As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, a significant piece of legal and historical architecture has returned to the city that served as its most harrowing witness. Eighteen sets of archives belonging to David Nelson Sutton, an American deputy prosecutor during the Tokyo Trials, have been formally inducted into the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre. This collection, which includes six original diaries and a series of investigative reports, offers a rare, granular look at the Allied effort to codify the atrocities of the 1930s and 40s into a framework of international law.
Sutton was among the first members of the International Prosecution Section to arrive in China in 1946, specifically tasked with documenting the scope of Japanese war crimes. His diaries, spanning from 1946 to 1948, capture the logistical and emotional weight of his mission, from his first arrival in a war-torn Nanjing to the dramatic opening of the trials in Tokyo. These personal accounts provide a bridge between the clinical nature of legal proceedings and the raw reality of the evidence being gathered on the ground.
Beyond the well-documented massacre, Sutton’s 'Reports from China' delve into the darker, often less publicized corners of the occupation. His writings detail the systematic use of biological warfare, the brutalization of civilian populations, and the forced cultivation of opium used to fund and destabilize the region. This multifaceted documentation reinforces the prosecution's original intent to prove that the Japanese military’s actions were not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated, state-sponsored campaign of aggression.
The archive reached Nanjing through the efforts of private collector Zou Dehuai, who spent a decade acquiring these materials. During the donation ceremony, Memorial Hall officials emphasized that these documents serve as more than just historical curiosities. They are essential legal reinforcements for the post-war consensus, providing a shield against modern historical revisionism that occasionally seeks to minimize or deny the scale of the atrocities committed during the era.
By placing these American-authored documents at the heart of China’s national memory, the donation highlights the international collaborative effort that defined the post-WWII legal order. Director Zhou Feng noted that Sutton’s role was 'irreplaceable' in establishing the legal finality of the Nanjing Massacre case. In a contemporary landscape where historical narratives are often contested, these diaries provide a sobering, contemporary testimony to the pursuit of justice in the aftermath of total war.