NEW YORK - Marking the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre - an atrocity that shocked the world - the English edition of Memories of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre: Oral Histories and Remembrances: 1937-2017 was launched on Wednesday at the Book Expo in New York.

Published in the US by Sinomedia International Group, the book was produced as a companion to Chinese television CCTV's documentary of the same name. Decades in the making, the book compiles oral histories of survivors, perpetrators and researchers.

In the book, readers hear the voices of more than 50 witnesses through the perspectives of multiple editors, including Chinese-American writer Iris Chang, American director Bill Guttentag, curator of the Memorial Hall of Nanjing Massacre Zhu Chengshan and Chinese film director Li Ying.

Robert Wilson, an American born in Nanjing, was 31 years old at the time of the invasion. When the Japanese army attacked, he sent his family away from the city and stayed behind. In a letter to his wife on Dec 18 he wrote: "Today is the sixth day of the Dante's Inferno, written with big letters of foul blood. Many people were slaughtered, hundreds of women were raped."

John Rabe, the author of The Good Man of Nanking, wrote in his diary on Dec 16, 1937: "The 27 Westerners who stayed on in Nanjing and the Chinese were shocked by the scale of the robbery, rape and murder by your (Japanese) soldiers on the 14th."

"We co-produced a commemorative book featuring a lot of interviews based on the CCTV documentary that came out. The book will be out this month most likely on Amazon," said Chris Robyn, editor of Sinomedia.

Qi Shouhua, a university professor in the US who was born in Nanjing, wrote an introduction for the brief. Qi is also the author of When the Purple Mountain Burns about the massacre.

"I think if this story could be filmed, it would be a responsible record for the world. It is now a project with a Hollywood production company. Many investors have the means now and they should do something that takes responsibility for their country and its history," said Qi.

The accounts in the book present the irrefutable truth to those who continue to deny the horrors of the history, he said.

"Our goal is to keep the story alive and make sure that it's not just a document," said Robyn, "and that important anniversaries are remembered."

Xiao Jiaqiao in New York contributed to this story.

China Daily