During the Nanking Massacre and the Japanese invasion of China, Nazis like John Rabe and Alexander von Falkenhausen saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
German war correspondent Walter Bosshard helps a wounded Chinese man into his car to take him to safety.Beijing, China. 1937.
Walter Bosshard/ullstein bild via Getty Images Japanese soldiers advance on a German-designed fortification.Nanking, China. 1938.
Bettmann/Getty Images A blood-stained baby, the only survivor of a Japanese bombing, cries in the rubble.Shanghai, China. 1938.
Wikimedia Commons John Rabe (center) outside of a Nanking Safety Zone building.Rabe, a member of the Nazi Party, was deeply troubled by the things he saw during the Nanking Massacre. With the help of other Europeans in China, he set up the Nanking Safety Zone, a place where he could protect Chinese citizens from the Japanese.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Wikimedia Commons Japanese soldiers, with gas masks covering their faces, prepare for a chemical weapons assault on Shanghai.Shanghai, China. 1937.
Wikimedia Commons The Nanking Massacre begins.Nanking, China. 1938.
Wikimedia Commons John Rabe (third from left) and the organizers of the Nanking Safety Zone: Ernest Forster, W. Plumer Mills, Lewis Smythe, and George Fitch.The Nanking Safety Zone saved an estimated 250,000 lives from one of the darkest massacres of World War II.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Wikimedia Commons A crowd starts to fill up Rabe's Nanking Safety Zone.John Rabe used his influence as a member of the Nazi Party to protect the people of Nanking. He opened the doors of the university, the foreign embassies, and even his own home as a shelter for Chinese citizens.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Yale University Library Japanese soldiers enter Nanking.Nanking, China. 1938.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images Dead bodies cover the ground in Nanking. By the end, perhaps more than 300,000 people would die.This photograph was taken by John Magee, an American missionary who helped sent up the Nanking Safety Zone and who risked his life to document what was happening around him.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Yale Divinity Library The Japanese Army approaches Nanking. Here, they will have to face German-trained soldiers led by Nazi officer Alexander Von Falkenhasen.Nanking, China. 1938.
Bundesarchiv The Nanking Safety Zone starts to fill up.As the massacre got worse, the Mayor of Nanking, Ma Chao-chun, ordered every person in the city to take refuge in John Rabe's Safety Zone.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Yale Divinity Library The Nazi flag hangs limply over the empty streets of Nanking.Rabe, looking out at the destitution of the city, wrote bitterly in his diary that, "The German national flag was still swaying on the ruins." To him, the Nazi flag should have been a symbol of protection and peace.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Yale Divinity Library German-trained, armed, and commanded Chinese soldiers form a gun nest to hold off the Japanese invasion.Shanghai, China. 1937.
Wikimedia Commons Chinese politician Kung Hsiang-hsi, a major figure in the Chinese Kuomintang government, poses for a picture with Adolf Hitler. Kung has travelled to Germany to enlist Hitler's aid in the war against Japan.Berlin, Germany 1936.
Wikimedia Commons The Hitler Youth unveil a new camp.Shanghai, China. Date unspecified.
Bundesarchiv The German-trained and commanded Chinese 88th Division stands at attention while Nazi officers make an inspection.Berlin, Germany. 1935.
Wikimedia Commons German-trained Chinese soldiers with German weapons at their sides prepare for a battle.Wuhan, China. 1938.
Wikimedia Commons Chiang Wei-kuo, son of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, in a Nazi uniform.Chiang Wei-kuo was trained in Germany alongside the German army.
Location unspecified. 1938.
Bundesarchiv Nazi Party members pose for a photo in front of their headquarters.Shanghai, China. Date unspecified.
Bundesarchiv Chinese Ambassador Chen-Chih listens to Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg speak about the "Jewish question."Berlin, Germany. 1939.
Bundesarchiv Nazi officers on the march.Shanghai, China. 1935.
Bundesarchiv Chinese soldiers follow drills from German officers.Unspecified location in China. Circa 1930s.
Bundesarchiv A member of the Hitler Youth blares his horn outside of a Chinese pagoda.Shanghai, China. 1935.
Bundesarchiv A Hitler Youth group on an excursion in China pose for a photograph.Shanghai, China. 1933.
Bundesarchiv Chian Wei-kuo, the son of Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek, poses with a Nazi officer.Germany. 1930-1938.
Wikimedia Commons Chinese soldiers who are being trained by German officers pose in Nazi uniforms.Location unspecified. Circa 1930-1939.
Wikimedia Commons Members of the Hitler Youth hoist up the Nazi flag.Tianjin, China. 1935.
Bundesarchiv Girls in the Hitler Youth look for eggs on Easter morning, while curious Chinese children look on.Wuxi, China. 1934.
Bundesarchiv Boys of the Hitler Youth go out for a jog.Shanghai, China. 1936.
Bundesarchiv Chinese soldiers practice a marching drill, carrying German rifles and helmets.Chengdu, China. 1944.
Wikimedia Commons Chinese soldiers practice German techniques, under the command of a German officer.China. 1931.
Bundesarchiv In a photograph published in a German newspaper, Chinese soldiers in Beijing prepare to fight the invading Japanese army.This photograph, taken before the Japanese-German alliance, praises the Chinese soldiers, saying, "General Chang Kai Shek's troop are ready!"
Beijing, China. 1931.
Bundesarchiv The German-Chinese 88th Division, a unit trained and equipped by Nazi officers.Shanghai, China. 1937.
Wikimedia Commons Japanese troops in Nanking.The caption for this photo, in a German paper, notably refers to Japan's invasion of China by the Chinese phrase, the "Japanese War of Aggression."
Nanking, China. 1938.
Bundesarchiv German General Alexander von Falkenhausen.When the Japanese invaded China, Falkenhausen and his officers ignored orders to return to Germany. He stayed behind in China to help organize their defense.
Berlin, Germany. 1940.
Bundesarchiv A farewell party for John Rabe.Rabe was preparing to return to Germany with photographs and videos of the Nanking Massacre. He intended to convince Hitler to rise up in defense of the Chinese and go to war against the Japanese aggressors.
Hitler, however, took the massacre as a laudable display of Japanese strength.
Nanking, China. 1938.
Yale Divinity Library In May, 1938, Germany officially threw its support behind the Japanese instead of the Chinese.Here, Nazi diplomats share a toast with Wang Jingwei, a head of state for the Japanese puppet government in China.
China. 1941.
Wikimedia Commons
The Little-Known Story Of John Rabe And The Nazis Who Defended China From The Japanese View GalleryIn one seldom-recounted moment in history, the Nazis were the heroes.
Before World War II broke out, the Nazi Party placed businessmen, diplomats, and military commanders in China. Nazi officers trained and equipped the Chinese military, invited Chinese citizens to travel to Berlin to join the German Army, and set up Hitler Youth camps around the country.
Things changed in 1937. That year, Japanese forces invaded China, storming through Shanghai and on to Nanking. They left in their path a trail of horrors, human experiments, and massacres, many of which were just as terrible as the worst moments of the Holocaust.
German commanders back home soon instructed their men in China to vacate out of respect for Germany's new alliance with Japan, but some of the Nazis refused to leave their adopted Chinese countrymen behind. They -- mainly two men, John Rabe and Alexander von Falkenhausen, whose efforts are outlined below -- stayed with them, waving Nazi flags and badges as symbols of protection, and risked their lives to save hundreds of thousands of others.
Alexander von Falkenhausen
Nazi General Alexander von Falkenhausen and a handful of his officers remained in China after the Japanese invasion and assisted the Chinese army. Falkenhausen served as a military advisor to Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, while his officers helped command the Chinese soldiers.
Included among them was the Chinese 88th Division – an elite, German-trained unit of soldiers who were the pride of the Chinese army. With Nazi weapons and Nazi commands, they fought some of the hardest battles of the war.
Eventually, the Nazi Party forced Falkenhausen to return to Germany by threatening to imprison his family for disloyalty. Falkhausen had no choice but to go home – but not before sitting down with Chiang Kai-shek one last time and setting up months of plans for operations against the Japanese.
John Rabe
With Falkenhausen gone, the Chinese still had at least one other German on their side: John Rabe, a German businessman and card-carrying member of the Nazi Party.
Rabe was there when the Nanking Massacre began. All around him, Japanese soldiers started slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent people, desecrating their bodies, raping at least 20,000 women, and holding contests to see who could kill the most.
With the help of other foreign expats in China, Rabe set up the Nanking Safety Zone, an area where the Japanese could not enter and where he invited every Chinese civilian in.
Rabe saved the lives of 250,000 Chinese civilians. He walked around outside, documenting the atrocities, pulling attackers off of women, and using his Nazi Party badge as his only defense.
In time, John Rabe went back to Germany, determined to show his pictures and films of the Nanking Massacre to Hitler and to convince him to ally with the Chinese. Hitler, however, took the Japanese atrocities as a sign of their strength. He stayed allies with the Japanese instead and soon started a war in Europe that would make the Nazi flag the most reviled symbol in the world.
For more lesser-known stories that may change how you see World War II, learn about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and discover the biggest World War II myths.
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