In March 2020, the new crown epidemic spread around the world, the Chinese Embassy in Germany received a special letter, a German doctor and his family infected with the new crown, so they personally requested protest material resources to China, China's ambassador to Germany received the letter, immediately reported to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the case of the same shortage of domestic anti-epidemic materials, quickly arranged for domestic protest drug manufacturers to cooperate with production, and decided to double the free donation of drugs, plus the Nanjing Municipal Government's emergency collection of 30,000 masks, 620 bottles of protest medicines and 200 sets of protective clothing were personally delivered to the German doctor by a special plane to Germany, and then a 700-kilometer drive from the embassy in Germany.
Who was this German doctor who wrote the letter? Why does China not spare no effort to help a German, all because his grandfather is John Rabe, you may not have heard of this name, but it is Mr. Rabe in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in the extremely dangerous environment at that time, rescued 250,000 Chinese refugees and provided them with asylum, he also wrote the famous "Rabe Diary", with a unique identity and perspective to record a large number of shocking facts, witnessed the heinous crimes committed by Japanese militarism in Nanjing, Tell the truth about the Nanjing Massacre from the perspective of a third country, "Rabe's Diary" is a German film, based on the true description in "Rabe's Diary", the screenwriter and director are also German, let us understand what the Nanjing Massacre will look like in the eyes of the Germans.
In November 1937, this is the penultimate day of Mr. Rabe's imminent departure from China, he is the director of the German Siemens subsidiary China, he has been living in China with his wife Dora for 27 years, he has a habit, that is, every day with a diary to record the day's life, under Rabe's management, Siemens' electrical power generation business and telephone communication business in Nanjing are running very well, but recently he suddenly received a transfer order from the headquarters to promote him and let him return to Germany, so recently Rabe is busy moving, It will soon be the residence of the new director, Fries, also a Nazi.
Rabe prepared a Nazi-style welcome ceremony for for his replacement for Frisse, and took him to visit the factory, Frith came to replace him not to operate the Nanjing factory, but to close it, Rabe was very sad after learning the news, he did not understand why the headquarters suddenly closed the Nanjing factory, at this time the Japanese army has occupied Wuxi, ready to go all the way west to capture Nanjing, the young Xiao Li Shaozuo as the commander of this operation, his plan is to divide the army into three ways to surround Nanjing, without causing too much loss, force Nanjing to surrender, But Japan's Hirohito's uncle, Prince Hatohiko Asakamiya, said China was like an elephant, and it could not be surrounded to exhaust his physical strength, nor could it be captured alive, but directly killed.
Nanjing Hospital American doctor Robert is urgently arranging work, he asked doctors and nurses to be on standby 24 hours a day, increase beds and operating tables, and add surgical drugs, because he knows that if the Japanese invade Nanjing Hospital, it will inevitably be overcrowded, and at the farewell ball that night, friends and senior officials from all over the world came to send Rabe off, here is a song and dance, outside the city is murderous, the Japanese ambassador to China said without any obstruction, "Chinese should thank the Japanese for helping them govern the country."
Just when Rabe was making a farewell speech to everyone, the bombs continued, exploded nearby, the dance party came to an abrupt end, everyone fled in a hurry, Japanese warplanes began to bomb the city indiscriminately, the city was full of fire, shocking the world's Nanjing Massacre, from this moment on, Rabe rushed back to the factory with his wife, Chinese was refused to enter the factory
Rabe saw this behind the scene and scolded, he ignored The dissuasion of Felice, ordered to open the factory gate immediately, people just ran into the courtyard, the door was blown up, this factory as a power plant, surely people will become the target of the Japanese bombing, Rabe concentrated his wisdom, let the People turn on all the searchlights, can take out a huge Nazi Party flag and the workers together to hold the flag, let all the citizens who have taken refuge hide under the flag, in view of the alliance between Germany and Japan at that time, this Nazi Party flag is regarded by the world as a flood beast, At this moment, it became the protective umbrella of the Chinese compatriots, and the Japanese army did not bomb again
Plane after plane swooped down, and then left, Rabe successfully saved everyone, the city of Nanjing, which was bombed indiscriminately, was already a sea of fire, ruins and walls everywhere, countless casualties, hospital overcrowding, the number of casualties was increasing, the doctor's surgery was too busy, the anesthetic had been used up, the nurse asked for a solution, Dr. Robert was anxious, Rabe took the workers to check the machine room, arranged for them to fill in the shell pit, and then built a shelter for the citizens.
Tomorrow is the day when Rabe leaves Nanjing, but he still sticks to his post, Fries drives the car to escape, Rabe let people close the door and stop him, Fries wants to immediately take over Rabe to close the factory, dismiss the workers, the trunk is full of factory documents to take away, but Rabe argues according to reason, as long as he is still in Nanjing, he will not give up the workers in the factory, Rabe returned home, his wife also showed dissatisfaction with her, complaining about why he had to leave Nanjing, but also more nosy, according to Rabe's arrangement, The Siemens factory would provide shelter for the refugees, and the garden of the home was also set up with a Nazi flag to shelter the shelter, Rabe believed that as an ally of Germany, the Japanese army should not bomb here, and the Japanese planes scattered leaflets in the city of Nanjing, which they bombed, and the leaflets brazenly wrote "Japanese soldiers are your trusted friends."
Nanjing has been abandoned by the Nationalist army, the remaining ambassadors and international friends sat together to discuss countermeasures, the German ambassador Dr. Rosen suggested, drawing on Shanghai's approach, to set up a civilian safety zone in the city of Nanjing, set up a neutral committee to manage, Rabe felt that this was a bit exaggerated, at this time Rabe also naively thought that the Japanese as allies would not kill innocents indiscriminately, and distributed to everyone a peace declaration that was released every day, the voice did not fall, Dr. Robert, covered in blood, walked in tiredly, he said with anger" While you were here drinking tea and chatting, a dozen children died on the operating table, broke their legs, had their abdomen punctured, and only half of their heads remained, and operated on them without anesthetics, but the children were all dead," the crowd realized.
What the Japanese did was not as peaceful as they advertised, and Ms. Weitlin immediately proposed the establishment of the Nanjing Safety Zone Committee like Shanghai, because Rabe knew Nanjing better than any of them, and he also had the identity of the Nazi Party, and could be used as an ally to negotiate with the Japanese, so everyone raised their hands and voted that Rabe would be the chairman of the committee, originally Rabe would leave Nanjing tomorrow, but he still decided to accept everyone's appointment, and suggested that Dr. Robert be the vice chairman, on the other hand, the large troops of the Nationalist army were driving into the ambush circle of the Japanese army. After a short period of resistance, Koji shōsa won the victory, but this still angered Asaka Miya Hatohiko, because Kogamiya Hatohiko did not kill them all, but graciously brought back thousands of prisoners of war, although Kogamiya shōsa said that killing these prisoners of war was against international law, but Asakamiya Hatohiko still arrogantly ordered the killing of prisoners of war, so the thousands of nationalist troops were going to be shot overnight
The Japanese army shouted "all stand up, give you hot soup", the prisoners of war stood in a row, the Japanese drove trucks, set up machine guns to carry out assembly line-like strafing at unarmed prisoners of war, strafing, and then replenishing the guns of the prisoners who were not dead, the young little ermped young boy faced the brutal and bloody militarism, could not bear to close his eyes, at night Rabe played the piano, the people who took refuge in the garden quietly looked up and listened, his life changed dramatically, He couldn't bear to tell his wife about his appointment as chairman of the Security Zone Committee
This was the first day of their preparation for the safe zone, and it was also the day that Rabe had planned to leave Nanjing, he did not appear for a long time, Robert had long been unaccustomed to Rabe's Nazi Party identity, he disdainfully took out a list and said, this is the list of today's steamship passengers, Rabe and his wife's names are on the list, and now Rabe is afraid that he will also flee for his life, right? Lady Witterin did not believe it, they hurried to the horse's head, and sure enough, they saw ThatRa was crowded with his wife in the crowd and ready to board the ship to Europe, and after the wife boarded the ship, Rabe stopped, he did not get on the ship, he had already decided to stay in Nanjing, the wife looked at Rabe with understanding, asked him to take care, Rabe walked down the gangway, waved goodbye
At this time there was a roar in the sky, the Japanese planes suddenly came to the top of the horse's head, and flew towards the ship, the plane chased after the ship, began to bomb indiscriminately, they would rather kill 100 by mistake than let go of one, without their permission, no one would want to leave Nanjing? Rabe watched the bombed ships, and he could do nothing but shout his wife's name, and the night Rabe stayed up all night, and the brutality of his wife and the Japanese made his belief in establishing a safe zone even stronger
On November 22, 1937, the Nanjing International Safety Zone was officially established, within a few days, thousands of refugees poured into the safe zone, resulting in the work of the committee was paralyzed, after calculations, one of the day more than 23,000 refugees entered the safe zone, which is completely beyond their imagination, the staff said that the safe zone can only accommodate 100,000 people, can not be more, but Rabe lived in China for 27 years, know that Chinese can bear hardships and stand hard work, he believes that where it can accommodate 100,000 people, it must also be able to accommodate 200,000 people, What urgently needed to be solved now was the food problem, so before the Japanese entered the Nanjing Staff's Union, they kept moving forward
The security zone transported food and supplies, the Japanese army in Shanghai had 600 fighters, plus tank troops, such a huge army, once the attack was launched, Nanjing had only one dead end, the Nationalist army deployed the only troops at the city gate, they were ready to die to resist, with their lives to guard Nanjing, late at night the Japanese military camp Matsui Ishigen asked Why the encirclement strategy was changed to an attack, xiao lisho said apologetically, this is the prince's instructions, Asaka Palace Hatohiko is the emperor's uncle
He took advantage of this blood relationship, eager to show the superiority of the Japanese army, so he ordered a direct attack on Nanjing, and under his command, launched a surprise attack that night, the Nationalist army vowed to resist to the death, but in the face of the Japanese army's numerical superiority and modern weapons, only one night The city of Nanjing was breached, the citizens fled in panic, the Japanese army just entered the city, the Nanjing Hospital was very busy, a doctor carried the wounded soldier to the hospital, Dr. Robert found out and rushed forward to stop, but when he learned that the wounded soldier was the doctor's son, They were admitted to the ward.
Downstairs a burst of gunfire, The Japanese soldiers rushed into the hospital, looking for the wounded soldiers, Dr. Robert used the identity of the Americans, but to no avail, they searched all the wards, or found abnormalities, just like this, not only the soldiers did not save, the room full of doctors and nurses were also brutally killed, the tragedy of the hospital has just ended, the safety zone has ushered in new difficulties, the gate of the safe zone is blocked by the Japanese army, the truck that wants to deliver food is blocked outside the door, if you want to enter, each person can only bring a bag of grain, The remaining bags are subject to a tariff of 10,000 yuan
Rabe used his status as a German ally to negotiate to no avail, Rabe continued to write his diary in the endless bombardment, the work of the committee was difficult, only hoping that the diplomatic ambassador and the media of various countries could return to Nanjing as soon as possible, hoping that international public opinion could restrain what the Japanese were doing, Rabe was about to go home after finishing his work, he saw the drunken Robert, this was the first time the two were alone, Robert told the tragic experience in the hospital during the day, the two borrowed wine together to dispel their sorrows, and Rabe played the piano under the influence of alcohol
Robert observed the random adaptation of the song, they released their emotions to the fullest, at this moment they were happy, Rabe kindly held out his hand, but Robert did not shake hands with him, because he was a Nazi, a terrible Nazi, in order to reduce the threat of the Japanese army to the safe zone, the principal of Jinling Women's University Weitlin, forced to hand over the 153 prisoners of war of the National Army taken in by the school to the Japanese army, but this Japanese soldier proposed that he would take away 20 female students of the school and send them back in the evening. Ms. Weitlin angrily rejected him, and you will regret it
The Japanese soldier left with harsh words and left, and the Japanese, who failed to satisfy their own selfish desires, actually killed the 153 prisoners of war who had just been handed over to the school in order to retaliate, and at the school gate, the brutality of the Japanese army and the corpses everywhere in front of him shocked Weitlin, but even more shocking was still behind, just like in the "Rabe Diary"
On December 19, 1937, the gates of the security zone were piled with corpses, the Japanese did not seem to care, people were shot and buried alive everywhere in Nanjing, shell craters affected the passage of Japanese tanks and cars, they used Chinese corpses to fill in, he witnessed the atrocities inflicted by the Japanese on the civilian population, the scene was unbelievable, the crowd looked at the Japanese lost their conscience, the images of inhuman killing, could not bear to look at the tears
Rabe decided to write a letter to Hitler, he begged Hitler to lend a helping hand to help stop the Japanese atrocities in Nanjing, perhaps Rabech's letter to Hitler was discovered by the Japanese, the Japanese pro-dynasty Kamiya Hatohiko received them, Rabe's wife, who survived the Japanese bombing, the Japanese prince pretended to be still searching, did not tell Rabe the truth, and made a false pass, after fighting for grain can be transported to the safe zone without tariffs, just at this time, the Japanese army downstairs ordered Rabe's driver to wait for the car However, he was forcibly taken away because he could not understand Japanese, and when Rabe finished the meeting and was ready to leave, he found that the driver was missing, but the Japanese housekeeper told him
His driver was sent to the POW camp because of a fight with people, and Rabe rushed to the POW camp immediately, but it was still a step too late, he saw the driver beheaded, and the reason given by the Japanese officer was only because he did not stay in the car as ordered, because the two officers were engaged in a beheading competition, the two Japanese took a group photo in front of the mountain of corpses and rows of heads, next to a large number of prisoners waiting to be beheaded, and they even updated the beheading contest in the daily newspaper, and as an honor. This is the infamous 100-man chopping match, inhumane and heinous
The Japanese army killed Rabe's driver, in order not to pestering him, the Japanese army let the prisoners of war line up, let him pick one to take away, Rabe said, I want to speak German, can drive, if not, I want to take 20, Rabe looked at these children, he had a hard time choosing, he wanted to take everyone, but he could only pick 20, this night Rabe tossed and turned, the brain was full of bloody scenes, the committee's humanitarian assistance caused dissatisfaction among the Japanese, the safety zone was repeatedly affected by the Japanese army, and the supply became more and more difficult,
The grain can last for three days at most, they have no money to buy food, some people began to complain that Principal Wei Telin had consumed three times more grain than others, they did not believe that a group of female students could eat so much, indeed a group of female students could not eat so much, it turned out that Principal Wei Telin also hid hundreds of Chinese soldiers in the school, after the last time he saw the Japanese police, he decided not to hand over the prisoners of war to the Japanese, otherwise they would only have a dead end
On December 23, 1937, the city of Nanjing had completely lost contact with the outside world, the diabetic Labet used up his last bottle of insulin, in order to solve the food problem in the safe zone, Rabe braced himself and prepared to donate all his savings to the safe zone, but it set aside a wad of money, on the day of Christmas, he distributed this money as a Christmas gift to the old people and children in the safe zone, and everyone gathered together to spend Christmas Eve in the evening, and the committee got two good news.
One was the discovery of a large bundle of banknotes in the church, only Dr. Robert found that Rabe's hand roll was the same as the fabric of the banknote, the other good news was from Nanjing, the postal service was restored, Rabe opened the package that came in, guessed that it was a cake made by his wife, at this time he knew that his wife was not dead, but he suddenly fainted on the ground, Robert knew that only insulin could save him, but Rabe's insulin had long been used up, and at this time there was only one place to find insulin, at the Japanese headquarters
The Japanese army through the interrogation of female college students, learned the news of the secret hiding of prisoners of war in the school, and tomorrow the ambassadors and international media will arrive in Nanjing, Matsui Ishigen ordered to rush to the media before the arrival of Nanjing, as soon as possible to eliminate the evidence of the massacre, just can use the reason for harboring soldiers, the safe zone is completely cleared, he does not want the world to know what happened in Nanjing, Xiao Li Shaozo was outside the door, heard the plan, at this time he happened to see Robert and Dr. Rosen who came to seek insulin, Dr. Robert is taking insulin, Little Brinky Zozo took the opportunity to secretly tell Rosen about the plan, hoping that they would be able to avoid the disaster
Back to the committee, Rosen began to blame Weitlin, you secretly hid prisoners of war, it was actually a Japanese officer told me, this will make the whole security zone suffer, but Ms. Wei Telin, after seeing the atrocities of the Japanese, will not hand over the soldiers to the Japanese to massacre, the only hope of the safe zone now is the ambassadors and international media who arrive in Nanjing tomorrow, Rabe's plan is to place sirens around the safe zone, the media has arrived in Nanjing, immediately send a signal, in addition, can only use their lives to hold on
On December 25, 1937, the news that the Japanese army was going to clear the safe zone leaked, early in the morning, hundreds of people formed a human wall, blocked the door of the safe zone, and confronted the Japanese army, they wanted to defend the safe zone with their lives, asaka miya's angry and frustrated urging the army to kill immediately, and even sent tanks, the cannon barrels were aimed at the unarmed masses and refugees, in order to eliminate the evidence of the crime as soon as possible, Asaka Miya Hatohiko directly rushed to the scene, personally commanded, the bullets had been loaded, and when the bullets were fired, The door opened and Rabe walked out with the committee members
He came to Asaka palace hatohiko and said to asaka palace hatohiko, "If Your Highness is willing to arrange a massacre, please kill me together", Asaka palace hatohiko raised his hand again, only to wait for an order, suddenly the alarm sounded, ambassadors and international media have cruise ships arrived in Nanjing, Rabe said, "If you want to do it, please hurry up, or tomorrow the whole world will know about the atrocities of the Japanese", Asaka Palace Hatohiko was afraid of exposing the evil deeds, and could only leave temporarily, at this time, the people in the safety zone breathed a sigh of relief
On December 29, 1937, because the ambassadors returned to Nanjing, Asakamiya Hatohiko was under pressure and finally recognized the existence of the safe zone, Rabe's humanitarian relief offended the Japanese, so the Japanese army wanted to forcibly send Rabe back to Germany, the Japanese army followed the whole process, did not allow Rabe to contact with the media, Rabe walked through the place where his head was once placed, the scene has been cleaned up, leaving only a blood stain. Rabe came to the dock, which was crowded with people she had rescued, and people gathered around and shouted Rabe's name, and the eyes of men, women and children were full of gratitude, and in the cheers of the people, Rabe was finally reunited with his wife.
The film is based on The Rabe Diary written by Rabe, but the most complete historical material that confirms the Nanjing incident information, during the Nanjing Massacre, more than 200,000 people survived because of the protection of the safe zone, it is worth mentioning that the original main market of this film is only less Than Japan, because Japan, still trying to evade historical responsibility, the film has been completely banned, even the Japanese actors in this film have also been criticized by Japan, John Rabe returned to Germany, was arrested by the Gestapo as an accomplice of the Chinese, He was forbidden to tell what he had seen and heard in Nanjing, and his diary was confiscated until 60 years later.
In 1948, the news of Rabe's arrest by the Nazis reached Nanjing, and the citizens of Nanjing spontaneously raised 100 million yuan to bail Rabe, which was converted into US dollars at the domestic economic level at that time, which was only equivalent to 2,000 US dollars, and only ransomed Rabe from prison.
In 1999, the Nanjing government changed the road widening plan, so that rabe's former residence was preserved, becoming a memorial hall of rabe and the international safety zone, and also a national key cultural relics protection unit, during the epidemic in 2020, learning that rabe's descendants are seeking help, the Nanjing government immediately donated anti-epidemic materials to Germany, and the recipient column filled in Thomas Rabe. This is a group of gratitude spanning 84 years, and it is not only Mr. Raabe who deserves to be remembered, but also those humanitarians who really exist and transcend national borders and parties.