Rape of Nanking Essay Example

As days go by and the times change, history, however insignificant, is constantly being made. The more noteworthy occurrences are taken down and recorded, and artifacts from the time period are preserved. These events, worthy of taking up space in books and in time during history classes round the world, are discussed over and over again, with the intent that these events will never be forgotten and generations to come, will have a window into the past. Nevertheless, it seems as if some events are highlighted and glorified, pushing others under the rug, to be forgotten, as the times change. The Rape of Nanking is one such occurrence. Though mentioned in textbooks and classes, the Rape of Nanking is skimmed over and dismissed, leaving those interested, with an incomplete background on the forgotten Holocaust of World War I. Iris Chang’s foray into China in December of 1937, exposes a brutal massacre which years later has raised fundamental questions not only about imperial Japanese militarism but the psychology of torturers, rapists, and murderers.

During December of 1937, the ancient city of Nanking was invaded by the Japanese army, who would eventually go on to murder and rape innocent civilians and bring the death toll to surpass that of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined. What happened there is re-told through three perspectives, that of the soldiers who performed the attack, of the civilians who suffered and survived, and finally of the select group of Europeans and Americans who fought to save over 300,000 people from this atrocity. One such hero is John Rabe, a Nazi, who Iris Chang goes so far as to refer to as the “Oskar Schindler of China”. He, along with many others, tirelessly worked to save these people and to reveal the true horrors. Through his and other accounts, the afflictions that the people of Nanking endured are exposed and brought to the publics’ attention.

The Rape of Nanking is a graphic and extraordinarily well-