Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

The following sources made references to this album: NDG, “Nanking 1937”(movie), and Zhongguo Kangri Zhanzheng Tuzhi [Pictorial History of China’s ResistanceWar Against Japan], vol. 2. Based on the stories recounted in these sources, the followingis the summary of how the album became available to the public.Sometime between 1937 and 1939, a Japanese military man asked Mr. A, who wasthen an employee of Jinling Zhaoxiangguan [Jinling Photo Studio] in Nanking, to developfilms and make prints out of them. Mr. A made an extra set of prints totaling 30 forhimself, and kept 16 of them in an album. He, however, discarded that album in 1941because he was afraid that its possession might endanger his life. Another person—Mr.B—picked it up later in the same year and kept it secretly in his possession until the end ofthe war. When the war crimes court opened in Nanking, Mr. B presented that album tothe court as evidence.One can, however, detect a multitude of inconsistencies and questionable storieswith regard to these “16 photos.” This chapter will analyze (1) whether or not thetestimonies given by Messrs. A and B are the truth, (2) if the “16 photos” deserve to beclassified as viable evidence of the Nanking massacre, and (3) who took these images—didJapanese army personnel really photograph them?Photo BPhoto B: The “16 Photographs” captured as still images from the movie “Nanking 1937.”The varied sizes of these photographs are obvious.129