John Rabe - The good Nazi.

[Dan W.]

While much has been written about Oskar Schindler and his saving of 1200 Jewish lives there is little known about John Rabe, who saved over 100,000 Chinese lives as the Japanese raped and pillaged the city of Nanking, China in their infamous "Rape of Nanking" in 1937, when the Japanese went on a killing spree that saw bodies bloating and piled high, saw ponds disappear due to all the corpses thrown in them, and saw women from 8 to 80 gang raped and usually murdered, often in the most bestial and painful fashion imaginable.

But one man, wearing a Swastika armband and showing a brave resolve that made him reach God-like status amongst the terrified Chinese, stood up to the Japanese troops, often driving in his car at night through deserted streets, to be stopped by begging mothers, sons or husbands to hurry and stop a gang rape in progress.

Rabe would learn some lessons as well. When he instructed 400 Chinese soldiers to disarm and surrender, thinking they would be treated mericifully, he was horrified to see all of them summarily executed by the Japanese, many being beheaded. His official protests, both in China to the Japanese embassy and German officials in Berlin, were either ignored or, in the case of the Japanese, was told that the "proper authorities would be notified". Even Americans living in the "Safety Zone" of Nanking, many of them who hated Nazism and its ideals, respected and revered the work of this member of the Nazi party who truly believed in his Fuhrer.

From the book Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang:

Rabe was appalled by the rape in the city. In the streets he passed scores and scores of female corpses, raped, mutilated, left for dead beside their smoildering and charred homes. "Groups of 3 to 10 Japanese soldiers would begin traveling through the city, stealing anything there was to steal" Rabe wrote in his report to Hitler.

They would continue by raping women and girls and killing anything and anyone that offered any resistance, attempted to flee or was in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were girls under 8 years old and women over 70 gang raped and then, in the most brutal way imaginable, knocked down and beat up. We found corpses of women on broekn beer glasses and others who had been lanced by bamboo shoots. I saw these victims with my own eyes- I talked to some of themn right before their deaths and had their bodies brought to the morgue at Kulo hospital so I could be personally convinced that the reports I had heard of were completely true.

Rabe would return to Germany and be arrested and questioned by the Gestapo, to be released after intervention by his employer, Siemens, and released after his film was confiscated. He remained committed to the Nazi party. He died of a stroke in 1950.

http://www.moreorless.au.com/heroes/rabe.html

http://litek.ws/k0nsl/detox/John_Rabe.html

http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/NanjingMassacre/NMNR.html

[David Thompson]

See also: John Rabe: The Nazi Who Saved Lives
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=51419

[Kim Sung]

See also: John Rabe: The Nazi Who Saved Lives
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=51419

His granddaughter Ursula Rheinhard lives in Berlin now. She contributed to Iris Chang's Rape of Nanking.

[Tycoon2002]

John Rabe used to roam around Nanking and personally stop the Japanese raping women or other actrocious acts using his Nazi credentials. There was also an American woman named Minnie Vautrin who worked with Rabe and saved thousands of girls being raped...some as young as 7 but unfortunetly the Japanese used to go to these Safety zones to kidnap women or round up men to show off their superiority and Rabe's Nazi credentials didnt stop the Japs either. Minnie Vautrin was threatened on being raped on numerous occasions and even beaten by Japanese and the Japs used to joke about how raping a white 'Virgin' would be a change from the chinese, but still she stayed to help the civilians and about 4 years later she commited sucide because she thought she didnt save enough people.

Without Rabe, Minnie and the other westerners who formed the safety zone the Japanese would of killed far more people.

Rabe was called the living Buddha of Nanking and has a monument of him in the city and Vautrin was called the Goddess of Mercy of Nanking.

[Kim Sung]

Rabe was called the living Buddha of Nanking and has a monument of him in the city and Vautrin was called the Goddess of Mercy of Nanking.

I didn't know about her. Thank you for letting me know a forgotten hero.

[Tycoon2002]

Rabe was called the living Buddha of Nanking and has a monument of him in the city and Vautrin was called the Goddess of Mercy of Nanking.

I didn't know about her. Thank you for letting me know a forgotten hero.

Your Welcome
There were more brave westeners who set up the Safety zone as well, but Rabe and Vautrin were the 2 who led and risked their lives the most. Infact Vautrin was the only western female left in Nanking as the rest of the females fled of fear of being raped.

While the British raised a city like Hong Kong from a medievil state to a city equal to London as one of the richest cities in the world, the Japanese raped and plungered Nanking into mass of dead bodies.