Book Review
Title: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang
Genre: History
Rating: 5 Stars
The Rape of Nanking was a difficult read for the very beginning, but it highlights something that is often overlooked in our modern society, the erasure of history that doesn’t suit the global narrative or the narrative of the countries involved. Japan despite being a country I adore has this problem. While the attack on Pearl Harbour is widely remembered as well as the subsequent bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the atrocities carried out by the Japanese military in China and Manchuria are often forgotten and this book aims to address that.
Before the attack on Pearl Harbour the Japanese army invaded Manchuria and other parts of China aiming to take control of all of Asia, claiming it was their divine right to do so. Here they committed acts very similar to that of Hitler’s holocaust but haven’t faced the same backlash as Germany did in the aftermath even though there is a mountain of evidence showing the Japanese Government and royal family tried repeatedly to cover up their crimes, especially in Nanking. Nanking being the older capital of China was invaded for the purpose of breaking the Chinese defences and spirit, however, Nanking at the time was home to many foreigners including doctors, teachers and surprisingly a Nazi official who did so much to help the people of China despite what was happening in his own country at the time.
In just six weeks it is estimated that over 300,000 Chinese civilians were brutalised and killed by the Japanese army with the consent and knowledge of their government. It was only through the efforts of the International Safety Zone and its founders that information was able to get out about what was happening resulting in many lives being saved. The initial invasion of the city of Nanking while brutal wasn’t out of the bounds for what was expecting during a time of war, however, the aftermath when everything has died down was used by the Japanese to purposefully manipulate the Chinese people with the sole purpose of killing as many of them as possible including women, children and the elderly. The women were treated brutally often raped and sodomised in the streets, in addition to being tortured and killed on a regular basis.
The book walks through the events that happened in those six weeks often making me feel physically ill, but it is a part of history that needs to be remembered and the Japanese need to be held accountable for their actions. The Nazi’s faced the Nuremberg trials for their crimes and for decades after we have never allowed them to forget what they did. Germany even paid reparations to those that were affected by their actions something the Japanese have never done. The Japanese government has gone as far as suppressing and destroying any information related to the invasion of Nanking even though it was front page news all over the world at the time. Despite this they have never offered as much as an apology to the Chinese people for the horrors committed during the Second World War.
This book does an amazing job of not only educating people on what happened at the time but highlighting the fact that history is written by the victors and as the victors of the Second World War it is our duty to make sure these events are forgotten or suppressed lest they have again. Reading this book definitely changed my opinion on Japan as a country due to how they treated the Chinese people in the 1930s and couldn’t even offer an apology, going as far as denying the invasion of Nanking never happened and that it was a piece of propaganda made up by the Chinese to destroy the standing of the Japanese, despite the mountains of evidence showing otherwise. The burden of holding those responsible for these events accountable hasn’t gone away. There have been cases of Nazi’s being prosecuted even decades after the end of WW2 and the Japanese must face the same consequences or it sends the message that acts like these are perfectly acceptable if you can become a world power in the aftermath like Japan has.
Overall, if you are remotely interested in history, especially the history of the Second World War then definitely pick this book up. That being said, I would recommend it to everyone despite the heavy subject matter because of how much censorship and suppression surrounds these events and we cannot allow them to be forgot and lost to time.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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