| Original caption: “The young man refused to look for women for the beastly soldiers, and was tied up and killed.” A young Chinese civilian kneels down, his hands tied behind his back, as he awaits execution by beheading at the hands of a Japanese soldier during the Nanking Massacre. Supposedly the Chinese man refused to procure women for the Japanese to sexually abuse. This image was published in the August 11, 1938, issue of Ken Magazine and the October 1, 1938, issue of China Weekly Review. Gunkichi Tanaka (March 19, 1905 – January 28, 1948), a captain from the Imperial Japanese Army’s 6th “Bright” Division personally killed over 300 Chinese POWs and civilians with his sword during the massacre. He was executed by firing squad after trial by the International Military Tribunal in Nanjing after the war, along with Toshiaki Mukai (June 3, 1912 – January 28, 1948) and Tsuyoshi Noda (1912 – January 28, 1948), 2 officers responsible for the contest to kill a 100 people by beheading. Marian Fitch Exter (November 22, 1911 – Mach 31, 2009) donated this and 29 other photographs of Japanese atrocities in China to the Association in Memory of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre (AMVNM) on July 7, 1991. Exters was the daughter of George A. Fitch (January 23, 1883 – January 20, 1979), American missionary, Director of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Nanjing, and a member of the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone during the December 1937 Massacre. Exter’s father told her that the photos, taken by Japanese soldiers, were processed by a Nanjing photo studio, and a Chinese or Korean clerk made copies that were smuggled to foreign outlets to expose Japanese atrocities. This image is exhibited in the Republic of China Armed Forces Museum in Taipei, Taiwan with a Type 98 guntō Japanese katana ceremonial sword. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1657.jpg |
| Image Size | 182.42 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1356 x 1843 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 13, 1937 |
| Location | |
| City | Nanking |
| State or Province | Jiangsu |
| Country | China |
| Archive | H.J. Timperley |
| Record Number | The Japanese Atrocities in China, July 1938 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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