Interview: A nation truly grows in asking for forgiveness -- French peot

"A nation truly grows, in asking for forgiveness, admitting its madness, proving its sympathies," wrote Jean Goujon, a French poet, composer and musician, in his poem "Tears of Nanjing" in memory of the December 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Goujon reflected on the war and his songs and poems about the war.

"I realized that World War II broke out in China due to the Japanese aggression and the suffering of the Chinese people in Shanghai, Nanjing and elsewhere in China," he told Xinhua recently.

"I mentioned that all countries are affected, so my songs have gone from D-Day in Normandy, to the Soviet Union, then to China. It covers the entire planet," Goujon explained.

Talking about his feeling about China in his poem "Tears of Nanjing," the poet said: "What struck me most is that your country was hit very hard from the beginning (of the war). It allowed me to understand that the Chinese have absorbed most of the pain."

In his poem, Goujon doesn't hide his indignation toward the attitude of Japan on the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing: "The tears of Nanjing, still shedding in history, born of the heavy grieving, erode the memory, they remain fresh... The executioners revive, denying the naked truth."

"The Germans acknowledged there was a temporary insanity and they do not go to the cemeteries where there are criminals. But the Japanese are different, their reactions are not clear," Goujon pointed out.

The French artist also wished to play "Tears of Nanjing" with French musicians and performers in Nanjing, as his way to pay tribute to the Chinese who suffered from the Japanese aggression, and to John Rabe, who saved some 250,000 Chinese residents from the massacre.

During the Nanjing Massacre, Rabe, a German businessman, established a security zone to protect the habitants of Nanjing, China's capital at the time, from the harm's way. Endi