Description:

(TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL) TRANSCRIPT OF WITNESS TESTIMONY DESCRIBES ATROCITIES DURING THE RAPE OF NANKING
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 a period mimeographed document, 65pp. 4to., a duplicate transcript of the proceedings on July 25, 1946, prepared for 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, including the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking). The transcript first presents the defense's cross-examination of Chinese general Teh-Chun Ching, who provides testimony for the prosecution regarding the background of Japanese aggression in northern China following the Manchurian incident, particularly the Marco Polo Bridge incident of July 7, 1937, a clash between Japanese and Chinese forces considered to have sparked the Second Sino-Japanese War. Defense counsel attempts to expand the scope of the cross-examination to discuss the broader perceived impact of Western colonial influence on Asia in general and China in particular to frame Japanese aggression as an act of national self-defense, but is repeatedly overruled by the President of the IMTFE, Australian justice Sir William F. Webb. Following the conclusion of Ching's testimony, the prosecution calls to the stand Dr. ROBERT O. WILSON (1904-1967), a surgeon at Drum Tower Hospital of the University of Nanjing and the primary doctor responsible for treating the victims of Japanese atrocities, and who was instrumental in the establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone, which sheltered more than 200,000 people within its confined walls. Under examination by Sutton, Wilson recalls the nature of the violent acts inflicted upon Chinese civilians by Japanese troops, in small part: ‘...Q: Doctor, will you give specific instances of the types of injuries which had been received by the persons whom you treated at the hospital?… A: A young boy of eight was brought in with a deep penetrating wound of the abdomen, which pierced his stomach… A man was admitted with a wound through the right shoulder, obviously a bullet wound… He was one – the only survivor of a large group of men who were taken to the river bank of the Yangtze River and individually shot. The bodies were pushed into the river, and hence the actual number cannot be ascertained… Another man was a Chinese policeman and was brought to the hospital with a very deep laceration across the middle of his back. He was the only survivor of a large group taken outside the city wall, who were also first machine-gunned and the wounded were then pierced with bayonets to be sure that they were dead… One noon I was having lunch in my house, when the neighbors rushed in and told us, at the table, that some Japanese soldiers were raping the women in their house… We rushed out of the house to accompany the men back to their own house, and the people in the courtyard pointed to the closed door of the gate-house. Three Japanese soldiers stood about in the courtyard with their bayonets. We pushed in the door of the gate-house, and found two Japanese soldiers in the act of raping two Chinese women…' Wilson's testimony continues, relating additional injuries suffered by civilians at the hands of soldiers. The transcript is bound in a file folder with a metal clip, and shows pencil notes in Sutton's hand on the blank front page. Shows some folds and toning overall, otherwise in very good condition. SOLD WITH: A period 5pp. 4to. mimeographed document featuring a chronology of the IMTFE proceedings, the number of witnesses appearing, a list of defendants (including Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo), and other facts and figures related to the tribunal. Both pieces originate from Sutton's archives. Two pieces.

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

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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