On April 29, eighteen precious items (sets) of archival materials belonging to David Nelson Sutton, a U.S. assistant prosecutor during the Tokyo Trials, were officially accessioned into the Memorial Hall. The collection includes six original diaries from 1946 to 1948, the report titled Report from China: Atrocities Against Civilians in Nanking, and trial records. The diaries document Sutton’s investigation in China and the process of collecting evidence of the Nanjing Massacre. The 89-page report contains 27 testimonies from Chinese witnesses, providing detailed accounts of the Japanese army’s killings, rapes, and other atrocities.

Selected Donations from the “Sutton Archives”

The “Sutton Archives” have attracted widespread attention from scholars both in China and abroad. Professor Barak Kushner from the University of Cambridge remarked, “Because no other similar diaries from this period exist, Sutton’s diaries are extremely valuable.”

Yang Xiaming, a researcher at the Institute for National Memory and International Peace Studies, confirmed that these materials are original manuscripts. They had not previously been documented in the Chinese-speaking world, filling a significant gap in the historical record.

Zhou Feng, Director of the Memorial Hall, stated that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials, this collection offers new perspectives for research and contributes to safeguarding historical truth and the post-war international order.