Dec. 13th, 1937

What happened on Dec 13th, 1937. Another cataclysmic event that the world chose to ignore. A more glaring sign of things to come. And again the world at large did nothing. Just as the League of Nations ignored Halile Salassi as his country was overrun by Italy.

On this date in 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army conquered the Chinese city of Nanking. Over the course of the next two months over 330,000 Chinese civilians were murdered by the armed forces of Japan. One woman survived being raped and bayoneted over thirty times. Chinese men were lined up and their heads cut off by katana swords wielded by Japanese officers, in fact two officers got into a competition over who could chop more heads off.

The only people to stand up to the Japanese atrocity and who tried mightily to stem the barbarity were a few Westerners in the city. Bravely led by Oskar Rabe, a Nazi for Siemens, and some American missionaries; they created a safe zone in the city. They daily risked their lives saving Chinese lives from the Japanese murderers. And once the barbarity was over, they went back to their countries to document the atrocities committed. But their warnings fell largely on deaf ears. Oskar Rabe tried to warn Hitler, what he got was a visit by the SS to shut up or else.

Just recently one could metaphorically say the Rape of Nanking claimed one more victim. The author of a recent book by that same name, Irene Chang, committed suicide. We should remember those 330,000 people whose futures were stolen while preventing Japan from writing the whole bloody mess out of their history books.

And for twenty plus years save a few voices speaking out, the world had turned a blind eye to all the evils Hussein inflicted upon his people. When will humanity learn that no man is an island, every death diminishes humanity itself. Or to borrow from the Israelis', whomever saves one life saves a world.