What she learned affected her deeply and set her into a deep depression. She committed suicide a few years ago. The movie didn’t go into a lot of gruesome detail about the massacre but included enough just to send shivers down my spine.

Starting December 13, 1937, the Japanese murdered, raped, and pillaged Nanking, China. The movie had lots of stories from survivors who told stories of what they saw happened to their families. Most were children who saw their whole family killed right in front of their eyes. There was one war vet who talked about what he and his comrades did to women and civilians and how. I found the rape stories the hardest to digest.

It’s not clear what ended the massacre, but it went on for weeks. There were Westerners who were there reporting on the atrocities and who were there to help and protect victims. Japanese officials deny the massacre ever happened and that the Chinese made it all up.

I must buy the book! I think I remember seeing it in the bookstores back in the late 90s.