Karen Jungblut, Director of Research and Documentation, Attends Nanjing Massacre Commemoration in China

Three months after collecting 18 new testimonies for USC Shoah Foundation’s Nanjing Massacre collection, Karen Jungblut, director of research and documentation, returned to Nanjing, China, to observe the National Day of Remembrance of the Nanjing Massacre and meet with survivors and partners.

USC Shoah Foundation’s Nanjing Massacre collection was initiated in 2012 by a partnership with Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall in China with funding provided by the Siezen Foundation. The first 12 testimonies of survivors of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre were recorded in December 2012 and integrated into the Visual History Archive in February 2014. The next 18 testimonies were recorded in September and October 2014. The average interviewee age for the survivors is 85 years old; the oldest survivor that was interviewed is 94.

Jungblut attended events related to the Chinese National Day of Remembrance of the Nanjing Massacre on Dec. 13, along with USC Shoah Foundation Next Generation Council member Cecilia Chan and Ming Hsieh, who serves on the USC Board of Trustees. Jungblut and Chan attended a Buddhist prayer ceremony at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and met with survivors Fu Zhaozeng, Zhou Xiangping and Cen Honggui, who recently gave testimony to the Nanjing Massacre collection. This provided the opportunity for Jungblut to give them copies of their testimony in person.  

Hsieh invited both Jungblut and Chan to meet with friends in Nanjing who have expressed interest in knowing more about the project.  While there, Jungblut provided digital copies of all the recently conducted 18 testimonies to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, including copies for the survivors and their families.

Jungblut also met with Yanming Lu, who conducted the testimonies, to discuss the next steps for transcription, translation and subtitling (locally in Nanjing) for the 18 new testimonies.

 Finally, Jungblut met with Fei Li, who ­­is working with the Jewish Refugee Museum in Shanghai to organize a Chinese student film contest that will include raising awareness about the local Jewish experience in Shanghai during World War II. USC Shoah Foundation testimonies and/or IWitness might become a resource for the students.