Description:

(TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL) REPORT ON CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED BY JAPANESE TROOPS IN CHINA
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), popularly known as the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, convened in April 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for their crimes against peace, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity, leading up to and during World War II. Presented here is an interesting period mimeographed document, 70pp. legal folio, prepared by American associate counsel for the prosecution DAVID NELSON SUTTON (1895-1974) who was responsible for gathering witness testimony related to Japanese war crimes in China. Titled ‘Brief of Atrocities – Class C Offenses – Crimes Against Humanity Committed by Japanese Troops in China 1937-1945', the reports opens, in small part: ‘General Statement of Ultimate Facts believed to be established by Evidence: That the offenses committed by Japanese soldiers in China against the citizens of China include: 1. Murder and massacre 2. Torture 3. Rape 4.Robbery, looting and wanton destruction of property. That these crimes against humanity on the part of Japanese soldiers continued from 1937 until 1945, and occurred in every province in China occupied by Japanese troops. Knowledge of these continuing acts was brought home not only to the commanding generals in China, but to the government in Tokyo, and no effective action was taken to correct the situation. These acts were assented to, if not authorized and directed by both the military and civil authorities of Japan. That the commission of these crimes constituted the Japanese pattern of warfare. The first and outstanding instance of the commission of these acts by Japanese troops at Nanking [now Nanjing], and is commonly called ‘The Rape of Nanking'…' The report goes on to give an overview of the atrocities committed at Nanjing, and presents the affidavits of several witnesses, including Americans Miner Searle Bates, a leader of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone; John G. Magee, a missionary and Red Cross worker who shot thousands of photos and hundreds of minutes of film of the atrocities; and George A. Fitch, missionary and director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. Along with other witness statements included in the report, these present a graphic account of Japanese depravity in dealing with Chinese civilians. From Bates' statement, in small part: ‘...The minimum estimate that I could make of cases of rape within our carefully organized and observed Safety Zone was 8,000. Our German colleagues in the International Safety Zone Committee set the estimate at 20,000. I may add that before the season was finished, in University properties soldiers had raped a girl of nine and a grandmother of seventy-six years. About one-third of the known cases of rape occurred in daylight, not infrequently along public streets. Frequently the same woman was raped by several soldiers in rapid succession; in one instance, at the Bible Teachers' Training School, a refugee woman was raped by seventeen soldiers successively…' Much more similar content besides. The report is bound in plain paper covers, with the titles and Sutton's name typed on the front. The first page also features several notation in Sutton's hand, including ‘Justice [Sir William] Webb [President of the IMTFE] 9:00 AM' and the name of a member of the court's language section, who were charged with translating all written and spoken material into Japanese. The report originates directly from Sutton's archives. Shows some folds and chips to the page edges throughout, with the back page detached but present, otherwise in very good condition overall.

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November 13, 2025 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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