On the eve of the 78th anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender, citizens and tourists visit and pay their respects at the Memorial Hall of Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province on August 13, 2023. Photo: IC

The World Memory, Peaceful Vision - Exhibition on the Historical Facts of the Nanjing Massacre exhibition organized by the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders was held in Madrid, Spain, and Budapest, Hungary, showcasing the atrocities committed by Japanese invaders in Nanjing and an international tribunal's prosecution of Japanese war criminals.

Featuring more than 100 historical pictures and nine replica exhibits, the exhibition consists of three parts: The Calamity in Nanjing, Justice Trial and The City of Peace. 

The exhibition also quotes Western media reports and Western diaries and letters, describing history from a third-party perspective. These include photographs shot by Hungarian-based war photographer Robert Capa during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). These works were published through US magazine Life, which focused on the international community's attention toward the Chinese battlefield.

On May 16, 1938, Life featured a famous cover photo showcasing a young and fearless Chinese soldier taken by Capa in Hankou, Central China's Hubei Province. Capa arrived in China in 1938 and documented the Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion and the wartime lives of the people.

In addition, on December 13, 1937, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, committing atrocities over the next six weeks that included massacring civilians, looting, sexual violence, and destruction of buildings. These actions resulted in the death of over 300,000 Chinese people. The killing competition carried out by the Japanese army in Nanjing was exposed to the world by Spain's El Diluvio newspaper.

The atrocities committed by the invading Japanese army in China were heinous and exceed the red line of civilized humanity, former Hungarian prime minister Peter Medgyessy said in a speech at the exhibition. "Such an exhibition allows young people to learn about peace and living together," he noted.

"War is like a mirror, allowing people to better understand the value of peace," Zhou Feng, director of the Memorial Hall, said.  

He also expressed the hope that the painful memories of history would evoke people's yearning for peace and inspire them to more firmly defend diverse civilizations and maintain world peace, and work together to create a better future.

The Nanjing Massacre Archives were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World on October 9, 2015. To date, the Memorial Hall has organized exhibitions in cities such as Los Angeles in the US, Moscow in Russia, Florence in Italy, Manila in the Philippines and Aarhus in Denmark.