sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_RabeJohn Rabe (November 23, 1882 – January 5, 1950) was a German businessman who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking Occupation and, failing in those efforts, his work to protect and succour Chinese civilians during the event. The Nanking Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 200,000 Chinese people from slaughter during the massacre.
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Rabe pursued a career in business and went to Africa for several years. In 1908 he left for China, and between 1910 and 1938, he worked for the Siemens AG China Corporation in Shenyang (Mukden), Beijing (Peking), Tianjin (Tientsin), Shanghai and later Nanjing (Nanking)
Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Japanese army approached Nanking (now Nanjing) and initiated bombing raids on the city, all but 22 foreigners fled the city, with 15 American and European missionaries and businessmen forming part of the group. On November 22, 1937, as the Japanese Army advanced on Nanking, Rabe, along with other foreign nationals, organized the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and created the Nanking Safety Zone to provide Chinese refugees with food and shelter from the impending Japanese slaughter. He explained his reasons thus: "... there is a question of morality here...I cannot bring myself for now to betray the trust these people have put in me, and it is touching to see how they believe in me." The zones were located in all of the foreign embassies and at Nanjing University.
Rabe was elected as its leader, in part because of his status as a member of the Nazi party and the existence of the German–Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact. This committee established the Nanking Safety Zone in the western quarter of the city. The Japanese government had agreed not to attack parts of the city that did not contain Chinese military forces, and the members of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone managed to persuade the Chinese government to move all their troops out of the area.
On December 1, 1937, Nanjing Mayor Ma Chao-chun ordered all Chinese citizens remaining in Nanjing to move into the Safety Zone and then fled the city.
Rabe also opened up his properties to help 650 more refugees.
The Nanking Massacre killed hundreds of thousands of people, while Rabe and his zone administrators tried frantically to stop the atrocities. His attempts to appeal to the Japanese by using his Nazi membership credentials only delayed them; but that delay allowed hundreds of refugees to escape. The documentary Nanking credited him for saving the lives of 250,000 Chinese civilians. It is said Rabe rescued between 200,000 – 250,000 Chinese people.
On February 28, 1938, Rabe left Nanjing upon orders possibly made by Adolf Hitler[citation needed] himself in order to preserve the relationship Germany had with Japan at the time. He first traveled to Shanghai and then back to Germany. He took with him a large number of source materials documenting the atrocities committed by the Japanese in Nanjing.
Rabe showed films and photographs of Japanese atrocities in lecture presentations in Berlin and wrote to Hitler to use his influence to persuade the Japanese to stop any more inhumane violence. As a result, Rabe was detained and interrogated by the Gestapo and his letter was never delivered to Hitler. Due to the intervention of Siemens AG, Rabe was released. He was allowed to keep evidence of the massacre, excluding the film, but was not allowed to lecture or write on the subject. Rabe continued working for Siemens, which posted him briefly to the safety of Afghanistan. Rabe subsequently worked in the Berlin headquarters of the company until the end of the war.
After the war, Rabe was denounced for his Nazi Party membership and arrested first by the Russians and then by the British. However, investigations exonerated him of any wrongdoing. He was formally declared "de-Nazified" by the Allies in June 1946 but thereafter lived in relative poverty. His family was literally starving at one point when Rabe was partly supported by the monthly food and money parcels sent by the Chinese government in memory of his actions during the Nanjing Massacre.
On January 5, 1950, Rabe died of a stroke. In 1997 his tombstone was moved from Berlin to Nanjing where it received a place of honour at the massacre memorial site.
In 2005, Rabe's former residence in Nanjing was renovated and now accommodates the "John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall", which opened in 2006. The Austrian Service Abroad has been invited to send a Peace Servant.
His war-time diaries are published in English as The Good German of Nanjing (UK title) or The Good Man of Nanking (US title) (original German title: Der gute Deutsche von Nanjing).
John Rabe has been portrayed in numerous films. In Wu Ziniu's 1995 film Don't Cry, Nanking, actor Ulrich Ottenburger played Rabe but his name was curiously changed to John Robbins. In Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's 2007 documentary film Nanking, actor Jürgen Prochnow played Rabe. In Lu Chuan's 2009 film City of Life and Death, actor John Paisley played Rabe. In Florian Gallenberger's film John Rabe, also released in 2009, Ulrich Tukur played John Rabe.
currently watching the movie and it's a good one: original languages, no overkill in blood or drama
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124377/ (IMDB rate 7.3/10 which is a good score)
