Account of a Nanking Rape Victim

Account of a Nanking Rape Victim.

Liu Xiuying, a 78-year-old survivor told a court in Tokyo in 1996: "The Japanese troops entered the city on Dec. 13, 1937. We were about 100 young women sheltering in the cellars of a building. On the afternoon of the 18th a group of soldiers came and some of us were taken by force."

"We knew what they were doing to women," she said. "They were dragging them into a neighboring building where they were often raped. The following morning some soldiers returned and one of them seized me by the arms. I was 19 and I was seven months pregnant. I resisted with all my force and I bit him on the arm. He screamed and his colleagues came immediately."

The soldiers lept on her and stabbed her 37 times in the face and stomach. She was left for dead in a pool of blood. The next day she lost her child but miraculously survived. She was taken to a Protestant church where she was taken care of by an American.

"I can't forget, and I can't forgive," she said. "From that day on and for years to come, I had nightmares. I was so disfigured that I never left the house. I couldn't work. Even today my face sometimes hurts."

John Rabe, a German in Nanking at the time of the massacre wrote in his diary, “An American once said, 'The Safety Zone has become a brothel for the Japanese.' This statement is largely in accordance with the facts.

Yesterday night around 1,000 girls and women were raped, in the Jinling Women's College alone, more than 100 girls were raped. These days all one hears about is rape. If brothers or husbands come out to interfere, they're shot by the Japanese. All about me is the cruel violence and brutality of the Japanese army thugs.