Japan's relations with our country have been quite complicated since ancient times, especially in modern times, when contradictions were prominent, after the Lugou Bridge Incident, nanjing was captured, and the wanton massacre was not evil, at this time, a German witnessed the previous tragic situation, he could not bear it, and sent a telegram to Hitler for help.
Japan's War with China
On September 18, 1931, the long-planned Japanese army once again launched a war against China, blowing up the South Manchuria Railway to blame China, and using this as an excuse to attack Northeast China, which was the September 18 Incident, and then due to the Kuomintang's policy of non-resistance, the three northeastern provinces fell under the iron hooves of the Japanese Kou one after another.
Then the puppet Manchu regime was established in the northeast, and at this point, Japanese imperialism began a fourteen-year-long colonial rule in the northeast of our country, and the fate of the country was at stake. The contradictions between China and Japan have intensified. From 1931 onwards, the Japanese army advanced its policy of non-resistance to the Kuomintang, constantly transporting troops into China and began to plan the next invasion.
In July 1937, the Japanese army pretended that a soldier was missing during the exercise, and unreasonably asked to enter Wanping City to search, but our defenders refused, and the Japanese army brazenly launched an attack, which was the "Lugou Bridge Incident" And the Chinese army rose up to fight back.
This provocation turned the national contradiction between China and Japan into the main contradiction, and the Kuomintang side expressed its acceptance of the communist party's announcement of joint resistance against Japan, and the two parties began to move from a ten-year confrontation to unity, the anti-Japanese national united front was established, and the nationwide War of Resistance Against Japan began.
A horrific act of slaughter
Since the Sino-Japanese War, the murderous nature of Japanese militarism has been revealed, during the war, on November 12, 1984, the capture of Lushun, China, carried out an inhuman massacre of four days and three nights, countless victims, and only 36 people survived.
After the fall of Nanking in 1937, Japan once again repeated this shameless act, slaughtering more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians who laid down their arms in our country in only six weeks.
After the destruction of Nanjing, the entire city fell into a hell on earth, except for the soldiers who laid down their weapons, there were also innocent civilians, burning and looting without evil, arbitrariness and indignation, in addition to organized and many concentrated massacres, the number of victims reached more than 370,000. It is difficult for the basic right of china's military and civilians to survive to be guaranteed.
Just when Nanjing was reduced to a blood city, there was a German residence that became a safe zone for the protection of Chinese soldiers and civilians, you know, at that time, Germany and Japan belonged to the fascist camp, why would a German choose to spare no effort to help Chinese?
John, Rabe
Born in 1882, John Rabe was a businessman who had worked in China for many years, working at the Nanjing branch of Siemens in Beijing, and was supposed to leave the work to someone else, and he himself was going to return to China with his wife, and on the occasion of his parting, Nanjing fell.
The Japanese sent planes to bomb the city of Nanjing, burning and looting everywhere, and the residents of Nanjing fled everywhere, panicked to the point that Rabe, as a German, saw this situation and made a decision, opened the company's door, and took in Chinese refugees in Nanjing. Then, Rabe gave up his plan to go home and threw himself into the rescue of nanjing residents.
Under the continuous efforts of Rabe, more and more Chinese refugees were rescued, and Rabe's prestige became more and more popular, and under the consultation of local doctors, missionaries and other righteous people, it was decided to establish a "Nanjing International Safety Zone" to protect Nanjing refugees and innocent people, and elected Rabe as the chairman of the safe zone.
In the face of the brutal atrocities of the Japanese army, Rabe could not confront it head-on, and could only record the atrocities of the Japanese army through the diary, while doing his best to rescue the refugees, in the face of the merciless bombardment of the Japanese army, Rabe took out the German Nazi flag to bless the peace of the Chinese military and people, although it was not a Chinese, but a benevolent act.
Later, in the face of the more frenzied aggression and atrocities of the Japanese army, more and more refugees poured into the safety zone, far beyond their own ability to bear, and at this time, the Japanese army in the city also began to be dissatisfied with Rabe's humanitarian assistance and began to find raabe's trouble from many aspects.
Such as high tolls, even the safety zone has been hit several times, coupled with Rabe's own needs of insulin has become a problem.
John Rabe appeals to Hitler for help
With the passage of time and the intensification of Japanese atrocities, more and more refugees poured into the safe zone of Rabe, and Rabe really could not bear to abandon these refugees, because Rabe knew that if they were not taken here, they would face endless cruelty and massacre, so Rabe did not reject them.
Another large-scale influx of refugees has stretched the capacity of the already stressed safe zone to the limit, and Rabe himself has made great efforts to maintain the normal operation of the safe zone, Rabe has spent all the property he has accumulated over the years, and in desperation, he is determined to ask for help from his country's fuehrer, Hitler.
Rabe had already received a letter from the German Embassy urging him to leave Nanjing as soon as possible, but Rabe did not do so, and he decided to do his part to protect the residents of Nanjing, and Rabe sent a 260-page letter to Hitler.
In the letter, Rabe described in detail what he saw and heard in Nanjing, and truly exposed the brutal atrocities of the Japanese army in Nanjing, in addition to the letter also included 20 pictures that could record the cruel acts of the Japanese army, and each picture detailed the time and place of shooting, as well as the content of the way, he hoped that Hitler would be able to see these things. However, the result disappointed him greatly.
Rabe may have thought of the outcome at that time, but in the end he had a glimmer of hope for the German Fuehrer, but this glimmer of hope was finally shattered, and Germany and Japan at that time belonged to the fascist camp, that is, the alliance, and Rabe's approach was tantamount to saying bad things about allies and poking his teammates' tires.
At that time, Germany was fighting with Japan, so it was impossible for the German side to be unaware of what Japan was doing, after all, it was a cooperative relationship, just a state of opening one eye and closing one eye, but if Rabe pointed it out, it would be a little inappropriate, and if Hitler really helped, it would inevitably affect the relations between the two countries.
So Rabe was quickly arrested for the simple reason of undermining the cooperation between the two countries and endangering the national interest, and then the six Raabe diaries and related photographs documenting the crimes of the Japanese army were confiscated.
Rabe ending
After the end of the war, Rabe was arrested as a Nazi and the Chinese knew what Rabe had done for China and collected a lot of evidence to prove it, so that Rabe was dismissed from the crime.
Then Rabe's life is not optimistic, at this time he is sixty-three years old, there is no source of income, the whole family life is relatively poor, Nanjing learned of this news and rescued Rabe, alleviating his poor living situation. Rabe then suffered a stroke and died without anyone knowing.
However, Chinese will not forget Rabe's kindness, at this time when the new crown pneumonia is raging, in the face of Rabe's descendants' help, our country has generously donated vaccines free of charge, which is also a consolation to Rabe.