Nanjing Massacre Museum

Statue outside the museum

Sophie and Jonah walking toward the museum

Only part of the binders full of victims' names 

Statue garden outside the museum

Even though Nanjing has a long and fascinating history, the city is now most well-known for the historic WWII event: The Rape of Nanjing. Over 300,000 Chinese people were killed within a span of six weeks by invading Japanese soldiers during this horrific time. And as the name implies, one of the most horrific parts was the brutal rape of Nanjing women of all ages and from all walks of life. The city was destroyed and people were mass executed for fun. Since I took many classes on the German-USSR part of WWII (and the Jewish Holocaust), I spent a lot of time relating the Chinese-Japanese experience to what I have already learned. It gave me a new perspective on my understanding of WWII. 

The Nanjing Massacre Museum was the best museum I have been to in Nanjing so far. It was informative, well laid out, and was host to many intact artifacts, unlike 95% of the museums I have seen here. I already knew a fair amount about Nanjing's history from classes and just from living here, but the firsthand stories presented were really moving. The museum was built on a burial ground for the victims of the massacre, and in the middle of the museum you can see the actual bones in a large dugout pit. I also learned a lot about the aftermath of the event, which I had always wondered about. What do you do in a city where thousands of people were mass murdered? How do you rebuild the city? What are the first steps, and who takes them? It was nice to think about rebuilding the city after seeing all those horrific pictures and reading those terrible stories. It also gave me shivers when I read the firsthand accounts and knew where in Nanjing the events took place; places I walk past all the time.

At the end of the section of the museum specifically about the Rape of Nanjing (there was another part of the museum contextualizing the event within WWII,) there was a small, dark room. 300,000 deaths in the span of 6 weeks equates to a death every 12 seconds. So over the loudspeaker, there was a clock ticking out 12 seconds, and every 12^th second, a drop of water fell from the ceiling into a shallow pool and a picture of a Chinese victim lit up on the wall. It was extremely moving and well done.

Having been to many museums about the Holocaust, I knew what to expect. For the most part, the museum was not more graphic than others to which I have been. However, some of the stories presented went a bit farther and were more gory than, say, the DC Holocaust museum. And like Yad Vashem, the exhibit was underground, and the layout was architecturally relevant to the museum experience.

The biggest difference between the Holocaust museums I have seen and the museum honoring the victims of the Rape of Nanjing is how the perpetrators are portrayed. Unlike people and leaders in Germany, who publicly apologize and repent for their role in the Holocaust (save for those few scary Holocaust deniers,) Japanese leaders/people do not accept the blame for the Nanjing Massacre. The Jewish Holocaust is taught in the schools of the countries that committed the crimes, while the Nanjing Massacre is not taught in Japanese schools. Many Japanese do not believe/know it happened, even though there are witnesses from China and abroad. Add in the fact that China and Japan have a very strained relationship even into today. For these reasons, the museum truly vilified the Japanese in a way that Jewish Holocaust museums do not vilify Nazis. It's hard to explain, since it's not like Nazis are off the hook at Holocaust museums. But I just got this feeling that the museum exemplified a manifestation of the current tension between Japan and China.

It was a rainy, foggy day, which fit my mood when I left. I am glad I went, but I'm not sure I can do it again...