Episode 202: The Rape of Nanking & The Trafficking of Comfort Women
They were called “Comfort Women,” but their lives would not be in any sense comfortable. They were kidnapped, tortured, and held hostage to be assaulted by military officials.
Soldiers had their own name for them; it was “public toilets.” Most of these women either died in captivity from murder, disease, or from the sheer violence of their assaults.
But don’t be fooled by the name, sometimes comfort women were girls as young as 11 years old. Why? Well, wartime always brings out the superstitions in soldiers, and it was believed that assaulting a virgin brought soldiers strength and power.
And they would need that strength to go out and kill over 200,000 citizens in the city of Nanking. This might be one of the darkest cases we have covered in a very long time.
Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com
Book: “The Rape of Nanking” - by Iris Chang
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-rape-of-nanking
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/on-tiktok-an-album-containing-old-wartime-photos-causes-havoc
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/nanjing-massacre-tiktok-history-1234585609/
https://www.insider.com/historian-nanjing-massacre-pawn-shop-owner-authentication-2022-9
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/thoughts-on-the-nanjing-massacre/
https://books.google.com/books?id=XzfxnlfFPMMC&pg=PR11#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/pawnshop-owner-nanjing-massacre-photos-historians-dispute-tiktok-rcna46531
https://news.yahoo.com/history-tiktok-arms-pawn-shop-130620861.html
https://twitter.com/fakehistoryhunt/status/1565357318698635266
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre
https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/133p/133p04papers/JChapelNanjing046.htm
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=momentum
https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-18-3-b-the-rape-of-nanking
https://www.pacificwar.org.au/JapWarCrimes/TenWarCrimes/Rape_Nanking.html
https://sfi.usc.edu/collections/nanjing-massacre
https://www.britannica.com/event/Nanjing-Massacre
https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm
DISCLAIMER: Some links are listed in the source material but the material may never be discussed in the podcast, If there are un-verifiable sources (ie Reddit) - they are typically referred to as un-verified sources, opinions, and or theories in the podcast and not treated as fact.