Source 4 : The Nanjing Massacre Ernest Forster (1938) Photograph of the Nanjing Massacre March 13th 1938

Source 4 : The Nanjing Massacre Ernest Forster (1938) Photograph of the Nanjing Massacre March 13th 1938

The Nanjing Massacre

The Nanjing massacre refers to the Japanese Army’s mass-murder and rape of inhabitants residing in this former capital city of China. Estimates as to the death toll vary between 50,000 to over 300,000, but the accepted figure is now in the range of 200 to 300,000. This particular image was photographed by the American missionary Ernest Forster who witnessed atrocities perpetuated by the Japanese first-hand. Here, Forster depicts the ruins of a house and shops owned by two brothers. According to Forster, their father died of fright when threatened with a sword by a Japanese soldier. Forster chooses to depict a microcosm of the impact of Japanese soldiers' behavior at the level of a single family. Imagine how many times this scene must have been multiplied across Nanjing.

Ernest Forster

Yale Divinity, The Nanjing Massacre Project

Yale Divinity, The Nanjing Massacre Project