This book presents a collection of annotated English translations of
German diplomatic documents--including telegrams, dispatches and
reports--sent to the Foreign Office in Berlin and the German Ambassador
in Hankou, China, by German diplomatic officials in Nanjing, and
detailing Japanese atrocities and the conditions in and around Nanjing
during the early months of 1938. The author visited the German Federal
Archives (Bundesarchiv) and the German Foreign Ministry Archives
(Auswärtiges Amt Archiv) in Berlin, where these documents are currently
archived, in 2008, 2016, and 2017 to locate and retrieve them. These
diplomatic documents are of significant value in that they provide both
detailed information and wide coverage, from different locations and on
various topics. Further, the information offered is unique in a number
of ways. First, the events were recorded from the perspective of
Germans, citizens of a country that was a close ally of Japan, and
second, these documents are not included in any other source. As such,
these archival primary sources represent an invaluable addition to the
research literature on the Nanjing Massacre and will undoubtedly benefit
researchers and scholars for generations to come.
