Marcus Detrez displays photos, taken by his grandfather in Shanghai in the 1930s, in Beijing on Tuesday. The photos, which Detrez will donate to China, bear witness to wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45). (ZHANG WEI/CHINA DAILY)
Frenchman Marcus Detrez was leafing through a dust-covered photo album depicting his grandfather's fulfilling life in Shanghai in the 1930s when a picture thrust him into appalling moments of war.
A sharp contrast to scenes of tranquil lakes and bustling food stalls on the streetside, the photograph shows a civilian, whose head has been completely blown off, lying on the ground.
The chance discovery made in the garage of his family home in 2021 put the 26-year-old on a truth-seeking journey that offered further evidence of the wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), as well as the resilience of local residents — which is all documented in a collection of 622 photographs.
Detrez, accompanied by two friends, arrived in Beijing on Saturday to donate the photos to China. They also plan to visit Shanghai to see venues shown in the pictures.
"I was very shocked when seeing the horrible pictures of the war with corpses and bombings. My mom told me the story of my grandfather, his life in Shanghai, his struggles, the Japanese invasion and the war crimes he witnessed," Detrez said during an interview with China Daily on Tuesday.
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