Japanese paper”: Lewis and Margaret Smythe, letter to “Friends in God’s Country,” March 8, 1938, box 228, record group 8, Yale Divinity School Library.

  152. “All good Chinese who return”: Reader’s Digest (July 1938).

  152. “a charming, lovable soldier”: “Deutsche Botschaft China,” document starting on page 107, March 4, 1938, National History Archives, Republic of China.

  152. In early February a Japanese general: Ernest Forster, letter of February 10, 1938, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  153. “a mother of an 11-year-old girl”: “Deutsche Botschaft China,” document starting on page 134, February 14, 1938, National History Archives, Republic of China.

  153. The Japanese government barred other reporters: “Red Machine” Japanese diplomatic messages, D(7-1269) #1129-A, boxes 1-4, record group 457, National Archives.

  153. Superior training in the verbal arts: John Gillespie Magee, Sr., was the father of John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and wrote the famous World War II poem, “High Flight.” (“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth/And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings . . .”).

  154. “Complete anarchy has reigned”: copy of George Fitch diary, diary entry for December 24, 1937, enclosed in file from Assistant Naval Attaché E. G. Hagen to Chief of Naval Operations, March 7, 1938, National Archives, reprinted in Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, p. 98.

  154. “It is a horrible story to try to relate”: James McCallum, diary entry for December 19, 1937 (copy), box 119, record group 8, Yale Divinity School Library, reprinted in Smalley, American Missionary Eyewitnesses to the Nanking Massacre, p. 21.

  155. “I think I have said enough”: John Magee, letter to his wife, December 31, 1937, archives of David Magee.

  155. “Please be very careful of this letter”: John Magee, letter to “Billy” (signed “John”), January 11, 1938, Ernest and Clarissa Forster Collection.

  155. “sensation”: Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, p. 92.

  155. “What I am about to relate”: copy of George Fitch diary, diary entry for December 24, 1937, enclosed in file from Assistant Naval Attaché E. G. Hagen to Chief of Naval Operations, March 7, 1938, National Archives, reprinted in Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, pp. 97-98.

  156. “It is unbelievable that credence could be given”: Reader’s Digest (October 1938).

  156. It is believed that John Gillespie Magee was the only Westerner who possessed a motion picture camera during the massacre,
and that George Fitch may have borrowed this camera to capture the images of Chinese prisoners taken away by the Japanese. David Magee, son of John Magee, still owns the 16-mm-film motion picture camera used by his father used to film scenes in the University of Nanking hospital. Copies of the films are located in the family archives of Tanya Condon, granddaughter of George Fitch; David Magee, son of John Magee; and Margorie Wilson, widow of Robert Wilson. An English-language summary of the contents of the films can be found in “Deutsche Botschaft China,” document starting on page 141, German diplomatic reports, National History Archives, Republic of China.

  156. “as unsavory a crowd”: Fitch, My Eighty Years in China, p. 121.

  156. There was no doubt in his mind: Tanya Condon, telephone interview with the author, March 27, 1997.