Chapter 869 868 [Reaction]
A beam of light shone on the big screen without any title logo, and the name of the documentary appeared directly - "Record of the Nanjing Atrocities"!
Then there are a few lines of subtitles:
"This film was shot in Nanjing, the capital of China. Because some of the scenes are too bloody, please watch with caution. It is not recommended for minors under the age of 16."
"Because the documentary photographers, rescuers, and victims are still in China and are still under the threat of the Japanese army, the faces of the characters in this film have been blurred, and the specific names of the relevant people have been pseudonyms."
Everything on the screen, the main film begins, and there are a few lines of subtitles:
"What we saw and heard is only a fraction of the atrocities that occurred in this city, but I think it is enough to give you an idea of the hellish experience that people in this city experienced. - Mr. J, the recorder."
"Nanjing before the Japanese occupation in December 1937."
The documentary uses 16mm film, black and white and silent, but just the subtitles at the beginning make people feel heavy.
The first scene was basically an empty shot, taken before the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, and the content was all about Nanjing's buildings. Street scenes appear from time to time to show the audience the prosperity of the Chinese capital - although Nanjing has been bombed many times and half of Nanjing's residents have been evacuated.
Each scene has a text description. In order to make it easier for American audiences to understand, Zhou Hexuan even added a partial map of Nanjing in the later stage.
"Oh, God! It's terrible."
After only six minutes, some ordinary viewers couldn't bear it and stood up and hurriedly left the theater.
This documentary is so terrifying that no one can find the complete version online, only a few fragments of it. But even if the sporadic scenes of bloody scenes are deleted, it still makes people feel chilling, not to mention that the audience is watching the original version in the theater.
More and more ordinary audience members left, and within 20 minutes, only one-third of the audience left. When the 105-minute documentary was all screened, there were only a few ordinary viewers left in the theater. The others were celebrities and reporters specially invited by Zhou Hexuan to watch the movie.
There was deathly silence in the cinema, and even the heavy breathing could be heard.
After a long time, Situ Meitang stood up tremblingly. Situ Juncong quickly supported him and said, "Slow down."
"If you wait any longer, it will be too late. Go back and donate money!" Situ Meitang felt an evil fire in his heart.
Zhang Pengchun said to Hu Shi next to him: "Brother Shi..."
"Go out for a walk with me." Hu Shi interrupted, his voice a little hoarse.
The reactions of Einstein, Chaplin and others were similar. If it were just a general atrocity, people would be angry, reviled, and discuss it. But after watching this documentary, I could only fall into silence. It has completely deviated from human nature. Even animals are nobler than the Japanese soldiers who participated in the massacre.
Stephen Wise looked gloomy. He had no good impression of the Chinese, but he thought of the Jews in Germany. The Japanese army carried out a massacre after occupying Nanjing, and it was even more convenient for Hitler to massacre the Jews. Everyone knew that this guy was a madman.
We must find a way out for our Jewish compatriots as soon as possible!
Stephen Wise wanted to settle Jewish refugees in Palestine, but that was British territory. Even after the establishment of the state of Israel after World War II, the United Kingdom still stood up to support the Palestinian resistance. Now it is even less likely to steal food from the tiger's mouth.
Not to mention the United States. Even though this year’s immigration quota has not yet been reached, and even though the Jewish consortium supports Roosevelt’s New Deal, it still cannot get ordinary Jewish refugees to enter the United States.
The best way is to cooperate with the Chinese and preserve a glimmer of hope for the Jewish nation first. As for Japan, Stephen Wise is very hostile. What kind of good ally can Germany have?
"Mr. Zhou, I will try my best to help you promote it." Stephen Wise left after saying that.
"Thank you." Zhou Hexuan personally sent the other party out of the theater.
Stephen Wise has great energy, and his support is equivalent to the support of the American Jewish consortium.
Today there are three leaders in the Zionist movement, namely religious leader Stephen Wise, scientist Chaim Weizmann, and political activist Ben Gurion.
The latter two are the first president and prime minister of Israel respectively. Because they have been active in Europe for a long time, they are more famous and influential. Stephen Wise also made a huge contribution to the founding of the state of Israel. Without him in collaborating with the American Jewish consortium to cause trouble, it would be difficult for Chaim Weizmann to win the support of President Truman.
Sure enough, the American Jewish media made concerted efforts to publicize the Nanjing Massacre the next day and linked the Nanjing Massacre to the Nazi persecution of Jews.
However, the effect is far from ideal.
The documentary "Nanjing Atrocities" also has a low attendance rate because the scenes are too bloody and the American people are unwilling to watch it, and even if they watch it, they won't last long.
This is similar to the situation in history. American "Life" magazine reporter David Bergamini later said in the book "The Emperor of Japan's Conspiracy": "People felt that the mutilated corpses and blood-spattered bodies shown in the film The house and the baby on the bayonet were too horrific to be shown, so only a few people watched the film."
Universal Pictures, United Artists and Warner Bros. were struggling because these three film companies had non-Jewish shareholders. The stalls were too big but there were very few moviegoers, so those shareholders began to object and could only continue to reduce the number of screenings.
A week later, there were only 11 theaters showing the Holocaust documentary. Not only did it not make any money to support China's war of resistance, Zhou Hexuan and the distributor actually lost a lot of money.
However, Zhou Hexuan also brought about bigger changes, that is, the vigorous publicity by radio and newspapers made Americans, even if they had not watched the documentary, know that the Japanese were a group of beasts and that the Japanese had carried out inhumane massacres in China.
The United States' sentiment to aid China has become even stronger, and capitalists with relevant interests have taken the opportunity to promote the American people's "boycott Japanese goods" movement to reach its peak early.
While some helped, others made trouble, and some large consortiums also took action. They mobilized civil society groups and frantically advocated American isolationism.
For example, the organization "America First Committee" actually helped to screen Holocaust documentaries. Their goal is to scare the American people, use documentaries to prove the cruelty of war, and take the opportunity to promote that the best choice for the United States is to remain neutral. It is useless to get involved in any foreign affairs. War can only bring harm to the American people.
The American people were soon divided into two groups. One group advocated active aid to China, and the other group advocated not provoking Japan. The two sides were at odds in newspapers and radio.
This kind of public opinion war is actually a battle between WASP and the Jewish community, as well as a battle between related interest groups.
But no matter which view they hold, the American people have the same view of Japan, that is, "the Japanese are very cruel" and "Japan is an unreasonable country."
The U.S. private survey agency quickly conducted a public opinion poll, and the results showed that: 95% of Americans opposed the United States' participation in the war; 92% of Americans had a dislike for Japan; 90% of Americans sympathized with China; 83% of Americans supported a boycott of Japanese goods; 78% of Americans support scrapping the U.S.-Japan trade agreement.
This opinion poll can be summarized as follows: Americans think the Japanese are bad, they think the Chinese are very pitiful, and they think they can easily help China and sanction Japan. But war is too terrible, and we Americans must not fight it.