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The Nanking Massacre and Other Japanese Military Atrocities, 1931-1945
INTRODUCTION TO UNIT 2
Atrocity, Massacre, Genocide, Holocaust
The major goal of this unit is to understand the nature of atrocities, massacres, genocides, and the
Holocaust as well as the causes, manifestations, and efforts at their prevention. Atrocity, according to Merriam
Webster’s Dictionary, is an extremely brutal or cruel, act; a barbaric act; an appalling or horrifying act.
Atrocities are perpetrated in massacres and genocides and were perpetrated during the Holocaust (1933-
1945). Atrocities, according to this defi nition, were perpetrated against the Chinese in Nanking (or Nanjing,
the current spelling) and other cities in towns throughout China.
The American Heritage Dictionary defi nes the word Massacre as savage and indiscriminate killing; to kill
indiscriminately and wantonly; to slaughter. These defi nitions accurately describe what happened in Nanking
and many other Japanese-occupied cities not only in China but throughout East and Southeast Asia during
the Asia-Pacifi c War 1931-1945, but controversy over the correct term or label for these Japanese actions
continues.
Some believe that what happened in China during the war should be described as a Massacre; others
describe it as Genocide, while still others desire to label the events as Holocaust. This unit will guide the students
in understanding the complexity of events and correct application of terms during this chapter of history.
The term Genocide was fi rst used by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 during World War II, when more civilians died
than soldiers. Lemkin, a Polish legal scholar who escaped the Nazis, used the term to describe a “coordinated
plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups with
the aim of annihilating the groups themselves” (79). On December 9, 1948, the United Nations adopted the
Genocide Convention, which defi ned genocide as follows:
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole, or
in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such: (a) killing members of the group;
(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately infl icting
on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and (e) forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
While Lemkin’s defi nition has been seen as overly broad, that of the United Nations has been criticized as
being both too broad and narrow (Totten, Parsons, Charny xxiv). Because neither of these defi nitions appears
to be totally satisfactory to many who work on the issue, the result is the creation of scores of defi nitions of
genocide. The number of defi nitions of genocide may confuse students who are seeking to understand these
phenomena and who are setting up their own criteria and defi nitions.
The purpose of this unit is to challenge students to think deeply about the various defi nitions and
interpretations of the terms Holocaust and Genocide and to either adapt or create a defi nition that refl ects their
own values and worldview.
The role of the teacher is to assure the students are provided with a broad array of credible defi nitions of
atrocity, massacre, genocide, and Holocaust. Students can be guided by their applications of whatever
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