With the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the Chinese Embassy in Germany received a special request for help, and a large number of epidemic prevention materials were immediately sent to the person who asked for help. Even clinical data was handed over to the person who asked for help. Later, the Chinese ambassador to Germany, Wu Keng, told us a dusty story. And the man who asked for help was Thomas Rabe.
Since then, a German who has made all the Chinese full of gratitude has appeared before our eyes.
One: John Rabe
Thomas Rabe is a descendant of John Rabe. John Rabe has extraordinary significance for Chinese, especially for the people of Nanjing. His story with China began in 1908. Johann Rabe was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1882 to the son of a captain. After graduating from junior high school, Rabe began his working career.
He worked first as a business associate and then spent many years in England. In 1908, Raabe was hired to go to China, a stay of 30 years. Even Rabe said: I love China, here is all my youth. Later, Rabe lived in Nanjing as deputy minister of the Permanent Branch of the German Nazi Party in Nanjing, China.
The Nazi Party was a German political party in Germany in the first half of the 20th century, and the most common words about the Nazi Party were cruelty and atrocities. Many even linked the Nazi Party to the "devil.". Of course, most of the people in the Nazi Party were quite cruel, but Rabe was one of them. In 1937, after witnessing some things, Rabe began to write a diary, which was later named "Rabe's Diary".
The whole book is 367 pages, the pages are sad, and the words are heartfelt. This is the largest number of historical materials studied and the most complete preservation of the Nanjing Massacre. If it weren't for Raabe, the number of people killed would not just exceed 300,000.
In 1937, Japan invaded and occupied Shanghai and pushed straight for Nanjing. At that time, Rabe and his wife were working in Beijing, and when he heard the news, Rabe immediately left for Nanjing, leaving his wife in Beijing. In a situation like china's, many foreigners have already fled for their lives, but Rabe chose to stay.
Rabe, who had been in Nanjing for a long time, knew Nanjing very well, and there were no air raid shelters and no places to hide in Nanjing at that time. Some are just over a million poor refugees. The plane flew over Nanjing and was instantly stained red with blood. So before the Japanese army arrived, each air raid on Raabe would cause many poor people in Nanjing to hide in his yard and then hold up the Nazi party flag.
At that time, Rabe's move saved many Chinese, but these were just a drop in the bucket. If the Japanese army had arrived, Nanjing would have been even more brutal than it is now. Later, Raabe organized more than 20 foreigners who remained in Nanjing and decided to establish a safe zone for the innocent people before the Japanese army arrived in Nanjing.
They have established 25 refugee shelters in one area of the security zone, which are expected to receive 200,000 refugees. Rabe and more than 20 foreign friends then formed an international committee, and Raabe was elected chairman of the committee. As the Japanese army got closer to Nanjing, the rich abandoned their servants and fled for their lives, and even the Nanjing government withdrew from Nanjing. At this time, Nanjing was an empty city except for the poor and poor.
Two: a history of cruelty
The German ambassador to China contacted Rabe and said: Mr. Raabe, Nanjing is about to face a huge disaster, please leave Nanjing with your family for your own safety. Rabe, on the other hand, said: Thanks to the ambassador's concern, I am determined to stay in Nanjing to serve on the International Committee, and we will establish a safe zone to protect more than 200,000 civilians. Thank you again for your thoughts and good luck.
After Raabe rejected the German ambassador to China, he began work on the safe zone. In addition to some necessities such as food and medicine, Rabe also needs to get Japan to recognize the existence of the Nanjing Safe Zone. Not only that, but the Japanese army could not be allowed to inflict any damage on the safe zone.
However, Rabe's letters to the Japanese masters were not replied to. Helplessly, Rabe had to send the letter to Germany, but at that time Germany and Japan were cooperative partners, and Hitler did not want to make a gap between Germany and Japan because of this matter. So Hitler remained neutral and did not reply.
It's just that Japan feels that the letters have been sent to Germany, and it can't sit idly by anyway. He replied that Rabe refused to establish a safe zone, but the letter ended with the following words: Mr. Raabe, if a safe zone is to be established, the Japanese government will do its utmost to respect this area as long as it does not involve the military of the Japanese army.
Just this sentence gave Rabe hope, and he completely assumed that Japan had agreed. So the safety zone was gradually built. In Nanjing, where the artillery was under fire, Rabe risked his life to find supplies. Fortunately, after several twists and turns, he was able to find him, so that the civilians who fled to the security zone were not starved.
On December 14, 1937, Rabe and his friends drove through the city to learn how great the damage of the Japanese army was, the city of Nanjing was stained red, and every time the car passed one or two hundred meters, it would crush the corpses, which were the corpses of civilians. He got out of the car to check and found that the bullets were shot from behind.
They treated the civilians like toys, letting them escape, but shooting them off. Watching the light of hope in their eyes shattered, he laughed next to him. They use this slaughter as a game. Hundreds of Chinese civilians were slaughtered every day in Rabe's diary.
There are even Chinese soldiers disguised in the safe zone, who have been forced to stay in the safe zone because they have been seriously injured. However, the Japanese army, saying that it would not do anything to the prisoners of war without guns, took them out of the safe zone and brutally killed them. Even the police did not spare it. They are afraid, they are afraid of the little flame that Chinese born, because these are enough to burn them to death.
Three: The fountain of grace of dripping water repays each other
According to statistics, Rabe's safety zone saved more than 250,000 Chinese, and his behavior touched countless Chinese. This is a life-saving grace. In 1938, Rabe's company forcibly recalled him to Germany, but Raabe, who returned to Germany, made public his diary, which contained text, photographs, and letters as evidence.
The atrocities of the Japanese were exposed to the people of the whole country at that time, but because Germany and Japan were cooperative, Raabe was arrested. The police persecuted him in various ways until he said that he would never spread the atrocities of the Japanese army again. Only to be willing to release him. Later, Germany was defeated in the war and was crusaded by countless countries.
Rabe, a member of the Nazi Party, was captured by Soviet personnel. In Rabe I believe that there will be a reward for the end of the good, and the Soviet agents did not find out that Rabe had done anything against the law and morality, and soon released him. Only rabe who came out had nothing, not only had no job, but his health had become bad, and he had contracted a skin disease. Living in poverty and starving.
Fortunately, after China learned this, he donated clothes and food for Rabe. According to statistics, Nanjing donated 100 million yuan at that time. At that time, it was so hard for a town in China to prepare 100 million yuan, and they poured all their things into Rabe. Not only that, the Nanjing government declared that China's door will always be opened for Rabe, as long as he is willing to return to China, China will find him a doctor for free, not only that, he can also get free housing and pension.
Rabe's eyes were red when he heard this, and he looked out the window in deep thought, he knew that this country had always been like this, and if others were kind to them, they would try their best to reciprocate. When Rabe died in 1950, he left China with important evidence exposing Japanese crimes. He made Chinese always sober and always remember what kind of disaster Nanjing had experienced at that time.
In 1997, the Berlin government wanted to clear Raabe's cemetery because the deadline for the raabe cemetery on the western outskirts of Berlin had expired. So his family sent Rabe's tombstone to Nanjing, China, and in this way Rabe's tombstone was preserved at the Nanjing Massacre Compatriot Memorial Hall.
Later, the Nanjing government applied to the Berlin government to list Rabe's cemetery as a tomb of a celebrity for permanent preservation, but this was rejected. Later, the Nanjing government repaired Rabe's cemetery at its own expense and paid rent for forty years.
It is always said that the grace of dripping water should be repaid by the spring, but only Chinese really carved this sentence into the bones. No matter how much suffering we have experienced, we still maintain a grateful heart. I will never forget that this is the truth that Chinese was born to understand.
John Rabe's story is over, and if you're interested in this history, you can tell me and everyone what you want to say in the comments section.