Chapter 10 December 37 Diary 3

At 8:45 am, I received a letter from Mr. Kikuchi, an unassuming Japanese translator.In his letter, he informed us that Chinese soldiers would be searched in the safe area from 9:00 am. The indiscriminate bombing and continuous shelling we have been through some time ago is nothing compared to the terrible times we are now living through.There is not a single store outside the security zone that has not been looted.Now looting, rape, murder and massacres are also beginning to occur in the safe zone.Houses in the safe zone, flagged or not, were broken into or looted.The following letter to Mr. Fukuda generally describes the current situation in the safe zone. The 15 incidents mentioned in the letter are just a few of the many incidents we know about.

Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee, No. 5, Ninghai Road, Nanjing, December 16, 1937, to Mr. Fukuda Tokuyasu, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy in Nanjing Dear Mr. Fukuda: During the meeting at the Bank of Communications yesterday, we have emphasized to Mr. Shao Zuo that it is necessary to find ways to restore normal life in the city as soon as possible. The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the safe zone yesterday aggravated the panic among the refugees. Many refugees did not even dare to leave the house where they were staying to go to the nearby porridge factory to receive their daily ration of rice. Therefore, we are now faced with the task of delivering rice to the shelter. , This greatly increases the difficulty of our work in providing food to the public, and we can't even find enough foot strength to load rice and coal to the porridge factory.As a result, thousands of refugees were left without food this morning.In order to allow Chinese civilians to get food, several foreign members of the international committee tried their best to avoid the Japanese patrol this morning and drove the truck to a safe area.Yesterday, the private cars of several members of our committee were towed away by Japanese soldiers.

Enclosed is the various atrocities committed by the Japanese army in the safe zone. Without an end to the present state of panic, it will be impossible to carry on any normal activity, for example, to find labor to repair telephone exchanges, water works, power plants, and businesses of all kinds, or even to clean the streets. In order to clarify and improve the situation, the International Committee has the liberty to suggest to the Japanese Imperial Army that the following preventive measures should be taken immediately: 1. All home search activities are commanded by noble officers and led by formally organized small teams (most of the troublemakers are wandering soldiers, they are in groups of 3 to 7, and there are no officers leading the team).

2. At night, preferably also during the day, arrange Japanese sentry posts at all passages in the safe zone (we have already made this suggestion to Mr. Major of your army yesterday) to prevent Japanese soldiers wandering around from entering the safe zone. 3. Immediately issue car permits and stick them on the windshields of our cars to prevent our trucks and private cars from being detained by Japanese soldiers (Even during the most difficult period of the city defense war, the Chinese command still provided us with permits, although before Vehicles have been impounded, but after submitting the complaint, all vehicles were returned to their original owners within 24 hours. In addition, the Chinese army was in a very difficult situation at that time, but they still provided us with 3 trucks to deliver grain and rice to the civilians Compared with this, the Japanese imperial army has better equipment, and has already controlled the whole city, and all the fighting in the city has stopped. Therefore, we firmly believe that under the current situation that Chinese civilians need the care and protection of the Japanese army, The Japanese army will show a higher posture).

The Supreme Commander of the Japanese Army arrived in Nanjing yesterday. We thought that order and tranquility in the city would be restored by this. Therefore, we did not file any charges yesterday.But the situation last night was worse than the day before, so we decided to point out to the Japanese Imperial Army that this situation cannot continue.We believe that the supreme commander of the Japanese army will not approve of the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers. Sincerely respect Signed: John Rabe chairman Signed: Lewis SC Smythe secretary Atrocities by Japanese Soldiers in the Nanjing Safety Zone

December 16, 1937 (Of all the reports given to us, to name just a few, have been carefully verified incidents.) (1) On December 15, six street sweepers from the second district of the Sanitation Committee of the Safety Zone were killed by Japanese soldiers who broke into their residence in Drum Tower, and another sweeper was seriously injured by a bayonet. The Japanese soldiers did not For any apparent reason!As mentioned above, these individuals are employees of our security zone. (2) At 4:00 p.m. on December 15, a truck carrying rice was snatched by Japanese soldiers near the gate of Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences.

(3) On the night of December 14, all residents in the second area of ​​the safety zone were driven out of the house and then ransacked.The mayor of the second district himself was robbed twice by the Japanese. (4) On the night of December 15, seven Japanese soldiers broke into the library building of Jinling University and dragged away seven Chinese women, three of whom were raped on the spot. (5) On the night of December 14, many people told us that Japanese soldiers broke into the houses of Chinese residents, raped or forcibly dragged away women.This creates panic in the safe zone.Hundreds of women moved into several buildings at Jinling Women's Liberal Arts College yesterday, and 3 American gentlemen from our committee were at the college all night last night, protecting the 3,000 women and children there.

(6) On December 14, 30 Japanese soldiers, apparently without officers, searched the university hospital and the dormitories of the female nurses, and the staff of the hospital were systematically robbed.The stolen items include: 6 fountain pens, 180 yuan in cash, 4 watches, 2 rolls of hospital bandages, 2 flashlights, 2 pairs of gloves and 1 sweater. (7) Yesterday, that is, December 15, there were reports from various sources, whether it was shelters, public places, or university buildings, that Japanese soldiers forcibly broke into various places and robbed Chinese refugees many times. (8) On December 15, the US embassy was broken into and stolen, and several small items were lost.

(9) On December 15, Japanese soldiers climbed over the back wall of Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences, broke through a door, and broke into the College's Department of Medicine.Since the department had moved all movable items on December 13, nothing was stolen. (10) At noon on December 14, Japanese soldiers broke into a house in Jiayin Lane, forcibly dragged away 4 girls, raped them, and released them 2 hours later. (11) Our rice shop on Ninghai Road was searched by Japanese soldiers on the afternoon of December 15th. They bought 3 bags of rice (3.75 dan) and only paid 5 yuan.The prevailing price in the rice market was 9 yuan per load, so the Japanese army owed the International Committee 28.75 yuan in total.

(12) On the night of December 14, 11 Japanese soldiers broke into another house in Gangyin Lane and raped 4 Chinese women. (13) On December 14, Japanese soldiers broke into the residence of the American female missionary Miss Grace Ball, snatched a pair of leather gloves, drank all the milk on the table, and then emptied the sugar bowl with their hands . (14) On December 15, Japanese soldiers broke into the garage of American doctor RF Brady (No. 1 Shuanglong Lane), broke a window pane of the Ford car, and then brought a mechanic to try to start the car. (15) On December 15, Japanese soldiers broke into the house of a Chinese resident on Hankou Road, raped a young woman, and forcibly dragged away three women.The husbands of two of the women chased after the Japanese soldiers, and the two men were shot dead by the Japanese soldiers.

As previously stated, the above incidents have been verified by foreign members of our committee. Signed: Lewis SC Smythe secretary Almost all the houses of the German advisers were also robbed by Japanese soldiers.No one dares to leave the house anymore!In order to allow cars to enter and exit, sometimes the courtyard door has to be opened. At this time, women and children outside will pour in, kneel on the ground and kowtow, begging us to allow them to sleep in my yard (I have taken in more than 100 extremely poor refugees).The tragic situation in front of me is hard for ordinary people to imagine. Kikuchi and I drove to Shimonoseki to check out the power plant and a few remaining rice reserves.The power plant appears to be intact on the outside, and if the workers put their trust in the Japanese protection, it is estimated that the power plant can be restored within a few days.I'd be happy to help with this.But because of the incredible brutality of the Japanese soldiers, it was extremely unlikely that the necessary 40-45 workers could be brought together.Under the circumstances, I was also unwilling to take the risk of transferring a German engineer from Shanghai through the Japanese authorities. I just heard that hundreds more disarmed Chinese soldiers were dragged out of the safe zone and shot.Among them, 50 policemen in the security zone were also executed according to military law. It is said that they put Chinese soldiers in.The Zhongshan North Road leading to Xiaguan is littered with corpses and abandoned weapons and equipment.The Chinese set fire to the Ministry of Communications.Zhaojiangmen was battered by artillery fire, and there were piles of corpses everywhere in front of the city gate.The Japanese are unwilling to do the cleanup, and they also forbid the Red Swastika Society to which our organization belongs to clean up.We figured it might be to force the disarmed Chinese soldiers to clean up before shooting them.We Europeans were simply stunned!Execution sites are everywhere, and some people were shot dead by machine guns in front of the simple shed opposite the Military and Political Department. Consul General Katsuo Okazaki, who visited this evening, explained that although some soldiers were shot, the rest would be placed in concentration camps on an island in the middle of the Yangtze River. Our former janitor was also wounded by bullets and is now lying in Gulou Hospital.He was forced to do hard labor, and after the work he was given a certificate. On the way home, he was inexplicably shot twice in the back.The original document issued to him by the German embassy is now placed in front of my eyes, soaked in blood. As I write this, the sound of Japanese soldiers banging on the door sounded in the backyard.Seeing that the servant did not open the door, a few Japanese soldiers poked their heads around the courtyard wall, and when they saw me walking past with a flashlight on, they ran away immediately.We opened the gate and followed them for a distance until they disappeared into a dark alley whose sewers had been filled with dead bodies for three days.Seeing this situation, people couldn't help shaking with nausea.In the yard, many women and children leaned on each other silently with panicked eyes, half to keep each other warm, and half to embolden each other.The hope of all of them is that I, a "foreign devil", can drive away the evil spirits! ! The aforementioned Japanese Consul General Katsuo Okazaki also reminded us during his visit today that although the Japanese did not recognize our committee, we would be treated as if they had.We then handed over our letter to the Japanese embassy to Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui who was in charge of our negotiations at the Japanese embassy.The full text is as follows: Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee No. 5 Ninghai Road, Nanjing December 17, 1937 To Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui, Second Secretary, Imperial Japanese Embassy Nanjing Dear Sirs: Consul General Katsuo Okazaki pointed out yesterday afternoon that from a legal point of view, the existence of the International Committee is groundless.We deem it necessary to make some clarifications on this issue. We never considered seeking some kind of power to cooperate politically with the Japanese authorities.What we want to point out here is that on December 1, 1937, Mayor Ma of the Nanjing Municipal Government entrusted us with almost all management functions of the city during the special period, including management of police affairs, supervision of public institutions, fire protection, management and Power over housing, food supply, urban sanitation, etc. On the morning of Monday, December 13, 1937, when your army entered the city victoriously, the management of the city was in our hands, and we were the only institution still in operation.Of course, the full powers we have won cannot extend beyond the boundaries of the safe zone, and we have no right to sovereignty in the safe zone. The Japanese authorities in Shanghai have assured us that as long as there are no troops or military installations in the safe zone, your army will not intentionally attack the safe zone.Since we are the only city management agency, after your army entered the city, we immediately tried to get in touch with the vanguard. On the afternoon of December 13th, we met a captain of your army on Hanzhong Road, who was leading his troops into the reserve position.We gave him the necessary explanations, marked the boundaries of the safe zone on his map, and respectfully pointed out to him the locations of three Red Cross hospitals and informed him of the disarmed Chinese soldiers.The cooperation and calm he displayed at that time strengthened our belief that we had the full understanding of your army. That evening and the next morning we drafted the letter of December 14 and had it translated into Japanese.We, Mr. Rabe, Dr. Smythe, and Reverend Foster, have been busy looking for senior officers of your army in order to forward this letter to the Japanese authorities.On this point, Mr. Fukuda, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy can attest.We have contacted a total of 5 officers of your army, but they all pointed out that we have to wait until the Supreme Commander arrives the next day to contact him. The next day, December 15th, Mr. Fukuda Tokuyasu and Mr. Sekiguchi from the Imperial Japanese Embassy visited, and Sekiguchi handed us a greeting card from the captain of the "Seta" and the fleet officer.We delivered the letter of December 14 to Mr. Fukuda and assured Mr. Sekiguchi of our willingness to help restore power to the power plant. At noon on the same day, we had the honor to have a meeting with the special chief (chief of staff and secret service) at the Bank of Communications.He gave an oral formal reply to our letter of December 14.He told us that Japanese sentry posts will be placed at the entrance of the safe zone. Civilian policemen can perform patrol duties in the safe zone, but they can only be equipped with batons. The grain and rice reserves designated by the original city management authority to the committee were transported into the safe area, and the telephone facilities, water plants, and power plants were repaired as soon as possible. With regard to point 4 of the letter of December 14, only the following reply was made, that is, the refugees should return to their original place of residence as soon as possible. With this reply, we encourage our police officers to continue their work, assuring the residents that, with the necessary explanations to your officers, they will be well treated.We also started the transportation of grain and rice. But precisely from this time our trucks were impounded on the street as long as they were not accompanied by Europeans.Since Tuesday morning, the Red Swastika Society under our leadership began to send vehicles to collect the dead bodies in the safe area, but their vehicles were either forcibly towed away or attempted to be detained. Yesterday even 14 workers from the organization were towed away .Our police officers were hindered in their policing, 50 police officers were arrested yesterday at the Ministry of Justice.According to the officers present, they were to be taken away and shot.Another 45 "volunteer policemen" from our side were also taken away yesterday afternoon (these "volunteer policemen" were organized by the committee on the afternoon of December 13th, because judging from the situation at that time, the "dressed policemen" in the safe area Although they have to be on duty day and night, it is still impossible for them to complete the routine work in the security zone. These "volunteer police" neither wear clothes nor have any weapons. They only wear armbands and are nothing more than Boy Scouts in Europe, they temporarily undertake some small service jobs, such as helping to maintain public order, doing some cleaning work, helping out in first aid, etc.). On December 14, our 4 fire trucks were confiscated by your army for transportation. We strive to let the Japanese embassy and your army understand the fact that people have entrusted us with the management functions of the city for the benefit of the common people in Nanjing.Once the Japanese authorities establish a new city management agency, or other organizational structures, we will hand over our city management functions.But it is very unfortunate that your soldiers obstructed our work for the benefit of the common people and to maintain order in the safe zone.This has had the effect of undermining the systems we have established to maintain order and, from the morning of December 14, disrupting our essential official activities.Specifically, on December 13th, when your army entered the city, we concentrated almost all the civilians in the city in the safe zone. The safe zone suffered only slight damage from shelling. No looting was done in the safe zone.It can be said that we have peacefully taken over the entire security zone for you, and have made all the preparations for normal life to continue undisturbed until order is restored in other areas of the city.Once order is restored, normal traffic can resume across the city.But on December 14th, terrorist activities such as robbery, rape and massacre by soldiers of your army overwhelmed the sky and overwhelmingly, and the 27 Europeans who remained were as shocked as the Chinese residents. On the one hand, we protest this, and on the other hand, we ask you to first restore order in the army, only in this way can the city return to normal life.We are willing to make our best contribution to the cooperation. Between 8pm and 9pm last night, 5 members of our committee patrolled the safe zone.During the inspection, no Japanese patrol post was seen, either in the safe zone or in the border area of ​​the safe zone.Under the threat of your army, and the Chinese police were dragged away and executed, our own police have disappeared without a trace on the streets.We only saw two or three groups of your soldiers wandering around in the streets of the safe zone.While I was writing this report, news came from all directions in the safe zone that these wandering and lawless soldiers of your army are raping, looting and ravaging wantonly. This shows that your army has not considered the request made in point 2 of our letter yesterday (December 16), that is, to set up guard posts at the entrance of the safe zone to prevent wandering soldiers from entering the safe zone. As a first step towards restoring order in the safe zone, we propose the following: 1. The Japanese Imperial Army established the Gendarmerie, which patrols the safe area day and night. The Gendarmerie has the right to arrest soldiers who steal, rob, rape or rape women. 2. The Japanese authorities received the 450 policemen handed over to us by the former Nanjing municipal government in China to maintain the order of the Chinese civilians (the order of the people has always been good). 3. In view of the fact that the fires in various places in the city had formed fires yesterday (fortunately, they were not in the safe area), we suggest that the fire brigade be re-established under the leadership of your army and provide 4 fire trucks. 4. In addition, we also take the liberty to suggest to you that before a new government is established, an urban management expert should be dispatched to Nanjing as soon as possible to bring ordinary people’s lives back on track (only the police, firefighters and 3 Assistant. Your army has taken over all the land and buildings of the city, as well as the poorer population of the residents. Most of the educated, knowledgeable and professional residents have fled west of the city). We hereby reiterate that we have no intention of continuing to perform the semi-administrative functions entrusted to us by the former Nanjing Municipal Government.We expect you to take on this role as soon as possible so that we can operate as a purely relief organization. If the devastation and destruction of the past 3 days are not stopped, the difficulty of relief efforts will surely increase exponentially.Our principle of organizing safe zones is to encourage each family to agree on accommodation in the safe zone through individual means as much as possible, so as to reduce the burden on our organization in emergencies.If the current situation is not improved, most residents will starve in a few days.The food and heating materials stocked by each family have been in short supply. The money, clothing and personal property of the Chinese people have been robbed by soldiers of the noble army wandering around. People are afraid of going to the streets and reopening shops for business. Therefore, normal business and Other activities can only be carried out on a small scale.Our supply has also come to a standstill, and from the morning of December 14, truck traffic has been almost paralyzed.Before your army entered the city, our energies were mainly focused on delivering food reserves to the safe zone.We are planning to distribute the food at a later time, because we have asked the residents to bring a food stock that can last for a week.In order to prevent food shortages in some shelters, the European members of our committee had to use their own private cars to deliver food to the shelters after nightfall. If the normal food supply cannot be restored as soon as possible, the residents will suffer from hunger.Another factor tormenting Chinese residents is the endless harassment by your army.Families have told us their homes were broken into, robbed and their women raped as many as five times in one night.Is it any wonder that they fled the house the next morning, and settled in some place where they hoped to be safe? Yesterday afternoon, three officers from your army headquarters came to our office to negotiate, requesting assistance in restoring telephone communication. At the same time, a group of telephone workers were kicked out of their residences in the safe zone. They all wore committee armband, we don't know where they fled.If this type of terror is allowed to continue, we will not be able to provide the workers necessary to help organizations vital to people's livelihoods get back to work. If the order of your soldiers in the city cannot be restored immediately, then we cannot guarantee that none of the 200,000 Chinese civilians will starve to death. We promise once again that we are ready to cooperate with you at any time for the benefit of the common people in the city. Sincerely respect Signed: John Rabe chairman Attachment: (Notice in Chinese) Also: The report on the atrocities committed by your soldiers in the safe zone since noon yesterday will be delivered in the near future. Two Japanese soldiers climbed over the courtyard wall and were about to break into my house. When they saw me, they made excuses for their intrusion, saying that they saw Chinese soldiers climbing over the courtyard wall.I showed them my party emblem, and they backed off the same way.In a house in an alley behind my courtyard wall, a woman was raped and then stabbed in the neck with a bayonet.I managed to get an ambulance and took her to Gulou Hospital.There are about 200 refugees in my yard, and they respect us Europeans like gods.Whenever we walked past them, they fell to their knees, and we were so miserable that we didn't know what to do.An American said: "The safe zone has become a brothel for the Japanese." This statement can almost be said to be true.About 1,000 girls and women were raped last night, and more than 100 girls were raped in Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences alone.All the news I heard at this time was rape.If the brothers or husbands intervened, they were shot by the Japanese.What I heard and saw were all the cruel atrocities and bestialities of the Japanese soldiers. Mr. Hartz, our Austrian car expert, had a dispute with a Japanese soldier. The Japanese drew his bayonet, but at the same time he was hit by a precise uppercut by Hartz and fell to the ground. Tooth's accomplices took him and hurried away.Let us hope that this victory does not bring us any evil.Japanese Consul General Katsuo Okazaki yesterday asked the refugees to leave the safe zone as soon as possible, return to their residences, and reopen shops if there are any.In fact, the Japanese soldiers had opened the doors for the shopkeepers, and there was hardly a shop in the city that had not been broken into and looted by the Japanese.The German ambassador Dr. Trautmann's house in Sajia Bay was miraculously spared, with a no-entry notice written in Japanese on his door.There is also such a notice on my courtyard gate, but despite this, people continue to patronize.Kroeger accompanied me to Trautman's residence. On the way back, he found his car behind my house. The car was killed by Japanese soldiers when he and several Japanese officers were in the hotel yesterday. drove away.Kroeger stood stubbornly in front of his car, and then the three Japanese soldiers in the car said "friend, let's go" and returned the car to him.It was the same Japanese soldiers who came to my yard in the afternoon and drove away Lorenz's car while I was away.I told Han that if he couldn't get rid of the guest, he would have to get our guest to leave a note anyway.This time he did get a piece of paper, which read as follows: "Thank you for your gift! Japanese Imperial Army, K. Sato" Now Lorenz must be "happy". At the foot of a hill dug in an air-raid shelter opposite the Military and Political Department lay the bodies of 30 Chinese soldiers who had been shot under the state of emergency law.The Japanese are now starting to clean up the city, from Shanxi Road Square to the Military and Political Department have been cleaned up.The body was thrown hastily into the ditch. At 6pm, I brought 60 straw mats to the refugees in my yard and they were overjoyed.Four more Japanese soldiers climbed over the courtyard wall, and I immediately blocked three of them and drove them back.The remaining Japanese passed through the rows of refugees and came to the big iron gate. I caught him at the gate and politely sent him out.These guys run away as soon as they get outside the door, they don't want to deal with a German.Most of the time, I just have to shout "Deutschland" and "Hitler" and they'll be polite, whereas Americans have a pretty hard time getting the Japanese to admit it.The protest letter we submitted to the Japanese embassy today seems to have left a lasting impression on Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui, the second secretary of the embassy.At any rate he had at least begun to pledge that the letter would be forwarded immediately to the highest command of the Army.While Dr. Smythe and I were talking to Mr. Fukui at the Japanese embassy, ​​Riggs told us to go back to headquarters, saying that Mr. Fukuda was waiting for us there.We talked about fixing the power plant.At the request of the Japanese, I sent a telegram to Shanghai as follows: Siemens Co., Ltd. (China), Shanghai, No. 244 Nanjing Road The Japanese authorities requested that a German engineer be responsible for the restoration of the power plant here.Equipment at the power plant appears to have suffered no damage from the fighting.Please reply us through the Japanese authorities. rabe The Japanese have realized that although they don't want to recognize us, they can still get things done if they cooperate with us.Along with my greetings to the Supreme Commander, I also asked someone to tell me that I am tired of the position of "Mayor" and would very much like to step down. We had hoped that order would be restored with the arrival of the Supreme Commander, but unfortunately our wish has not been fulfilled.On the contrary, today's situation is worse than yesterday's.Today, early in the morning, I started to drive away the Japanese soldiers who climbed over the wall.One of the Japanese soldiers drew out his bayonet and came at me at first, but when he realized that it was a German standing opposite him, he quickly put his bayonet back.As long as I'm home in person, things are fine.These guys have some respect for Europeans to this day, but not for Chinese.When I was at the headquarters, I was constantly being told to go to a neighboring house that had been robbed by the Japanese.From a house that had been ransacked, I drove two Japanese.While I was discussing restoring power to the power plant with a Japanese officer, one of our cars parked in front of the gate was snatched.We had a hard time getting the car back, and the soldiers hardly bought into their officers.A Chinese staggered into the room and told us that his brother had been shot by the Japanese because he refused to give a pack of cigarettes to the Japanese soldiers who broke into his house.Under my complaint, the Japanese military officer who discussed the power plant issue with me issued me a residence security certificate written in Japanese.We drove home and were about to tap the security badge on the door right away. When we returned to Xiaotaoyuan, a soldier was about to break into my house, but was driven away by the Japanese officer.Meanwhile, one of my Chinese neighbors came to tell me that 4 Japanese soldiers had broken into his home and one of them was trying to insult his wife.I and the Japanese officer immediately rushed into the neighbor's house and avoided the tragedy.The Japanese officer slapped the soldier left and right before allowing him to leave.As we were about to leave, Han came over and told me that he had been robbed by a Japanese soldier who broke into my house while I was away.I couldn't take it anymore, so I got out of the car and let the Japanese officer drive away by himself.With all the incidents that have happened, I've had a hard time physically and emotionally.The Japanese major didn't admit all this at first, but now he apologized to me.And he was very candid in declaring to me that today, having witnessed these things first-hand, he believes we are not exaggerating, saying that he will do his best to end the current situation immediately.Dr. Smythe and I came to the Japanese embassy again and declared to Okazaki and Tanaka that I regarded the invasion of my house by Japanese soldiers as an injury to the German flag, and that I would never tolerate such aberrations happening again.On behalf of the committee, we demand the immediate withdrawal of Japanese soldiers from the safe zone.But got no reply! Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee Ninghai Road, Nanjing, December 18, 1937 to Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui, Second Secretary, Imperial Japanese Embassy Nanjing Dear Mr. Fukui: We regret that we have to interrupt you again.We are very concerned about the sufferings and sufferings of the 200,000 civilians. Therefore, we request the Japanese military authorities to intervene immediately and forcefully to stop the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers wandering around in the safe zone. Reports of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army have been sent in from all parties. At present, we have neither the time nor the venue to record these atrocities one by one. Yesterday, 1,000 women fled to Jinling University because they were raped or their homes were robbed.Last night Dr. Bates returned to his dormitory at Nanning University, where he intended to spend the night protecting the women, but he saw no gendarme post, either in his own sleeping quarters or in the University library. At 8 o'clock in the evening, three gentlemen, Fitch, Dr. Smythe and Mills, came to Jinling Women's Liberal Arts College, and planned to put up beds in a room next to the gate (in order to protect the 3,000 women and children here, since December Since the 14th, some of us have been staying overnight like this. People have fled here because of fear, and the number of people here has increased to 4,000 yesterday), they were roughly detained by the Japanese search team and detained for 1 more than an hour.The officers of the squad ordered the two female directors of Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Miss Minnie Watling and Ms. Chen, and their girlfriend, Mrs. Twinem, to go out of the gate. Japanese soldiers pushed and rubbed them in the cold.The Japanese military officer insisted that there were Chinese soldiers in the school and they must be searched out and executed.In the end, he let Fitch and the other three go home, but at the same time he didn't allow Mills to stay, so we have no way of knowing how things developed afterwards. In summary, and in combination with the December 16 DOJ arrests (even according to optimistic reports, at least several hundred Stopping measures, the lives of all civilians in the safe zone will be threatened, because the emotions of the search team officers directly determine their lives and deaths. The men are left more and more alone as thousands of women flock to our American schools for protection in excruciating fear. (For example: as of December 15th, the original language school in Xiaotaoyuan had a total of 600 people. After multiple rape incidents occurred on the night of December 15th, 400 women and children fled to Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences. As a result, the place Only 200 men remained.) These public school buildings were originally planned to house 35,000 people, but because of the fear of the women, the number was increased to 50,000.And that doesn't include all the men pulled from two places, the Justice Department and the Supreme Court. If the current horror continues, not only will the housing we can provide become a problem, but it will also become increasingly difficult to supply food and recruit workers.Your representative, Mr. Kikuchi, came to our office this morning to learn about the situation of the workers in the power plant.We had to tell him that even our own workers were afraid to go out and work.The European members of our committee had to work as truck drivers themselves, delivering food and coal to various shelters.Members of the food committee have been afraid to leave their homes for the past two days.Last night, Japanese soldiers raped two women of a gentleman from the housing committee at his home (No. 23 Hankou Road), and the Japanese soldiers forced him to stand beside him.Mr. Thorn (professor of theology), deputy director of the food committee (foreigners), protects the 2,500 Chinese who are housed in Jinling Theological Seminary, but he has to drive his own truck to transport the food.As long as he goes out, the Chinese will have no one to protect them.As a result, yesterday, and in broad daylight, in broad daylight, Japanese soldiers raped several women in a seminary hall full of refugees (women, children and men).It is impossible for us foreigners to feed 200,000 Chinese civilians and protect them day and night.This is the task of the Japanese authorities.If you can provide them with the necessary protection, we can provide food support! When Japanese military officers carried out search missions in the safe zone, they always had a basic idea that influenced their emotions, that is, they believed that the safe zone was full of Chinese soldiers in civilian clothes.We have explained to you that there were Chinese soldiers in the safe zone. They laid down their weapons on the afternoon of December 13 and then entered the safe zone to seek protection.但是今天我们可以向贵方保证，安全区内已经没有解除武装的中国士兵了，贵方的搜家小分队已经将他们全部清理了出去，遗憾的是同时遭到清理的还有许多中国平民。 考虑到各方的有关利益，我们向贵方提出以下经过深思熟虑的建议： 一、约束士兵 1.我们重申昨天的请求，派出宪兵部队，昼夜在安全区巡逻。 2.在12月16日的信函中，我们请求贵方在安全区的各通道口设置岗哨，阻止四处游荡的日本士兵进入安全区，岗哨至今未设。不过我们仍然希望，日军能想方设法，阻止士兵抢劫、强奸和屠杀中国平民。建议命令士兵夜间不得出营。 3.我们请求贵方，在贵军恢复安宁和秩序之前，在18个较大的收容所的入口处设置岗哨。必须严格命令岗哨，全面履行职责，禁止士兵爬墙进入收容所（随函附上收容所清单）。 4.此外我们再次请求，在各收容所张贴日语布告，便于日军士兵了解收容所的性质，禁止进入收容所骚扰可怜的难民。 二、搜家 1.日本搜家小分队的军官们显然并不了解收容所的性质和作用，因此建议贵军派一名高级军官在收容所所长的陪同下，逐一参观全部18个收容所，在白天视察了解收容所的内部情况。 2.我们十分清楚，目前在安全区已经没有解除武装的中国士兵，也不存在任何狙击手。但是日军现在仍然不断地搜查收容所和私人住宅，而且这种搜查一直伴有抢劫和强奸。所以我们认为，日军原来打算阻止中国士兵躲藏在安全区的计划，可以根据我们的请求，由宪兵巡逻队来执行。 3.我们之所以冒昧地提出以上意见，是因为我们坚信，只要平民百姓过上两三天太平的日子，他们就能在安全区内开始正常的生活，食品和取暖物资可以得到运输，商家店铺可以重新开张营业，工人们也敢出去找活，他们可以帮助恢复对民生至关重要的企业，如发电厂、自来水厂和电话局等。 三、被抓走的我方警察 我们昨天向贵方指出，贵军从司法部抓走了50名着装的警察和45名“志愿警察”。在此我们还要指出，我方又有40名派驻在最高法院建筑物内的着装警察被抓走。一名日军军官对他们提出的指控是，说他们在搜查之后又将中国士兵放进了司法部建筑物，因此必须枪毙他们。 所附的“司法部事件备忘录”说明得很清楚，对那些被日军士兵驱赶离家的中国平民（男女皆有），由委员会的外国委员负责将其中的一部分安置在司法部的建筑物里。 此外我们昨天还请求，将原中国政府分配给我们安全区的450名着装警察交给即将组建的由日本领导的警察部队。同时我们还希望，前面提到的90名着装警察也能编入这支警察部队。关于那45名“志愿警察”，希望能将他们送回我们总部，或者通告我方，已将他们安置在何处工作。对这450名分配给我们安全区的着装警察，我们列有一个花名册。如需要，该名册可提供给贵方。 我们希望，贵方能友好地采纳我们的建议。同时我们向贵方保证，为了南京平民百姓的利益，我们随时愿意和贵方进行合作。 Sincerely respect 签名：约翰HD拉贝 chairman appendix: 1.司法部事件备忘录。 2.安全区难民收容所清单。 司法部事件备忘录 1937年12月16日早晨，一名日军军官带领一队日本士兵来到司法部，命令带走大部分中国人，对他们执行枪决。根据这名军官走前的说法，他来此的目的就是抓人枪毙。在殴打了一名上尉警官后，他命令抓走全部警察。估计有50名警察被抓走，因为当时派驻在司法部的共有50名警察。 两天前，即12月14日，已经来过一名日军军官，对安置在这里的半数难民进行了巡视，挑出200名～300名中国人，断言他们是士兵，并下令抓走。剩下的350名中国人被他认定是平民百姓。这次对这一半中国难民的检查进行得非常仔细。当天这名日军军官没有检查的另一半难民被单独安置在建筑物的一个专门的地方。该军官保证，第二天，也就是12月15日，来对这批人进行甄别，将这批人中他认为还夹杂在里面的中国士兵找出来，进行分离。但是12月15日没有人露面。12月16日，这名军官来到这里宣布，在对第二批半数难民进行检查后，他又找出了一些中国士兵，这表明我们和中国警察在12月14日的检查后私自将这些中国士兵放了进来，因为根据第一次的检查结果，这批人中已经没有中国士兵了。其实我们放进去的人都是被日本士兵从家中驱赶出来的平民百姓，他们已经无家可归，于是大学医院的麦卡勒姆先生和委员会的贝茨博士才把他们带到了司法部来。12月16日经过对第二批半数难民的检查，的确发现了中国士兵，这是事实，但是这并不是因为委员会在检查后又私自放进了中国士兵，而是因为原定在12月15日由日军士兵对这批难民的检查根本没有进行。 金陵大学医院的詹姆斯·麦卡勒姆先生和住房委员会副主任查尔斯·里格斯先生在12月16日早晨目睹了事件的全过程。在事件的过程中，里格斯先生一再想把事情解释清楚，避免中国平民被当作士兵抓走，结果3次遭到这名军官用军刀威胁，他还用拳头重击里格斯的胸部。 签名：刘易斯SC斯迈思 南京安全区国际委员会秘书 南京安全区难民收容所1937年12月17日现状 建筑物名称难民数量类别 1.原交通部l万或l万以上家庭 2.五台山小学1640家庭 3.汉口路小学1000家庭 4.陆军学校3500家庭 5.小桃园南京语言学校200男 6.军事化学品仓库（华侨招待所后面）4000家庭 7.大学附中6000～8000家庭 8.圣经师资培训学校3000家庭 9.华侨招待所2500家庭 10.金陵神学院2500家庭 11.司法部空置 12.最高法院空置 13.金陵大学蚕厂4000家庭 14.金陵大学图书馆2500家庭 15.德国俱乐部（DOS协会）500家庭 16.金陵女子文理学院4000妇女、儿童 17.法学院500家庭 18.农科作物系1500家庭 19.山西路小学1000家庭 20.金陵大学（宿舍）1000妇女、儿童 总数约4.934万人～5.134万人 晚上6时，几个日本士兵爬过院墙的时候，我正好回到家撞见了他们。其中的一个人已经脱下了军装，解下了皮带，正企图强奸难民中的一个姑娘。我走上前去，命令他从爬进来的地方再爬出去。另外一个家伙看见我的时候，正好骑在墙上，我只是轻轻地一推就把他推了下去。晚上8时的时候，哈茨先生和一个日本警官带来了一卡车相当数量的宪兵，他们的任务是在夜间守卫金陵女子文理学院，看来我们向日本大使馆提出的抗议奏效了。我打开位于宁海路5号的委员会总部的大门，将逃到我们这里的妇女和儿童放了进来，这些可怜的妇女和儿童的哭喊声在我的耳际回响了好几个小时。逃到我在小桃园住所的院子里的难民越来越多，现在安置在我家的难民人数已经有300人左右。我的家被认为是最保险的地方。当我在家的时候，情况也的确如此，我会斥责每一个闯入者。但是当我不在家的时候，这里的安全状况就很糟糕。在大门上张贴的日文布告起不了什么作用，日本士兵很少理会布告上的内容，大部分士兵照样爬墙。张的妻子昨天夜里病得非常厉害，今天早晨我们不得不把她再送到鼓楼医院。非常糟糕的是，就连鼓楼医院里的女护士中也有不少人遭到了强奸。 南京12月18日致日本大使馆南京 由于贵军士兵持续不断的抢劫、暴力和强奸，整个城市笼罩在惊恐和悲惨的气氛中。1.7万多人，其中很多是妇女和儿童，逃到我们的建筑物里来寻求保护。目前越来越多的人正在涌进安全区，因为外面的情况比我们这里还要糟糕。下面我列举在过去的24小时中在我们的建筑物中发生的暴行，这些暴行还不算是最严重的。 1.大学附中，干河沿： 一个受到惊吓的孩子被军用刺刀刺死，另一个被刺成重伤，即将死去。8名妇女被强奸。我们好几个试图帮助这些可怜的人并向他们提供食物的雇员，遭到了日本士兵的无端殴打。不论白天还是夜晚都有贵军的士兵爬过围墙。许多中国人已经3天睡不着觉了，他们的身心受到严重的损害，变得有些歇斯底里。如果有朝一日这种恐惧和绝望导致了对贵军士兵强奸妇女行径的抵抗，那将会发生毁灭性的大屠杀，对此贵当局要承担责任。 美国国旗被贵军士兵以污辱的方式撕扯下来。 2.蚕厂，金银街： 两名妇女被强奸。 3.农具仓库，胡家菜园11号： 两名妇女被强奸。 4.系所在地，汉口路11号： 我们委员会的人员居住在此，两名妇女被强奸。 5.系所在地，汉口路23号： 我们委员会的美国委员居住在此，一名妇女被强奸。 9.农科作物系，小桃园： 这座建筑物多次遭到日本人的恶意骚扰，因此所有的妇女都逃走了。今天早上我去那里察看时，6个日本士兵站在我的对面。尽管我用极为客气的方式向他们提问，询问他们是否遇到什么麻烦，其中的一个日本兵仍然始终用手指扣着扳机，多次用手枪对着我。 以上未经修饰的事实还没有提到那些白天被四处游荡的日本兵骚扰多达10次、夜间多达6次的可怜人们的困难。这些日本兵出来要么是为了找女人，要么是为了抢劫，这些情况表明了立即实施管制的必要性。 贵方的一些代表声称，昨天夜里在所有这些建筑物的大门口，以及其他一些安置了大批难民的地方，都布置了军警岗哨。但是我们却连一个岗哨都没有看见。由于日本士兵到处都在翻墙越院，因此仅靠几个岗哨是起不了什么作用的，除非在日本士兵内部普遍恢复纪律和秩序。 如果贵军士兵的行为不能重新得到控制，那么设立在原何应钦公馆的日本秋山旅团司令部对周围居住的人就会构成极大的威胁。如果贵方的将军们能关心一下这些事情，那么这个地方甚至能变成一个能提供特别保护的地区。 不仅仅是在这里，在整个城市，居民们的食品和现金财物都被日本士兵洗劫一空，这些人已经被逼到了绝望的境地。除此以外还有许多人，他们的衣物和被褥也被日本士兵劫走，这些人因寒冷而患上了疾病。 贵当局打算如何来解决这些问题呢？ 在城市的每一条街道上都有饱含着眼泪的市民悲痛欲绝，他们抱怨说，只要日本士兵一露面，就没有一个人，没有一栋房子会安全。这种做法想必不会是贵政府的意图吧？南京的居民希望日本人能给予较好的待遇！ 如果贵方有机会，我建议，和我一起去查访一些地区，就在贵方院墙之下发生的一个个恐怖事件给这些地区带来了深重的灾难。 就在写这封信的时候，我被7个来我们这里检查的日本士兵打断了，我必须和他们打交道。所谓检查，无非就是看看有没有女人能让他们晚上拖出去强奸。 我夜里就睡在这栋楼里，而且我还将继续在此过夜，希望能给这里无依无靠的妇女儿童多少带来一些好处，能给他们提供一些我所能提供的微薄的帮助。 我和我的朋友们（欧洲人和美国人）在进行我们人道主义工作的时候，多次遭到贵军士兵的威胁。如果在此过程中我们被酗酒或失去纪律约束的贵军士兵杀害或伤害，那么谁应当对此承担责任，是没有任何异议的。 我一再努力本着友好和谅解的精神来书写这封信，但是却无法掩盖字里行间所反映出来的自贵军5天前进城以来我们所经历的绝望和悲痛。 只有贵方迅速采取行动才能整治目前的局面！ your faithful 签名：MS贝茨 金陵大学救济委员会主席 今天夜里我们房子里很平静。在我们宁海路总部旁边一栋房子的防空洞里有约20名妇女，有几个日本士兵闯了进去，想强奸这里的妇女。哈茨跳过院墙，赶走了闯入者。广州路83号和85号的一个收容所写来求救信，内容如下： 致南京难民区国际委员会南京 我们这些签署本信的540名难民被安置在广州路83号和85号，拥挤不堪。 从本月的13日到17日，我们的房子多次遭到三五成群的日本士兵的搜查和抢劫，今天日本士兵又不断地来抢劫。我们所有的首饰、钱财、手表和各类衣物都被抢劫一空。每天夜里都有年轻妇女被抢走，日本人用卡车把她们拉走，第二天早晨才放她们回来。到目前为止，有30多名妇女和姑娘被强奸。妇女儿童的呼喊声日夜不绝于耳。这里的情况已经到了语言无法形容的地步。请救救我们！ 难民 1937年12月18日于南京 我们不知道该如何来保护这些人。日本士兵已经完全失去了控制。 在这种情况下，我是不可能为恢复发电厂发电招募到工人的。菊池先生今天为发电厂工人的事情来拜访我们，我就此向他指出，工人们都跑光了，因为他们根本不相信他们合家上下能够得到保护。此外就连我们欧洲人都不敢保证自己能幸免于日本士兵的兽行。对此，菊池回答道：“这和当年的比利时没有什么两样！”