Rape Of Nanking Episode 2: Dead Bodies Don't Talk

How do you survive when an entire city becomes a hunting ground and nowhere is safe?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan return to Nanking in 1937 to examine the horrifying campaign of sexual violence that became one of the defining atrocities of the Nanking Massacre.

Women and girls of virtually every age and background were targeted. We explore the widespread rape, abduction, sexual slavery, murder, and torture inflicted on the civilian population, along with the stories of women who fought back, escaped, hid, disguised themselves, or simply refused to become another victim.

We'll also tell the story of Li Xouying, an 18 year old pregnant woman who survived repeated bayonet wounds and became one of the most extraordinary examples of resistance during the massacre. Along the way, we'll examine the horrific treatment of children, the use of sexual violence as a weapon, and the devastating consequences that continued long after the attacks themselves.

But how does an army become capable of committing atrocities on this scale? To understand that, we have to step back from Nanking and look at the history of Imperial Japan, from American pressure and the opening of Japan to the outside world, through Japanese nationalism, militarism, the rise of the emperor cult, military indoctrination, and the brutal treatment of Japanese soldiers themselves.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their particularly dark sense of humor to an episode where finding anything to laugh about is almost impossible.

The story of Nanking still isn't over.

If you love learning about the Rape of Nanking, Nanking Massacre, Japanese war crimes, wartime sexual violence, World War II history, Chinese history, military history, true crime, dark history, torture history, and historical atrocities, this is one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

If you would like to skip over the horrid details of the atrocities the women of Nanking endured, the time to skip to is 36:30.

Thank you to the Dark Tales From The Road podcast for starting off the show.

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