In 1997, on the 60th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, Nanjing published a book, The Diary of Rabe. What kind of book is this? More than 600 scenes of the Nanjing Massacre witnessed by the author Rabe are recorded in detail.
In the previous forty years, this extremely valuable thing had been completely forgotten because it had not been effectively passed on. Until the end of 1996, Chinese-American Zhang Chunru and Dr. Shao Ziping published the "Rabe Diary" they had painstakingly searched for.
Shocking disclosure, the truth of the world.
01
Who is Rabe?
In 1931, Rabe was appointed General Representative of Siemens in China and Deputy Director of the Nanjing Branch of the German Nazi Party. He was the commercial representative of Siemens in China and a politician who joined the German Nazi Party.
Johann Rabe was born on November 23, 1882, in Hamburg, Germany.
The family is ordinary and lacks financial ability. His father left early, and the responsibility for supporting the family fell on him. Therefore, I dropped out of junior high school.
With the help of his boss, 14-year-old Rabe went to an apprenticeship at a company in Mozambique, Africa, where he learned fluent English on the ground.
Because of his knowledge of English, he became an employee of Siemens in Germany sent to China. Siemens' telecommunications equipment was a monopoly on the supply of the Chinese military in those days. This shows the importance of his position.
Since then, he has been dealing with China in this business field, traveling to many Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and his marriage was also completed in Beijing, and he likes Chinese culture very much. In 1931, the business needed to settle in Nanjing.
No one expected that the courtyard of No. 1 Xiaofanqiao on Guangzhou Road would become the office of Nazi Germany in Nanjing, China, and even less could it become the safest place in the minds of Chinese.
02
After the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, japan's war of aggression against China was in full swing, business had been interrupted, Germany demanded that Bella withdraw from the country, and the Japanese side also asked Westerners to leave Nanjing in preparation for large-scale bombing, however, Bella chose to stay.
There are still different accounts of the purpose of Rabe's stay. Especially combined with his Nazi party membership at that time, it is difficult to understand. Some say it's the humanity of Europeans. But what he said in his diary was more humanitarian.
When the Japanese army began to attack Nanjing, Rabe actively supported the proposal of the American church school Hang Liwu and established a safe zone. His own yard was set up as a refugee shelter.
After the fall of Nanjing, during the massacre, the safe zone was actually no longer safe. Rabe worked hard. He made a huge Nazi German flag in the courtyard, and the Japanese army saw it and was afraid of it.
Raabe carefully protects every Chinese who flee to the refugee safety zone, especially women and children. A total of more than 250,000 Chinese refugees have been protected.
Both Siemens headquarters and the German ambassador to China sent letters to Raabe urging him to leave Nanjing. Rabe's staff and his wife and children left China, but he insisted on staying.
In addition to keeping an eye on the yard, Rabe also organized the delivery of food supplies for these people. At the same time, he repeatedly appealed to the Japanese government and Hitler, although it did not receive a clear reply, but it still seemed to work later.
As soon as he opened the courtyard door, women and children outside would pour in, kneel on the ground and prostrate, and ask to sleep in the courtyard.
In his yard, air raid shelters were dug. The position of 10 people should be crowded with 20 people.
Rabe also kept writing letters to the Japanese Embassy and other places where he could think of, accusing the details of murder, robbery, rape and arson. In order to attract their attention.
His German face and Nazi armband played a good deterrent role in repelling the Japanese army.
03
In February 1938, Raabe was recalled to Japan.
Raabe, who returned to Germany, wrote a book about what he saw and heard in China and made it into a documentary. Propaganda in Germany. At the same time, he sent a fragment of his diary to Hitler, and because of this action he was forbidden to publicize it anymore.
After the end of World War II, Raabe returned to civilian status. Because he was fired by Siemens, his life was in a dilemma.
After learning of this news, the people of Nanjing spontaneously donated money and sent more than 100 million yuan to Rabe, and they have been sending food and clothing to him in the following time.
On January 5, 1950, at the age of 68, Rabe died in West Berlin. It is buried in the cemetery of the Memorial Church of Wilhelm in the western suburbs of Berlin, Germany. Later, his descendants contacted the Chinese Embassy, and in 1997, Rabe's tombstone was moved to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.
Years later, the gospel of peace-loving and Chinese people has returned to China, which has been separated for a long time.