Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

* Magee photo (3)MF: Group of women refugees moving from one camp to another in search of greatersafety.RON-YY (p. 228): Group of 300 women living in the international Safety Zone escorted byan American to be registered with Japanese authorities. Although the Safety Zoneprotected thousands of people from being killed, it concentrated large numbers of womentogether, which facilitated sexual assaults on them by the Japanese Army.Photo 118Photo 118: One of the “Magee photos,” which, according to its caption, depicts womenmoving “from one camp to another in search of greater safety.” An enlarged image,however, shows that these women were smiling.These passages suggest that these women were attempting to escape from dangerby moving to another refugee camp. Yet, the enlarged image—Photo 118—showssmiling faces of these women. The scene which Magee captured was therefore not theone characterized by a tense atmosphere.190