On this day – 13th December 1937 – The start of the Nanking massacre
The Nanking (Nanjing) massacre, also known as the rape of
Nanking, was a mass-murder and mass-rape conducted by the Japanese troops during
the second Sino-Japanese war. It started on the 13th of December
after the fall of Nanking, and lasted until January. Somewhere between 40.000
and 300.000 Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were killed in the six
weeks the mass-murders lasted. Widespread rape and looting was also common
among the Japanese soldiers, thereby naming the events the Rape of Nanking. It
is estimated that around 20.000 women were raped, and several of them
systematically where the soldier would go from door to door to look for females
to rape. The inaccuracy of the number of victims during the six weeks is due to
most of the Japanese records being destroyed after the war. The events are
still creating political controversies and Japanese nationalist argues that the
event have been exaggerated or even fabricated and the events still affect the
relationship between Japan and its surrounding countries. The Japanese government
and several veterans have, however, admitted to the killings of large amounts
of people.
A war criminal tribunal was held in 1946. Prince Asaka, the
commander for the troops and the officer who allergically provided official
sanctions for the crimes, escaped execution because he signed an agreement with
the allied forces. Four other Japanese officers were executed, including the
two officers who had a contest to be the first one to kill 100 people with a sword.
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