John Rabe — The “Good Nazi” Who Saved Nanking

 John Rabe — The “Good Nazi” Who Saved Nanking




 History rarely gives us heroes in unexpected uniforms, but John Rabe’s story defies easy labels. A German businessman living in China in the 1930s, Rabe was also a member of the Nazi Party. Yet during one of the most brutal massacres of the 20th century — the Nanking Massacre — he became a beacon of hope for hundreds of thousands.

In December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Chinese capital of Nanking. Over the next six weeks, Japanese troops committed atrocities on a massive scale — mass executions, widespread sexual violence, and looting. Civilians fled in terror, with nowhere to hide.

Rabe, serving as the head of Siemens’ operations in China, used his political connections to negotiate with the Japanese authorities. Leveraging Germany’s alliance with Japan, he and a group of Westerners established the Nanking Safety Zone — a small, neutral area where civilians could seek refuge. Using his Nazi Party badge as protection, Rabe personally patrolled the zone, chasing away soldiers who tried to enter and harm those inside.

At its peak, the Safety Zone sheltered over 200,000 people. Food was scarce, medicine was limited, and danger lurked beyond the boundaries, but Rabe’s presence and authority gave many the courage to survive. He even recorded the atrocities in meticulous detail, keeping diaries and photographs that would later become critical historical evidence of the massacre.

When Rabe returned to Germany in 1938, he tried to report the events directly to Hitler, pleading for intervention. Instead, the Gestapo briefly detained him and ordered him to stay silent. Despite this, his diaries survived and were published decades later, revealing the full scale of his humanitarian work.

John Rabe’s life remains a paradox — a Nazi Party member who saved lives instead of destroying them. His actions remind us that morality can sometimes come from the least expected places, and that in the face of overwhelming cruelty, even one person can make a difference

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