Victims of Nanjing Massacre remembered

Scholars and leaders from the Chinese-Canadian community called for world peace at a forum in Toronto to remember the victims of the Nanjing Massacre.

Eighty-two years ago, in December 1937, the invading Japanese Army slaughtered at least 300,000 civilians and Chinese soldiers who had already laid down their weapons, according to historians, in what came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre. Statistics show there also were 20,000 rapes within six weeks of the Japanese occupation.

"I think what happened in Nanjing, it was not a massacre, but genocide," Toronto City Councilor Jim Karygiannis said at the forum on Sunday. The councilor said members of his grandparents' families were killed by the Nazis.

The world suffered several genocides in the 20th century, and when Adolf Hitler sought to carry out his Final Solution and said "who will remember the Armenian genocide?", one never expected there would be genocides similar to the Holocaust, such as in Nanjing and later in Rwanda, said Karygiannis.

"We must know our history," he said. "These massacres are not only an issue of an ethnic group or nationality but an issue for humanity."

Soo Wong, a former member of Parliament in Ontario whose motion designating Dec 13 as Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day was passed in that province, said that every school board needs to know about the crimes against humanity.

"Those 'comfort women'－we should stop calling them 'comfort women'－they were women, mothers, sisters and grandmothers, who were murdered, tortured and abused. They were all over Asia," said Wong, in reference to women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army. "Now the Asian students are across the province; they need to know their history.

"I am still waiting to hear the Japanese government say they are sorry," she said. "I know we won't get it, but I will still hope."

Western humanitarians

Yu Chengzhang, a senior adviser in sustainable development and planning and president of the Hong Maple Foundation, shared stories about international humanitarians who called for justice after witnessing Japanese Army atrocities in Nanjing.

During the Japanese occupation, 24 Western humanitarians created the Nanjing Security Zone that provided shelter to 250,000 Chinese people.

"Their righteous actions will always be remembered in the epic of human peace and will be good examples of peace education for future generations," Yu said.

Canada has three national anniversaries to commemorate the Holocaust, and four national memorial halls focusing on the Holocaust.

"Chinese Canadians should stand up for justice and truth," said George Guan, a licensed paralegal at Harmony Legal Service.

"The Jewish community in Canada has done a good job and is an example for our Chinese community to follow," he said.

Dec 10 marks the anniversary of the publication of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. It promotes a world without war and genocide.