Analyzing the “Photographic Evidence” of the Nanking Massacre

Photo 129Photo 129: “This photo was taken by Rev. Ernest H. Forster in March 1938. Threemonths after Nanking’s fall, the killing had not stopped.” RON-YY, p. 235.Durdin: “Some of the victims were aged men, women and children. . . . Any person whoran because of fear or excitement was likely to be killed on the spot.” In addition, he didnot provide any data of the photograph—where and when it was taken. Although theactual location of the photo image—Qixia Mountain—was far away from the Nanking cityproper and was even outside of the city’s administrative jurisdiction, those who read theseexplanations on Kasahara’s book are likely to conclude that someone took that photographin the Nanking Safety Zone on December 13. They may well accept it as the real scene ofa hospital in the city and even see those people on the stretchers as victims of Japaneseatrocities.In summary, Kasahara on the one hand used Photo 129 in his publication withoutspecifying its location or date of photographing, seemingly to impress the readers that therewere victims of atrocities as early as December 13—the date of the Japanese occupation ofthe city. The editors of RON-YY, on the other hand, printed the same photograph on theirbook to advance their theory that the killing by the Japanese continued even three monthsafter the fall of the city.201