The diaries of David Nelson Sutton, Assistant Prosecutor of the United States during the Tokyo Trial, were recently discovered and acquired by Chinese collector Zou Dehuai. Preliminary authentication indicates that theseare original and marka first-over public disclosure. This valuable historical collection consists of six complete volumes of working diaries spanning from 1946 to 1948. The diaries record Sutton’s work while serving as a prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East(IMTFE) (i.e., the Tokyo Trial), particularly his investigation and evidence collection in China.

The diaries provide detailed accounts of Sutton’s on-site verification of the Nanjing Massacre. It records, for example, his visit to a massacre site along the Yangtze River where about 6,000 people were machine-gunned to death, as well as his examination of burial records compiled by charitable organizations. Sutton also systematically collected testimonies from survivors such as Wu Changde and Shang Deyi. In addition, the diaries document Sutton’s interviews with key witnesses of the Tokyo Trial, including Dr. Robert Wilson, the surgeon who remained at Drum Tower Hospital to rescue refugees during the massacre, and Xu Chuanyin, Head of the Housing Committee of Nanking Safety Zone. It also records Sutton’s efforts to persuade them to testify before the tribunal.

Besides the diaries, the archive includes Sutton’s personal belongings and six volumes of his report titled Reports on China. These reports address various war crimes committed by Japanese invaders, including the Nanjing Massacre, the forced recruitment of Chinese women as “sex slaves”, and the coercion of Chinese civilians to cultivate opium.

From May 3, 1946 to November 12, 1948, IMTFE, composed of representatives from eleven countries including the United States, China, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, tried Japanese Class-A War Criminals in Tokyo, Japan, an event known in history as the Tokyo Trial. David Nelson Sutton, then the Associate Prosecutor of the United States, arrived in China in 1946 with the international prosecution team and was tasked with investigating Japanese war crimes committed in China, with a particular focus on collecting evidence related to the Nanjing Massacre.

These newly discovered diaries not only serves as direct physical evidence for studying the preparation of the Tokyo Trial, but also provides corroboration from a third-party participant for the historical record of the Nanjing Massacre.

Zou Dehuai displays Sutton’s diaries. Photo by Jiang Fang, Xinhua News Agency

Content recorded in Sutton’s diary. Photo by Zou Dehuai

Personal belongings of Sutton. Photo by Jiang Fang, Xinhua News Agency

Sutton’s Reports on China. Photo by Jiang Fang, Xinhua News Agency