John Rabe, China's Schindler in 1937-38

John Rabe (1882-1950) is known as the "Oskar Schindler" of China in 1937-38. [Photo/jstv.com]

John Rabe (1882-1950) has been revered by Chinese people as the nation's "Oskar Schindler" for helping establish the "Nanjing Safety Zone" that sheltered nearly 250,000 Chinese people from Japanese army during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937-38.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, on Nov 23, 1882, Rabe started working for Siemens China Co in Beijing in 1908 and was transferred to Nanjing in 1931. As most of his fellow German nationals had departed China before the Japanese military reached the city gate, Rabe chose to remain.

Rabe, together with other foreign nationals, established the Nanjing Safety Zone to provide food and shelter to Chinese refugees.

Located in the foreign embassies and the Nanjing University, the Safety Zone covered an area of about 3.86 square kilometers and had 25 refugee camps. With borders lined by white flags and sheets marked with the Red Cross symbol, the Safety Zone was filled with 250,000 refugees when Nanjing fell. Rabe's residence also helped shelter about 650 Chinese refugees with hundreds of Chinese women living in tiny straw huts in his backyard.

When the city was restored to order in January 1938, the Safety Zone gradually ceased function.

Rabe left Nanjing on Feb 28, 1938, and brought back to Germany materials documenting the atrocities committed by the Japanese in Nanjing.

However, Rabe was prohibited from lecturing or writing on the Japanese atrocities he witnessed in Nanjing as he was once detained and interrogated by the Gestapo (German secret police) for doing so.

Rabe died in Berlin on Jan 5, 1950. His tombstone was transported to Nanjing in 1997 as a place of honor at the massacre memorial site.

Rabe's former residence in Nanjing was also renovated as the "John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall". It opened to the public on Oct 31, 2006.

Rabe's diaries from September 1937 to February 1938 recording his experiences as a witness of the Nanjing Massacre were published in Chinese in August 1997 and in English as The good man of Nanking in 1998.

On the basis of Rabe's published diaries, a German-Chinese-French film entitled "John Rabe" premiered at the 59th Berlin Film Festival on Feb 7, 2009. The film was directed by Florian Gallenberger.