(ECNS) -- Marcus Detrez, who donated a photo album documenting Japan's wartime atrocities in China, said he was deeply moved and choked up several times while watching the film Dead to Rights on Thursday in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Dead To Rights, a film depicting the Nanjing Massacre during World War II, has recently become a breakout hit at China's summer box office.
Detrez expressed his heartfelt apology to the Chinese people. "What we've been doing exactly, what we have to do, was too late," he said. "What we're doing right now, what we've done, should have been done 80 years ago by my family."
On Thursday, Detrez and two companions visited the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in Harbin.
"The scientists were supposed to heal the world, but they studied for years just to do criminal acts and kill people, which is extremely sad and disgusting," he said.
The group plans to continue their journey to Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai.
Earlier this week, a ceremony for the handover of historical photos taken during the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, donated by Detrez, was held at the Chinese Embassy in France. The photos, totaling 618 in number, were collected by Detrez's grandfather, Roger-Pierre Laurens. Many date from the 1930s to 1950s and include documentation of the 1937 Battle of Songhu.
These photos document the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders against Chinese civilians and serve as important materials for historical research.
(By Zhang Dongfang)
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