The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
I just finished reading this book and i have to say it was really an eye-opener of the sino-Japanese war. The author Iris Chang did a research and proved something of what the world thought was fabricated. Personally, i think the Chinese civillians were even totured more brutually than the Jews under the Nazi treatment. It was so gruesome that i had to put down the book for a moment to breathe especially at the descriptions of the rape of women. It is not an autobiography, it's non-fiction. However, the author throws in a couple of personal accounts. One inspiring account was from John Rabe, a leader of a Nazi party who even had contacts with Hitler. He was known as the "Anne Frank of Nanking". The accounts are in 3 different perspectives: Japanese, Chinese and the Westerners who helped the Chinese civillians at that period of time. However one thing still bothers me. Germany was made to pay reparations after world war I (West Germany had to pay a sum of 3 bilion marks to Israel over the next 14 years. The reparation agreement ended at 2005). On the other hand, Japan didnt have to. Why?
If you want to find out more before reading the book, try this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_Nanking_(book)