In order to obtain first-hand information about the Nanjing Massacre, Zhou Hexuan first contacted Reader's Digest and Classmates magazines. Because in later historical materials, these two publications were the first American media to report on the Nanjing Massacre.
However, Zhou Hexuan was disappointed because the two media outlets could provide very little information. They only had a few photos of the massacre, and the rest were all text descriptions. Moreover, the four massacre documentaries with extremely one-sided and shocking descriptions have not yet been sent back.
U.S.
In fact, this is easy to understand, because while the Japanese invaders were carrying out massacres, they were very afraid of Westerners and prohibited white people from walking around in Nanjing. Therefore, although there are reports of massacres in European and American countries, they are all told from a personal perspective.
, had no idea of the scale of the massacre.
Now European and American countries have confirmed that there was a massacre of civilians in Nanjing, and speculated that there were tens of thousands of innocent victims. Some said it was thousands, and some said tens of thousands. Anyway, there are different opinions. No one dares to speculate that the number of victims has exceeded 50,000, let alone
Don't mention 00,000, because that is beyond the imagination of normal people.
Under the guidance of Reader's Digest, Zhou Hexuan began to contact churches in various places, because the media also obtained information about the massacre from churches.
After visiting churches in several states, Zhou Hexuan obtained a large amount of first-hand information, mainly written descriptions in letters, and the total number of photos did not exceed a hundred. Moreover, these photos were all taken secretly, and they were basically photos of street massacres. There was nothing like that.
Plant thousands of photos of mass murders.
Regardless, these are evidence for future trials.
Zhou Hexuan not only obtained copies of the materials, but also requested the signatures of the local church and relatives and friends of the witnesses on each copy to make these copies more credible and legally binding.
After visiting several states, Zhou Hexuan felt that the speed was too slow. So he sent a telegram to the embassy in the United States and asked the Chinese consulates in each state to help. As a result, he collected church information in more than 40 states in the United States, which was sent to Washington one after another.
embassy.
The missionaries Zhou Hexuan was visiting this time were a pair of brothers named Henry Pulitzer and Frank Pulitzer.
The reason why they wanted to find these two brothers was that they were instructed by the church to set up an aid organization in New York, the "Committee for the Non-Participation of the United States in Japanese Aggression". In order to make this organization more influential, they also persuaded former US Secretary of State Stimson to serve as
The honorary chairman of the committee, so this organization is also called the "Stimson Aid Committee to China".
The "Stimson Aid China Committee" was the largest aid organization in the United States in the early days of China's all-out war of resistance. Through unremitting propaganda and efforts, they gathered hundreds of thousands of people to write letters of protest to the US government and American businessmen. One of the largest
, at the same time, 102,000 Puritans asked the U.S. government to impose an embargo on Japan, and pushed the U.S. boycott of Japanese goods to its peak.
Faced with the pressure from the entire American church, even Roosevelt and large financial groups could not withstand it. Coupled with the changes in the international situation, Roosevelt finally chose to abrogate the U.S.-Japan trade agreement.
At this moment, the "Stimson Committee to Aid China" has not been formally established, but former Secretary of State Stimson has agreed to be the honorary chairman, and even the committee's headquarters office has been selected.
Speaking of Stimson, we have to mention "Stimsonism", that is, "non-recognition doctrine".
When Stimson was Secretary of State, he highly praised the isolation diplomacy of the United States. Regarding Japan's September 18th Incident, Stimson neither recognized the legality of Japan's invasion of China nor took any measures to stop it. Instead, he reached a secret understanding with Japan.
In the following ten years, Stimson's non-recognition doctrine was regarded as the basic position of American diplomacy.
Now that Stimson had stepped down, he was white and only served as Roosevelt's special adviser. He began to advocate aid to China and tried his best to persuade Roosevelt to join the war. As a result, before the war between the United States and Japan broke out, this guy had already become the United States Secretary of War.
The typical butt determines the head, the big brother plays it very smoothly.
"Zhou, we meet again!" Stimson opened his arms and gave Zhou Hexuan a warm hug.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "Hello, Mr. Stimson, thank you for working for China's Anti-Japanese War."
Yes, Zhou Hexuan and Stimson knew each other. The first time they met was when they watched Mei Lanfang's performance at Ford's Theater. At that time, they also chatted about Zhou Hexuan's "The Rise of the Great Powers" (the relevant plot is in Chapter 14).
Stimson smiled and introduced: "Zhou, this is Henry Pulitzer, and this is Frank Pulitzer. They are all my old friends."
The Pulitzer brothers were in their 50s and were wearing church clothes. They shook hands with Zhou Hexuan with serious faces.
"On behalf of the Chinese people, I would like to thank these two gentlemen!" Zhou Hexuan said sincerely.
If the Pulitzer brothers had not consolidated the church's support for China and continued to put pressure on the U.S. government, I am afraid that the U.S. embargo against Japan would have been delayed and China's anti-war situation would have been even more severe.
Henry Pulitz said: "It is necessary to help China. I have been a teacher at Tsinghua University for seven years, and my brother Frank has also been a teacher at Jinling University for five years. We lived in China for more than ten years until the Japanese attack
In Nanjing, we all still live in China. China is our second hometown. There are too many friends there. I hope to do my best for our Chinese friends."
Frank Pulitzer said angrily: "Zhou, do you know? I witnessed the atrocities of the Japanese in Nanjing with my own eyes! They raped women everywhere, killed civilians, and drove Westerners like pigs, just because they were afraid that Westerners would expose their cruelty.
I could only watch helplessly, watching the Japanese army snatch away the last clothes of the poor in the cold winter, watching the Japanese army take away the Chinese soldiers who put down their weapons and seek refuge, and watch countless innocent Chinese civilians being taken away and treated as
A live target for bayonet practice! I remember clearly that day when the Japanese troops broke into the international safe zone, a dozen Chinese women knelt in front of me and begged me to help them. But I was powerless. I wanted to argue with the Japanese troops, but they pushed me down.
On the ground, the Japanese soldier laughed and trampled the American flag in front of me, then picked up the Stars and Stripes with his bayonet to laugh at me, and snatched away the poor women in front of me..."
As he spoke, Frank Pulitzer choked up, and hot tears overflowed his eyes. He sobbed: "I will never forget those scenes. There were dead bodies and blood everywhere. Even after I returned to the United States, I felt the same way countless times.
I woke up from a dream and dreamed that those poor Chinese people were asking me for help, but I couldn't speak or move in the dream. I was like a powerless living dead!"
Henry Pulitzer patted his brother on the shoulder and comforted him: "Let's put aside our sorrow for the time being and let us do all the efforts we should do for the living Chinese."
