BEIJING, Dec.1 --The Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders held a press conference on the newly acquired cultural relics and historical data on November 30, 2022. A total of 453 pieces (sets) of important historical materials were collected in the memorial hall.
The newly collected cultural relics and historical materials in 2022, including photos, soldiers' logs, and substantial objects, served to further confirm the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders in China and deepen the public's understanding of the nature of Japanese militarist aggression. These important historical materials have high research values.
It is worth mentioning that Daito Satoshi, a Japanese friend, once again collected 51 pieces (sets) of precious historical materials in Japan in 2022, including the Battlefield Log of Jun Arai, a Japanese soldier and invader to China, the Battlefield Log of the 11th Squadron of the 36th Infantry Company of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army Invading China, relevant photos of the Unit Ei 1644 of the Japanese Army Invading China, and the Nanjing Massacre-themed charades cards.
"More than 60 photos concerned with the Unit Ei 1644, a unit specializing in bacteriological warfare set up in Nanjing City during the Japanese invasion to China in 1939, were collected this time, filling the gap in historical data, and corroborating exhibits found in Nanjing in 1998 like skulls of the victims under bacterial test. They are helpful to further deepen the study on bacterial warfare," said Meng Guoxiang, a professor at Nanjing Medical University and researcher on the history of the Nanjing Massacre. According to Meng, although the Unit Ei 1644 in Nanjing is as notorious as the Unit 731, there have been few substantial materials or data left about the Unit Ei 1644, not to mention photos, since these bacteria tests were done with great secrecy and almost all relevant materials left were destroyed the Japanese army later.
Ai Delin, head of the Cultural Relics Department of the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, said that the newly found Battlefield Log of the 11th Squadron of the 36th Infantry Company of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army Invading China, together with another Battlefield Log collected in the Memorial Hall 2021, is an archive record of the same unit fighting in different periods and places, serving to more comprehensively disclose the atrocious invasion of China by the Japanese army.
Since its founding in the 1980s, the Memorial Hall of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders has collected a total of 6,318 items of precious cultural relics in 1,216 sets, including 384 items of first-class cultural relics in 166 sets. The collection comes from different channels, including excavation, acquisition from the public, social donation, etc.
