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Nanjing Safety Zone
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The '''Nanjing Safety Zone''' ({{zh-tsp|t=�京安全�|s=�京安全区|p=Nánjīng Anquán Qǖ}};
Japanese language Japanese: �京安全区 ''Nankin Anzenku'', �京安全地帯, ''Nankin Anzenchitai'') was a
DMZ demilitarised zone for Chinese civilians set up on the Eve of the Japanese breakthrough in the
Battle of Nanjing (
November 22,
1937). Following the example of
Jesuit Father
Robert Jacquinot de Besange in
Shanghai, the foreigners in
Nanjing created the Nanjing Safety Zone, managed by the ''Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee'' led by German businessman and Nazi party member
John Rabe.
Area
The Safety Zone bordered roads on all four sides and had an area of approximately 3.86
km², with 25 refugee camps centred around the US Embassy. This is approximately the same size as
Central Park in New York.
The City of
Nanjing affirmed the existence of the Safety zone, sent cash and food, and staffed security personnel in the zone. The Japanese army did not recognise its existence, but promised that as long as it remained demilitarised the Japanese army would not invade the area.
History
The Japanese Army claimed that there were guerrilla soldiers in the Safety Zone and blamed it on
John Rabe allowing anyone not wearing uniforms to enter. Citing this reason, Japanese soldiers forcibly entered the Zone.
The Japanese soldiers committed atrocities in the Safety Zone that were part of the much larger
Nanjing Massacre. The International Committee appealed a number of times to the Japanese army, with John Rabe using his credentials as a
NSDAP member, but to no avail. From time to time the Japanese would enter the Safety Zone at will, carry off a few hundred men and women, and either summarily execute them or rape and then kill them.
In late January
1938, the Japanese army forced all refugees in the Safety Zone to return home, and claimed to have "restored order". On
February 18 1938, the Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee was forcibly renamed "''Nanjing International Rescue Committee''", and the Safety Zone effectively ceased to function. The last refugee camps were closed in May
1938.
After the months-long Nanjing Massacre, John Rabe and his International Committee were credited with saving 50,000 - 250,000 lives despite the ongoing massacre.
However, certain right-wing and nationalist Japanese authors and politicians claim that as a part of the Nanjing Massacre, the Safety Zone never existed. More more information on this claim, see ''
Nanjing Massacre''.
See also
*
Nanjing Massacre
*
John Rabe
*
Minnie Vautrin
Sources
* Rabe, John,
The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe, Vintage (Paper), 2000. ISBN 0375701974
* Vautrin, Wilhemina,
Minnie Vautrin Papers. Special Collection, Yale Divinity School Library, Record Group No. 8 and No. 11.
* Kajimoto, Masato,
Online Documentary - the Nanking Atrocities, 2000.
Further reading
* Timothy, Brooks, ed. ''Documents on the Rape of Nanking'', The University of Michigan Press, 2002. (includes a reprint of "Hsu, Shuhsi, ''Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone'', Kelly and Walsh, 1939".)
*Zhang, Kaiyuan, ed. ''Eyewitnesses to Massacre'', An East Gate Book, 2001. (includes documentation of American missionaries; M.S.Bates, G.A.Fitch, E.H.Foster, J.G.Magee, J.H.MaCallum, W.P.Mills, L.S.C.Smyth, A.N.Steward, Minnie Vautrin and R.O.Wilson.)
Category:1937
Category:Second Sino-Japanese War
Category:Nanjing
zh:�京安全区
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