A collection of newly uncovered archives detailing Japan's wartime aggression in China during World War II has been donated to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders to support academic research, the institution announced on Monday.

The documents were provided by young Frenchman Bastien Ratat who, through the help of his friend Zhong Haosong from China, transferred scanned copies of records discovered at the Centre of Diplomatic Archives in Nantes, a primary repository of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Comprising 1,993 pages spanning 42 diplomatic documents dating from 1920 to 1943, the materials are primarily in French, with some in English, Chinese and Japanese. Their contents cover multiple historical topics, including dossiers on the Nanjing Massacre, Japan's military aggression and its links with the Western interests in China, Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (particularly the post-1937 period of full-scale resistance), military archives and records of Japan's expansion in northeast China and surrounding regions.

According to the memorial hall, the archives provide irrefutable evidence of Japanese atrocities committed during its invasion of China, further documenting wartime crimes such as the Nanjing Massacre, which were already known to the international community.

Ratat said the documents shed new light on historical judgments. "Eighty years ago, the judges of the Tokyo Trials did not have access to these archives – they were still sealed in France" he noted. "Had they been available, the early onset, scale, and planning of Japan's aggression would have been even clearer. Some verdicts might have gone further, and some perpetrators who escaped justice might not have. While we cannot rewrite those judgments, we can complete the historical records and allow history itself to tell the whole story."

Earlier in August 2025, another member of Ratat's team, Marcus Detrez, donated more than 600 historical photographs related to Japan's invasion of China to the Chinese Embassy in France.