German family's donated photos show Japan's 1930s bombing of Guangzhou

Newly discovered photographs collected by German photojournalist Robert Lebeck in the 1930s, documenting Japan's invasion of China, will be displayed at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, at the end of August. The photos, recently donated by Lebeck's son, Oscar Lebeck, offer new evidence of Japan's bombing of the southern metropolis and the devastation it caused.

The collection, which includes images of Japanese military vehicles, displaced children and ravaged streets, had been hidden in a basement for 87 years until Oscar Lebeck accidentally found them while sorting his father's belongings after his death a decade ago. A pink note on the album's cover, written in German, read: "Japan's bombing of Guangzhou".

Oscar Lebeck believes his father collected the photos from another source.