by John Rabe
According to the radio, the Japanese have thus far given no definitive answer to the question of a neutral zone for noncombatants. I have decided to telegraph Hitler and Kriebel14 via the German general consulate in Shanghai and Lahrmann, the national group leader there. I managed to get off the following telegram today:
German Consulate General Shanghai
I respectfully ask National Group Leader Lahrmann to send on the following telegram stop First to the Führer stop
Undersigned Deputy Group Leader Nanking, chairman of local International Committee, asks his Führer kindly to intercede with the Japanese government to grant permission for creation of a neutral zone for noncombatants, since imminent battle for Nanking otherwise endangers the lives of over two hundred thousand people stop
With German greetings Rabe Siemens agent in Nanking stop
Second to General Consul Kriebel stop
Urgently request support of my petition to the Führer for his intercession with the Japanese government concerning creation of a neutral zone for noncombatants, since dreadful bloodbath otherwise inevitable in imminent battle for Nanking stop Heil Hitler!
Rabe Siemens representative and Chairman of International Committee in Nanking stop.
Since I am not sure if Herr Lahrmann may not perhaps be alarmed at the high cost of these telegrams I have asked that the cost be advanced by Siemens China Co. Shanghai against my account.
All bus traffic has been suspended today. All buses, I’m told, have been sent to Hankow. It will probably be somewhat quieter in the streets, although over 200,000 Chinese—noncombatants—are still in the city. By God, I hope Hitler helps us so that we can set up the neutral zone at last.
In answer to my question, Dr. Han Liwu has just told me that we need not worry about the Chinese government’s approval for setting up a neutral zone: The generalissimo has personally given his consent.
We have now found a foreign director for our committee, Mr. Fitch of the YMCA, Nanking. All we’re waiting for now is Japanese consent.
A telegram for me from the company’s main Shanghai office has arrived at the German embassy; it reads:
For Siemens. Local Siemens branch advises: You are free to leave Nanking—Avoid personal danger—Suggest move to Hankow—Telegraph your intentions.
I told the embassy to reply:
For Siemens Shanghai from Rabe stop Thank you for your telegram of 25 November—have decided to remain in Nanking—have accepted chairmanship of International Committee for creation of neutral zone to protect over two hundred thousand noncombatants.
Mr. Han has managed to fetch the 100 canisters of gasoline from the I-Ho-Tung Brick Works, as well as 20 sacks of flour. They are working to build a new dugout in the garden. I’ll have to find somewhere else to store the gasoline. One hundred canisters in the garden seems somewhat too risky even to me.
Dr. Smythe telephones that a Tokyo newspaper has suggested that a neutral zone in Nanking would make it more difficult to take the city, and/or delay its being taken. . . . What are we to do if the plan doesn’t work. The danger is truly great. My hope is Hitler.
Rosen is very concerned that if the city is bombarded we shall all still be able to get away in time on the Hulk,a Jardines lines steamer that, if need be, the Hirschbergs plan to flee with as well. That’s all very reasonable of course, but it’s so discouraging when all you think or hear about is getting out. The Chinese around me are so calm and composed. To them the main thing is that the master doesn’t cut and run, everything else will take care of itself. And I can’t rid myself of the feeling that I simply and absolutely must hold out. Except, I admit, I would indeed like to be somewhere a little safer than this house.
Perhaps I can find another place to live. Dr. Rosen has been offered the house of Minister Chang Chun, which has a marvelous shelter. I need to go over and have a look at the fortress, and then the big question will be: Move or not? I can’t take along all the people that have gathered here around me. But I can’t be in two houses at once, either, and ultimately it’s my poor presence that counts.
27 NOVEMBER
Tsao the cook is still sick. He had a prescription for Jacopral, but couldn’t find any, since the pharmacists have all scattered. Today, five days later, it suddenly occurs to people to tell me. For now, I’ve given him some from my own small supply. Moreover, the man’s been sleeping in an unheated room for a week (just to save money, I’m sure). So I lend him a kerosene stove. When I ask why he hasn’t bought a coal-burning stove, he replies: There are no more stovepipes to be had, the tinsmiths have all closed shop.
A great lover of jokes, John Rabe sits at his desk with helmet and field glasses.
I think that’s a white lie, but I’ll have to check on it. Our good Tsao has not made himself very popular with the rest of the staff—which is why they let him get into this state and that, of course, can’t be permitted.
It’s touching how Dr. Rosen worries about me. Of all the Germans who have stayed behind, I am his biggest problem child. He is quite rightly afraid that I’ll remain here and not want to flee with him and the other Germans and English, etc. on board the Hulk.He personally handed me a pass that was issued by Prideaux-Brune, the English consul, and that permits me to board the Hulk,which is to be tugged upstream shortly. He has also arranged to pass the house of ex-minister Chang Chun on to me, just in case—no matter whether I can use it or not. In short—he does everything he possibly can! We had a long conversation yesterday afternoon, that is to say, he told me about his life. His grandfather15 was a friend of Beethoven’s. He showed me a letter Beethoven wrote his grandfather. His family has been in diplomatic service for almost a hundred years. His father was once foreign minister, but he will probably stay a legation secretary all his life—a Jewish grandmother in his family has ruined his career. A tragic fate!
From Georg Rosen’s Personal File
Because of his fate, which was hardly unique in those days, Georg Rosen deserves a more detailed account:
Georg Rosen, Dr. jur., was born in Teheran in 1895. His father and his grandfather Rosen had been important Orientalists, both having also worked for the Foreign Service, the grandfather in the service of Prussia, the North German Confederation, and the Empire. His father, Friedrich Rosen, was foreign minister from May to October 1921.
Both of Georg Rosen’s grandfathers had married daughters of the pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles, one of Beethoven’s pupils and confidants late in life.
“Beethoven’s last letter,” Georg Rosen wrote in an account of his life, “was to him, as were the letters of those who were at Beethoven’s bedside as he lay dying. Everything posterity knows about Beethoven’s final hours comes from a letter he wrote to my great grandfather (Ignaz Moscheles), who was living in London at the time.”
Georg Rosen entered the foreign service in 1921. After Hitler assumed power, he was considered “related to Jews.” For the moment, however, he was allowed to remain in service, since in 1917he had voluntarily left Portugal to serve in the war for Germany and had fought on the western front; he was never promoted, however, and was left in entry-level positions until he resigned.
From 1933 to 1938, he was legation secretary at the embassy, first in Peking, then, after it moved, in Nanking in 1936 and finally Hankow in 1937. Rosen was temporarily charged with consular duties. But in 1938he was placed on the inactive list; because of his wartime service in 1917–18, however, he was not released from the civil service, so that he continued to receive moneys owed him. With the official approval of the Foreign Ministry, he moved to London in 1938. At the start of the war, he was first detained there, but in 1940 was able to move to the United States, where he taught at various universities during the war. His wife and children, whom he had left behind in Germany, lived from his pension; when Frau Rosen was killed in an air raid, the money was then transferred to the children’s guardian. Apparently the Foreign Ministry used every legal means available to ease his circumstances.
Georg Rosen was a German nationalist with right-wing views. He often spoke his mind candidly, could be touchy, and also short-tempered on occasion; he did not believe in compromise. He approached the Japanese in Nanking with head held high and, in contrast to the more diplomatic John Rabe, was sometimes very blunt as well. He was greatly hurt by the discrimination he su fered under Hitler’s race laws and shared his sorrow with Rabe.
“A tragic fate,” John Rabe wrote. On the day when he spoke to Rabe, 27 November 1937, did Rosen know that only three days before a telegram had been signed by the director of personnel at the Foreign Ministry and sent to the embassy in Hankow? It read:
Telegram
(In secret code)
For the ambassador only.
Please tactfully inform Rosen that there can be no question of his returning after vacation and that due to his non-Aryan ancestry he will be placed on the inactive list.
PRÜFER
27 NOVEMBER, EVENING
A meeting at 69 Peking Road at 6 p.m., General Tang, the city commandant, is present and gives a speech. He points out that some disorder may arise among his troops during the impending battle to defend the city. To the extent that it is within his power he will provide protection to all foreigners. The gates of the city are closed, but until the very last moment we foreigners will have the chance to pass through them.
Dr. Rosen, Prideaux-Brune, the British consul, and Atchinson, secretary of the American embassy, are with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek this afternoon. They want to hear the unvarnished truth about plans to defend the city. A very good idea!
Since our International Committee has not yet received an answer from any Japanese officials, another telegraph message was sent today to the Japanese ambassador in Shanghai by way of the American embassy. There is, of course, no telling whether my telegrams to Hitler and Kriebel did any good. But they should be in Berlin by now I think.
We have scheduled a meeting of the International Committee for 2 p.m. tomorrow. Even if we do not receive any answer from the Japanese, we must make some arrangements, at least draw up plans for insuring the general safety.
28 NOVEMBER
Dr. Rosen shared with me the following results of yesterday’s conference with the generalissimo:
Question: “Will the defense be limited to areas outside the city or will the battle continue inside the city walls?” Answer: “We are prepared for both.”
Another question: “Who will be responsible for order if worst comes to worst, that is who will remain behind as the last administrative official in the city and see to it that the power of the police is used to prevent mob violence?” To which the marshal, or maybe General Tang, replied: “In such a case the Japanese will have to establish order.”
In other words: No administrative official will remain here. No one is going to sacrifice himself for the welfare of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants! What a prospect! Good God, if only Hitler would help! The misery that a full-fledged bombardment will bring upon this city is unimaginable.
I also hear from Dr. Rosen that the ambassador is said to have asked from Hankow who the German was that telegraphed the Führer. In the meantime, Dr. Trautmann has likewise received the letter Dr. Rosen wrote him. . . . No mention of the neutral zone on the radio at noon.
Sperling picks me up for the 3 o’clock meeting of the committee at Dr. Smythe’s, at which Mr. Fitch is officially named the director and Dr. Han Liwu the Chinese codirector. We agree to take no further steps until we receive official word from the Japanese.
Reverend Mills suggests we attempt as soon as possible to inform the highest Chinese dignitaries—the generalissimo and General Tang—that from a military point of view any defense of Nanking is absurd, and that we ought to consider whether it wouldn’t be better to surrender the city peacefully. Dr. Han Liwu replies that this is not the appropriate moment for such an action. We should wait until we have received a positive answer from Japanese officials that a Safety Zone is possible.
We adjourn at 4:30 without having accomplished much, precisely because things are still up in the air. At 6 o’clock, a meeting at the British Cultural Association. Postal Commissioner Ritchie informs us that the post office is officially closed. You can still put letters in the mailbox, which will occasionally be emptied. Mr. Ritchie appears a little nervous. His entire vast staff, which has functioned well up till now, is drifting away.
There is talk that the Japanese are about 40 miles from Wuhu and could be here in three days. Something fishy about that; I’d say it’s not possible.
At the meeting we are also given large handbills printed in Chinese that we’re to paste on the front door so that we won’t be bothered by Chinese soldiers. Soldiers are said to have paid a visit to the house of a German military advisor in the city today. But the problem was quickly resolved.
I had my nameplate and the German flag put up at my new house at Ninhai Lu 5 today. But the palace will be only my token residence. They’re now hard at work building the third dugout in my garden.
The second one had to be abandoned because the excavation pit was completely flooded. Wang Kopang, the chief of police, has repeatedly declared that 200,000 Chinese are still living in the city. In response to my question whether he’ll be remaining in the city himself, he replied as expected: As long as I can. Which means, he’ll decamp!
29 NOVEMBER
Sperling calls to tell me that Wang Kopang has stepped down and that a new man has been named in his place. Dr. Smythe reports that the new man will stay, that he and his police force won’t run away. A bit of good news at last. A meeting of the committee at 4 o’clock. We have to make some progress, even if the Japanese don’t recognize the neutral zone.
Dr. Rosen calls to say that according to a report from Tokyo the Japanese are still considering whether or not to accept our proposal of a neutral zone.
I have the feeling that perhaps some action has already been taken by Germany in our favor, but that speeches like those of General Tang (saying Nanking must be defended no matter what) only damage our cause. He’s a general, of course, and so has to make warlike noises; but it’s not appropriate in the present case, especially since the city cannot be effectively defended. Sitting in this crook in the Yangtze is like sitting in a mousetrap.
Straightening things up, I chance on a picture of the Führer, with the following poem by Baldur von Schirach, head of the Reich Youth Organization:
Our Führer’s greatness does not simply lie
in leading us as hero of each heart,
but in himself: firm will and steady eye
are rooted deep within our world, they start
inside a soul that reaches to the sky.
And is a man, the same as you and I.
That gave me courage again. I continue to hope that Hitler will help us. A man of firm will and steady eye—the same as you and I—has deep sympathy not only for the distress of his own people, but for the anguish of the Chinese as well. There is not a German, or any other foreigner here, who is not convinced that a single word from Hitler, and only from him, would have the greatest possible effect on the Japanese in helping establish our proposed neutral zone, and he will speak that word!
At 6 o’clock the regular meeting at the British Cultural Club. The mayor formally announces the formation of the International Committee. I report that we have the moral support of all embassies, that with the assistance of the American embassy we have already sent two telegrams to the Japanese ambassador in Shanghai, and that I personally have telegraphed both Hitler and Kriebel. I add that no direct answer from Hitler is to be expected, since these matters of high diplomacy are handled in other ways. I state, however, that I am firmly convinced that the Führer will not refuse to h
elp. I ask those gathered to be patient for another day or two, since we ought not yet abandon hope that the Japanese officials will give their permission.
The generalissimo has placed 100,000 dollars at the committee’s disposal. I nominate Kröger as treasurer. The others concur and with no hesitation he accepts the job. I’ve asked Kröger to move into my new house (Ninhai Lu 5), and he has agreed.
Despite a German flag, my truck has been taken over by soldiers guarding the Interior Ministry. I call up Colonel Lung, General Tang’s deputy, and get my truck back at eleven p.m.
30 NOVEMBER
I’ve ordered Mr. Han to move his family in with me. He’s living in a few rooms at the school where he had a kitchen and bathroom installed. His friend Sung, the proprietor of the I-Ho-Tung Brick Works and my benefactor, is moving in with me as well. The new dugout is not yet finished. We’re working at top speed. In addition to a wall of loose bricks—we have no cement—supported by wooden boards on both sides, we’ve also used steel plates for the dugout. I don’t know who commandeered them. They were suddenly just there, like so many other things. My garden is a sight to behold. I sent the truck to fetch another large water tank because I’m afraid water from the city waterworks will be cut off; we also have a supply of candles. And our coal reserves will last about a month.
Han Hsianglin, John Rabe’s able and devoted assistant at Siemens
Last night I sterilized the reserve instruments for my insulin injections. I always carry with me one set of instruments and three vials of insulin. Chang’s wife is still in the hospital, the cook as well, but he’s doing a little better. He swallows his Jacopral and thinks it helps because it tastes so awful.
Dr. Brown, who is a physician, and a French monk have arrived from Wuhu. They want to set up a neutral zone in Wuhu as well and are seeking our advice. When we’re pretty much out of good ideas ourselves.