The Good Man of Nanking

by John Rabe

  My warmest greetings and kisses

  Your JOHNY

  Letter from John Rabe to His Wife

  Nanking, 28 January 1938

  My dear Dora,

  I forgot to ask you in the letter I enclosed with my diaries yesterday to telegraph me when the books have arrived via the German embassy, which can then forward the telegram via the American consulate general. The American embassy here has a wireless receiver and sender in its building. If you telegraph me the word BUGAN, I’ll read it as: “Bücher gut angekommen.” [Books arrived safely.]

  I made some inquiries yet again at the Japanese embassy yesterday. I can get permission to leave, but will not be able then to return to Nanking in the foreseeable future. I’m waiting to hear from the firm whether I should leave or not. If I do leave, I’ll have to leave everything— Committee, house, furniture, the employees—behind at loose ends. As I see it, it can be another six months or a whole year before the war is over. So: What to do?

  Many warm greetings and kisses

  Your JOHNY

  Memorandum of Chancellor P. Schar fenberg to the German Embassy in Hankow

  The situation in Nanking as of 28 January 1938

  The food supply provided by the Japanese is completely inadequate. If we were to rely on them, we would starve. Yesterday Sindberg, the Dane from the cement factory, brought us another little pig, eggs, two ducks. Granted, he was arrested on the way here, but by subsidizing the sentries with a crate of beer he got through under the guard of three men and an officer. We gave some of it to the other Germans and the houseboys and police who live off us. There are no onions to be had, and very few vegetables. So all the foreigners, who are afraid of scurvy on a diet of nothing but rice, are desperate for apples, which are available from Japanese canteens—but only for yen. And so everyone is in pursuit of yen. Our hundred yen are gone, because we gave some to all the Germans and a few foreigners.

  The number of Japanese canteens has been increased. They sell mainly beer and sake. It’s incredible how much beer the Japanese can down, hundreds of crates from a truckload are sold in no time. The Japanese deliberately killed all domestic animals, e.g., all the water buffalo. Pigs were beheaded and left lying there. Ponies and donkeys have all been confiscated. It’s comical to watch the Japanese riding donkeys, they even harness them to the rickshas. More and more Chinese are risking leaving the Safety Zone, but only during the day. Mostly it’s just aged women and children, who happily loot while the Japanese watch. My impression is that the Japanese encourage this in order to shift the blame away from themselves.

  As before, we can’t take one step outside without being accompanied by a gendarme. Like political criminals!

  SCHARFFENBERG

  28 JANUARY

  Mr. Tanaka quite unexpectedly granted Mr. Fitch permission to leave for Shanghai today and return six days later. He’s traveling aboard the English gunboat Beeand will return in a week on the American gunboat Oahu.The whole thing seems a little fishy to me, especially since they’ve given him nothing in writing, no travel pass or the like.

  Yesterday evening, when I asked Fukui to give Fitch permission to leave and return, he brusquely refused. Maybe they are somewhat easier on the Americans today because in the meantime they’ve had a few unpleasant incidents with the Japanese. Yesterday Mr. Allison, the deputy at the American embassy, was even slapped in the face by a Japanese soldier. The incident was reported to Washington at once and was the latest news today on the radio from London. The Japanese have indeed apologized to Mr. Allison for the slaps, but they insist Allison provoked the soldier by speaking rudely to him in Japanese.

  Dr. Rosen has made himself unpopular again, too. Yesterday he accompanied me on a drive through the East City but didn’t want to take along the Japanese guard assigned to him. My friendly persuasion accomplished nothing. The incident has been reported to the Japanese embassy, which sent me the following statement today:

  “There are still Chinese soldiers in plainclothes in Nanking. Japanese soldiers are instructed to shoot at every suspicious person. That is why embassy officials are given a Japanese guard for protection.”

  To which one can only say that if there really are any plainclothes Chinese left, they certainly would have nothing against a few foreigners because by now every child knows that we remained behind to protect the Chinese.

  We have received news that the Japanese want to close all refugee camps on 4 February. The refugees are supposed to return to the devastated city and it doesn’t matter where they live amid the ruins. This could be awful; but we don’t know how to avert this calamity. The military has all the power.

  29 JANUARY

  Mr. Prideaux-Brune, the English consul, and Mr. George Fitch left on the Beethis morning at 9 o’clock, and with them my diaries. No one believes that Fitch will return in the foreseeable future. Tension between the Europeans and the Japanese is growing daily. We are seriously considering dissolving the Zone Committee and creating a Relief Committee that would cooperate with the new Autonomous Government Committee.

  I keep suggesting that we cooperate with the Japanese, but the Americans are against it, and until I have the approval of the entire committee, I can’t approach the Japanese, nor can I be sure that they even will consent. Maybe it’s too late already for cooperation of this sort. The favorable moment may very well have passed.

  On the other hand, we’re as good as paralyzed if, as threatened, the Japanese forcibly close all refugees camps on 4 February and then place the refugees in concentration camps that we are forbidden to enter, just as they’ve done with the Red Cross hospitals.

  I learn that the German embassy has received a letter from the Japanese thanking them for all the help given the refugees and likewise informing them that the refugee camps must be closed down on 4 February. I call a meeting of all committee members, and we decide to have our embassies ascertain the following by official or other means:

  Can the Japanese remove refugees from a camp that is on foreign property or in a house belonging to a foreigner? A large number of the camps are on American property; my own camp would likewise fit in this category, since it is on the grounds of a German.

  Can we take more refugees into our camps?

  We also ask our embassies to refrain from answering Japanese letters about this matter until we have clarified our standpoint.

  John Magee found two girls, aged eight and four, whose entire family of eleven had been murdered in the most gruesome fashion. The two girls remained in a room with the body of their mother for 14 days until they were rescued by a neighbor. The older one had fed herself and her sister from small stores of rice that were still in the house. [See pp. 281–282]

  30 JANUARY

  We have stated our committee’s concerns in a letter to Dr. Rosen and have asked him to confer with the Japanese about them. I admit I have no great hope that we will accomplish much; because Dr. Rosen is not exactly persona grata with the Japanese—more like non grata. Nonetheless an attempt must be made to dissuade the Japanese from forcing Chinese refugees out of the Zone on 4 February. Dr. Rosen was chosen for the task, because, since I, a German, am chairman of the committee, it would be best to proceed through the German embassy or its representatives.

  Our camp has been transformed into a swamp once again. There were two days of heavy snowfall, and now the snow is melting. With heavy hearts, my 600 refugees are getting accustomed to the idea that they will have to leave the camp on 4 February. Most of these people live not all too far from my house and can quickly return here in an emergency.

  Han and I started a private collection for the poorest of the poor, about 100 people. We have collected 100 dollars and so are able to give each of these people one dollar, which made them all very very happy.

  What vast misery, and tomorrow is Chinese New Year, the biggest holiday of the poor Chinese people! The committee has given my camp, which is a relatively small one, a special extra grant of five dollars to buy
spices to season the New Year’s rice—five dollars for 600 people! Sadly, we cannot do more than that, but the money is gratefully accepted all the same. Moreover, everyone is to receive (on the sly) one teacup of rice in addition to their daily very scant ration of two cups.

  Hatz, our auto mechanic, appeared today in the office in a new pair of top boots that he “commandeered” from Pinckernelle’s room, though with Kröger’s permission, or so he says! Well, none of us really objects. Hatz is a poor devil himself, and Pinckernelle has a good heart and by now probably has his long legs under a desk somewhere in lovely Shanghai or Hong Kong.

  Report of the Safety Zone Committee, 31 January 1938

  On Sunday, January 30, police and a soldier representing the Special Service Corps came to some of the camps and told them that the refugees must move out by February 4 or their belongings would be sealed up in the camp and the buildings sealed.

  Meanwhile cases come in which indicate that order is far from complete either inside or especially outside the Safety Zone. But it is encouraging to note in some of the cases on the 30th, military police actually arrested soldiers caught in the act. Hitherto it has usually only been a slap or requirement to salute that has been used for punishment of soldiers.

  The following cases are only the ones we have been able to get first hand reports of: (the first two are cases overlooked in typing up previous reports.) 209) On January 24th, at 11:00 p.m., two Japanese soldiers entered the Agricultural Implements Shop at 11 Hu Chia Tsai Yuen. They wore light armbands. They threatened the storekeeper with a gun and searched him. Then they took away a woman, raped her, and released her two hours later. (Note: This case involves forcible and irregular entry, intimidation by military weapons, abduction, rape.) The Japanese proclamation on the house door was torn down. Mr. Riggs and Mr. Bates took the woman in a car to see if she could identify the house. She pointed the way to 32 Hsiao Fen Chao and identified that as the place. It is the district office of the military police. Dr. Bates filed a protest with the American embassy because it occurred on University of Nanking property. On the afternoon of January 26th, two gendarmes, a Japanese interpreter, and Mr. Takadama went with Mr. Riggs and Mr. Allison to investigate at the shop and at the above military police office. Then they took the woman to the Japanese embassy for questioning. She was returned on the night of January 27th at 8:30 after 28 hours in custody with the following report:

  Since she had made a mistake in the number of steps from the first floor to the second, in the color of the bed cover, in describing the electric light instead of the oil lamp used, and did not know the time she was taken (others at the shop stated the time as they were all aroused), the rape did not occur in this particular house and therefore it was not the military police but ordinary soldiers and the soldiers involved had been punished. Since it was not the military police office, therefore the statement that it was, was merely anti-Japanese propaganda by the American embassy. (This report was given to Dr. Bates and Mr. Riggs at 3 Ping Tsang Hsiang by Mr. Takadama and his interpreter. Riggs—Bates)

  210) January 21, night, two Japanese soldiers came to 44 Kao Chia Chiu Kwan and asked for women. Fortunately the women in the family had gone to the University Middle School the day before. The family is very poor. So they went next door and found two women and raped them right there in front of their husbands. On the 22nd the two soldiers came back with two other soldiers and stood in front of the house and laughed. (Sone)

  211) January 25, afternoon, a Chinese woman came to the University Hospital. She and her husband had moved into the Safety Zone and were living in a straw hut near the Bible Teachers’ Training School. On December 13 her husband was taken away by the Japanese soldiers and the wife, this woman, was taken to South City where she has been ever since. She has been raped every day from seven to ten times since but usually was given an opportunity to sleep at night. She has developed all three types of venereal disease in their most virulent forms: Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Chancroid. She was let go five days ago probably because of her diseased condition. She returned to the Zone then. (Wilson)

  212) January 29, in the afternoon a young woman from one of the refugee camps went to Moh Tsou Lu to buy flour and was one of about 20 girls picked up in a truck by Japanese soldiers. They carried her to Fu Tze Miao where she was assigned to a military office according to her account. A Chinese servant took pity on her weeping and suggested a possible means of escape. While the officers were eating, she put her finger in her throat, then gagged, whereupon the officers sent her out of the room. She managed thus to escape and found her way back to the refugee camp the next morning at 2 a.m. (Bates)

  LATER

  At 4 o’clock this afternoon, my car was stopped on Hankow Road by a group of about 50 Chinese, who asked me to rescue a woman whom a Japanese soldier had led away to rape. The soldier had vanished into No. 4 Shue Chia Hsiang, to which I am then led.

  I find the house completely looted, the floor covered with all sorts of debris. In one of the open rooms is a coffin on a bier, and in the room adjoining, lying on a floor covered with straw and junk, I see the soldier, who is about to rape the woman.

  I manage to pull the soldier out of the room and into the entryway. When he sees all the Chinese and my car, he pulls away and disappears somewhere in the ruins of nearby buildings. The crowd stands at the door, murmuring, but quickly disperses when I tell them to, so as not to attract more Japanese soldiers.

  4:30 p.m.: Worship service in the Ping Tsang Hsian.

  6:00 p.m.: Smythe and I for tea at Dr. Rosen’s.

  8:00 p.m.: Dinner with Sperling and Hatz at the home of Scharffenberg and Hürter. We send Dr. Lautenschlager, our local group leader, a telegram on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Hitler’s assumption of power.

  FROM THE FAMILY DIARY

  What I have always secretly feared has come to pass: rancor and quarrels among the few Germans here. Yesterday at the Scharffenberg-Hürter dinner, Sperling and Hatz got into it. The latter is an Austrian or Hungarian and sometimes not very careful about what he says. As tempers warmed under the influence of alcohol—none of us can really handle alcohol anymore—an argument arose about the ridiculous question as to whether the Japanese were treating us relatively well or badly. Since I’m of the opinion that we are definitely not being treated well, I got involved in the argument, too, and had to oppose Hatz; but we finally did at least part in peace!

  Relations between Rosen and Scharffenberg-Hürter are not of the best. This stems primarily from the fact that Dr. Rosen wants to shake his Japanese guards when he goes out for a spin in his car or, if you like, is driving it on official business. Scharffenberg-Hürter, however, are of the opinion— and I agree with them absolutely—that it would be advisable to acquiesce to the instructions of the Japanese military in this regard, but Dr. Rosen will not hear of it. By the by, Dr. Rosen helps out whenever he can, as do Scharffenberg and Hürter. I hope that this discord resolves itself, but disagreement among us few Germans is the worst thing that can happen to us.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE LIVING BUDDHA

  31 JANUARY

  CHINES NEW YEAR’S DAY: formal ceremony of congratulation by servants and employees. The refugees stand lined up in rows in the garden and bow to me three times. There are many young girls among them. They all thank me for the protection I’ve provided, for saving them, which however is not yet a done deed. They present me with a six-by-nine-foot red silk banner inscribed in Chinese, a statement of gratitude, I presume.

  I hand the banner on to my houseboy Chang, who to my dismay solemnly rolls it out across the living room. A number of Chinese guests stand reverently gazing at it, and one of them translates the text into English:

  You are the Living Buddha

  for hundred thousand people.

  Until then I had been listening only with one ear, but that was going too far. I gave the speaker a closer look. He was a high official of the former Chinese government, no special friend of m
ine, but a man who knew the classics, a scholar. I asked him to translate the Chinese text again, but without any flattering addenda. Yes, he said, what I just read is correct; but one can, of course, translate it more precisely, perhaps like this:

  You have the heart of a Buddha

  and share his bold spirit.

  You have saved thousands of poor people

  from danger and want.

  May the favor of Heaven be granted to you,

  May good luck follow you,

  May God’s blessing rest upon you!

  The Refugees of Your Camp

  If these were not such perilous times, I could almost laugh at this touching dedication. I’ve not even resigned yet from my post as mayor, and here they are making me a living Buddha for thousands of poor people! But I don’t dare take any real delight in this gift, which was brought into the house amid exploding fireworks, because 4 February looms ahead, the day when all these poor people are to be forced from my garden camp. I still hope, however, that by showing my German flag I can prevent the worst. God grant it be so! You grow weary in this constant battle against a demoralized Japanese soldiery!

  Our houseboy Chang has just arrived with the following report: At 11 o’clock this morning, Wu Hsiu Chen, a girl of twenty-four in my refugee camp, was raped by a Japanese soldier in her old house, Kwang Chou Lu No. 46. She had gone to the house to prepare a midday meal for her uncle, who had returned to the house by order of the Japanese. Bayonet in hand, the soldier demanded she give in to him if she did not want to be killed.

  LATER

  I was happy to discover that the dead Chinese soldier who has been lying at my door for six weeks now has at last been buried.

  1 FEBRUARY