John Rabe

John Rabe was a German businessman and member of the Nazi Party who is renowned for his humanitarian efforts to protect Chinese civilians during the Japanese occupation of Nanking in 1937. As the head of the Nanking Safety Zone, he utilized his position and status to shelter hundreds of thousands from the atrocities of the Nanking Massacre. His detailed diaries and appeals to Adolf Hitler provide a crucial firsthand account of the war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Early life and career

Born in Hamburg within the German Empire, he completed an apprenticeship in commerce before embarking on a career abroad. In 1908, he began working in Africa for a British company, but his career soon shifted to China. He was employed by the Siemens corporation, initially in Peking and later in Mukden and Tientsin, eventually becoming the head of its Nanking office. He lived in China for nearly three decades, developing a deep affection for the country and its people. His business success and long residency led to his election as the head of the local Nazi Party chapter in Nanking, a position he saw as a community leadership role rather than a purely ideological one.

Role in the Nanking Safety Zone

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the approach of Japanese forces on the capital, he, along with a small group of foreign missionaries and businessmen including Minnie Vautrin and Robert O. Wilson, established the Nanking Safety Zone in November 1937. As its chairman, he negotiated with both Chinese and Japanese authorities, using his Nazi Party membership and the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact to argue for the zone's neutrality. He opened the grounds of the Siemens compound and his own home, sheltering over 600 civilians. His diaries meticulously document the widespread war crimes, including mass executions, rape, and looting by the Imperial Japanese Army. He famously wrote urgent letters to Adolf Hitler and the Japanese embassy, appealing for intervention to stop the violence, and often intervened directly, confronting soldiers to save lives.

Post-Nanking life and legacy

He returned to Berlin in early 1938, where he gave lectures and showed films documenting the atrocities in Nanking to officials, including at the German Foreign Office. His actions were not welcomed by the Gestapo, who briefly arrested and interrogated him, confiscating his evidence. He was forbidden from further public speaking about the events. After World War II, he was arrested first by the NKVD and then by the British Army, but was eventually denazified due to testimony about his humanitarian work. He lived in poverty in post-war Berlin until the citizens of Nanking, learning of his situation, organized a care package and monetary donation in 1948. He died of a stroke in 1950. His legacy was revived with the publication of his diaries in the 1990s, leading to widespread recognition; he is honored as the "Schindler of China" and his former residence in Nanjing is now the John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall.

In popular culture

His story has been depicted in several major films and documentaries. The 2009 Chinese-German film John Rabe, starring Ulrich Tukur, dramatizes his efforts during the Nanking Massacre. His life and the events in Nanking are also central to the 2007 documentary Nanking and the 2011 Chinese film The Flowers of War, which features a character inspired by him. His published diaries, The Good Man of Nanking, serve as a primary source for historians and have been cited in works like Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking.

Category:German humanitarians Category:Nanking Massacre Category:German expatriates in China