December 13^th of this year marked the 82^nd anniversary of Nanjing Massacre and also the 6^th national public memorial day of Nanjing Massacre.

Peace Assembly for the 82^th Anniversary of Nanjing Massacre was hosted by National Liaison Board for 82^nd Anniversary of Nanjing Massacre, a Japanese civil group, in Osaka, Nagoya, Shizuoka and Tokyo from December 7^th to 11^th.

Since year 1997 marking the 60^th anniversary of Nanjing Massacre, friendly groups in Japan have held testimony assembly with survivors in Tokyo, Osaka, Kumamoto and other cities. They have invited altogether 42 survivors including Li Gaoshan, Xia Shuaqin and Chen Deshou to Japan to tell Japanese the dark history they have experienced.

In consideration of the survivors being in their 80s, they have stopped inviting survivors to the assembly since 2016. The assembly serves the purpose of passing on the memory of survivors in Nanjing Massacre and enabling more Japanese to know the truth of history.

This year, Aid Association of Victims in Nanjing during the War of Aggression against China by Japanese Invaders and the assembly organizers jointly organized the testimony assembly and invited Ge Fengjin, son of survivor Ge Daorong, and Sun Zhaiwei, a historian, to the assembly in Japans.

Let more Japanese know the truth of history.

On December 7^th, 1^st session of the testimony assembly was held in Osaka. Ge Fengjin, son of Nanjing Massacre survivor Ge Daorong, narrated the experience of his father during Nanjing Massacre.

During Nanjing Massacre in 1937, Ge Daorong, in order to protect Ge Fengjin’s sister and brother, was stabbed by Japanese invaders on his leg and the scars were still visible till now. Ge Zhixie, one of Ge Fengjin’s grandfathers, as killed by three Japanese invaders at home that was located at No.20 Huaqiao Road with his face beyond recognition. Pan Zhaoxiang and Wang Junsheng, granduncles of Ge Fengjin, were also killed.

Ge Fengjin said, “Hopefully, more young people could know this episode of history and keep it in their mind. Only when one person faces up to the history could he cherishes what he owns now. Only when the history is taken as a mirror could the same tragedy be avoided happening again. Let’s be the envoys guarding history and peace. Wish there will be no sufferings of war in the world. Wish all mothers in the globe will not shed tears. And wish all children all over the world could live a happy life in peace.”

Sun Zhaiwei, a historian specializing in Nanjing Massacre, gave a speech with a title of Miserable Truth of Defense of Nanjing. He pointed out, “the purpose of reviewing the truth of history is not to extend hatred. Instead, it is to summarize lessons and experiences with calmness, to warn against the possible resurgence of Japanese militarism that has brought disaster to human being and to fight for everlasting peace for the world. Wish friendship between Chinese and Japanese can continue generation after generation!”

Yamamoto Toshio, relative of the witness in War of Aggression against China and senator of Sabae-shi in Fukui prefecture, came to the assembly in advance. He extended warm welcome to Ge Fengjin who represented his father on the testimony assembly. He said, “Hopefully, by the opportunity of testimony assembly, more Japanese could learn about the truth of history, face up to the history and embrace true peace.”

On December 8^th, Ge Fengjin and Sun Zhaiwei visited Nagoya, attending the 2^nd session of the assembly. Hirayama Ryohei, representative of the Liaison Board, elaborated on the purpose of the assembly which was to advocate more Japanese to pay attention to the truth of history.

Impressively, that day was also the birthday of Ono Masami, one of the assembly organizers. He said, “it is the most significant birthday present listening to the testimony from the survivor’s descendant on the assembly.” Being a retired teacher, he had dedicated himself in disseminating the truth of history. He thought that true peace was about human rights being secured and to know the truth of history was of the human rights which should be safeguarded as well.

Dissemination of history truth allowed no delay

At 6:30pm local time on December 10^th, the 3^rd session of the assembly was held in Shizuoka. Being travel-worn, Ge Feng-jin and Sun Zhaiwei narrated the history diligently to local Japanese for the purpose of truth dissemination. Mori Masaka, one of the assembly organizers, lecturer on peace study of Shizuoka University and historian, played a self-made video clip about slaughter in Mufu Mount. By way of interviews with Japanese veterans in the War and on-site visit & investigation, the video clip revealed the agonizing history. He mentioned, “Veterans in this video clip have all passed way and number of Nanjing Massacre is diminishing. Therefore, it is a pressing task to disseminate the truth of history.”

The assembly continued for almost three hours with the audience’s all attention and without anybody leaving midway.

On December 11^th, the 4^th session of the assembly was held in Jeonshuido Hall in Tokyo. At the beginning of the assembly, all participants stood in silent tribute to 300,000 victims in Nanjing Massacre. After that, Hiroshi Tanaka, honorary professor of Hitotsubashi University, said to the audience that “I hope this testimony assembly could enable Japanese to learn about the history and in particular let our descendants learn about the true history.”

On all four sessions of testimony assembly, we found out that there were many Japanese who would like to learn about this episode of history and there were many friendly people who made their contributions in passing on the history without being known by others. During the assembly, some knelt down on the floor while playing the video clip of survivors’ testimony to the audience. Some held the camera recording testimony from survivors’ descendants in order for more Japanese to know the history. Countries that respect history could maintain everlasting peace which in turn could enable a promising future. Hope there will be more young Japanese to learn about this episode of history.

 Testimony Assembly

Ge Fengjin

Sun Zhaiwei

Yamamoto Toshio (left)

Testimony Assembly

Mori Masaka

Hiroshi Tanaka