John Rabe, a Nazi Party member, saved hundreds of lives in China from the brutal Imperial Japanese army.
It was a secluded region in the Chinese capitol of Nanking (modern Nanjing), which fell to Japanese aggression.
The Nanking safety zone is were the international population, and local Chinese refugees took shelter. While Nanking burnt to ashes, the International Settlement Region was safe due to one person, a Nazi Party member named John Rabe.
Japanese Expansion:
Japan wanted to increase its global influence by expansion. Japan needed new territories for raw materials for its war effort.
Japan conquered Manchuria, a region close to China, and then aimed for China. As tensions grew, Japan declared war on China, and the mechanized Japanese army mowed down city after city.
Japan planned the annexation of China for just three weeks. That much was Japan’s confidence in its military’s ability.
The Chinese gave fierce resistance to the Japanese offensive and turned the three-week attack to a three-year invasion. The Nationalist government’s headquarters was Nanking, and it was next in the Japanese conquest list.
The Nanking Massacre :
As the unstoppable Japanese war machine swept across China, it laid siege on Nanking.
Japanese troops blocked the only exit from the city and trapped its citizens. Seven million people were inside Nanking. The city’s defense fell on December 13, 1937, and what happened next was among the worst war crimes in human history.
Millions of people were killed or subjected to physical violence. The Japanese army even introduced a kill count and rewards for killing Chinese citizens. The rampage left the city in a bloodbath killing 300,000 people.
The Safety Zone:
Nanking being the capital, had the international population too. It included politicians, business people, and declared a part of Nanking as a safety zone just like the international community did in the siege of Shanghai.
The international community elected John Rabe, a German Nazi Party member, as its leader. John Rabe was born in Hamburg, Germany, and worked in Nanking, China, for the Siemens company from 1910 to 1938.
John Rabe was not in Germany, which came under Hitler’s Nazi Party dictatorship, but associated himself with the Nazi Party. John Rabe flew the Nazi Party’s Swastika flag in the international settlement’s home so that the Japanese won’t bomb it. Nazi Germany was Imperial Japan’s close ally and Hitler was a close friend to many Japanese diplomats.
The safety zone also provided shelter and food to the Chinese population. John Rabe protected several hundred Chinese in the safety zone. John Rabe argued with the Japanese officials that the Nanking Saftey region is beyond Japanese jurisdiction.
John Rabe requested the Japanese army to end its atrocities in Nanking. John Rabe and the other foreign citizens documented the Japanese army’s cruelty in Nanking and later revealed it to the world.
Aftermath:
John Rabe saved several thousand Chinese citizens. He went to Germany in 1938 and spread stories about the atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanking.
After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the US entered the war, John Rabe’s allegations ended up in deaf ears. After the war, his life was devastated, and he endured the denazification process, which engulfed his life-saving.
He lost his job and starved. In the Tokyo trials, evidence collected by Rabe and his team gave strength for atrocities committed by the Japanese army. The mayor of Nanking after knowing the situation of John Rabe personally came to Germany to see him in 1949.
The mayor gave him food and some money. The people of Nanking sent John Rabe food every month as a mark of respect. When John Rabe died, his headstone was shipped to Nanking. The headstone is placed in a memorial to honor Nanking massacre victims.
John Rabe, a NaziPparty member, stood up against the crimes committed by the Japanese army. He saved hundreds of life by risking his life. John Rabe is still remembered in China by the people saved by him. Some even call him the Oscar Schindler of China.
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