Chapter 57 6. Gratitude and remembrance

In August 1945, the Allied Powers counter-offensive won successive victories, and the Japanese fascist militarists were finally forced to lay down their bloody butcher knives. The Chinese government in the carnival of victory did not forget the group of international friends who shared weal and woe during the fall of Nanjing, and grandly awarded them jade medals with blue, white and red necklace ribbons. They accepted this lofty honor without any regrets. Doubt is well deserved. Unfortunately, Ms. Minnie Vautrin is no longer alive. Ms. Hua left China in 1940 due to illness. Lake blue eyes.Before she died, Ms. Hua still couldn't forget China, and said affectionately: "If I have two lives, I will still serve the Chinese."

The Chinese people will forever commemorate this venerable American friend. The kind and kind Anglican pastor John Mech, together with Dr. Wilson from Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, went to Tokyo International Court of the Far East to testify in court in 1946. With many convincing evidence witnessed at the scene, he was the chief culprit of the "Nanjing Massacre". Matsui Iwane sent to the guillotine. In 1953, this venerable pastor passed away in the United States. He left behind his noble character and the documentary film relentlessly exposing the crimes of Japanese fascist militarism.

A total of 3 copies were made of the film shot by John Mech, one was sent back to Germany by Rosen, the political secretary of the German embassy in Nanjing, one was sent to the U.S. Congress by Federer, and one was sent to a British missionary.The purpose is to arouse the vigilance and attention of the governments and people of these countries to the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, so as to contain them in time and save the peace of mankind.Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the expected goal was not achieved at that time, but many scenes in the film began to spread through various channels. In 1988, Nanjing City established the "Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders Memorial Hall". In the documentary "Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders" produced by the museum, there are many scenes shot by Pastor Meiqi on the spot.After nearly half a century, Pastor Mech's films about Japanese military crimes have finally been widely disseminated and achieved good results.

What is legendary is that the original film that Pastor Mech took in that year was never found until nearly 40 years after his death—it was discovered in the basement of his son’s residence in the suburbs of New York in 1991.Along with the discovery, there is also Mech's diary written during the "Nanjing Massacre".Akira Fujiwara, a famous Japanese professor and researcher of the "Nanjing Massacre" incident, said after watching this film: "This is enough to prove the facts of the 'Nanjing Massacre'!" How precious and important are the first-hand materials of these eyewitnesses for the Chinese people and even the peace-loving people in the world!

In comparison, Rabe, as the chairman of the International Committee of the Nanjing Safety Zone, had a rough and unfortunate fate later on, because his motherland at that time was not beautiful. Rabe left Nanjing on February 22, 1938, at the order of Siemens, and returned to Germany in April.After returning to China, Rabe gave five speeches in a row at the German Foreign Ministry and other places, presenting relevant evidence and exposing the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing. On June 8, he even sent a report exposing the atrocities committed by the Japanese army directly to Hitler himself, the head of state.

What Rabe did after his return embarrassed the German rulers allied with Japan.A few days later, Rabe was secretly arrested by the police, and six diaries and related photos were also seized.When he was released, he was ordered to keep silent and not to hold any activities to expose the atrocities committed by the Japanese army.Although Rabe took back the diary, the photos were confiscated. In anger, Rabe bravely asked to withdraw from the Nazi Party. At the end of the war, Rabe was already 63 years old, and his family of six had no source of income. They lived by digging wild vegetables to make noodle soup.When the people of Nanjing learned of Rabe’s plight, they immediately launched a fundraising campaign to help Rabe. The women who were sheltered by Rabe from being abused by the Japanese army, the men who survived from the guns of the Japanese army, and the elderly who did not starve to death received relief. They donated money to help each other, and within a few days, 100 million yuan was raised. After special approval, they were exchanged for 2,000 US dollars and sent to Rabe.However, post-war Germany was extremely scarce in supplies, and food could not be bought even if it was rich, so the mayor of Nanjing bought milk powder, sausages, tea, coffee, beef, butter and many other foods in Switzerland and sent them to Rabe.

Since then, once a month, I will fly from Nanjing to Berlin with a big bag of food that the Chinese people love. Kindness is rewarded with kindness, and the Chinese people have always advocated the idea of ​​repaying one's kindness with kindness.How important it is for the Rabe family to receive these foods when they rely on "collecting wild vegetables and wild fruits for a living", "even dry bread is hard to get", and "have long been insulated from potatoes". The friendly support from the Chinese people helped Rabe and his family survive the most difficult years after the war. In 1950, the venerable old man died of a stroke in Berlin.

Nearly half a century after Rabe's death, in 1996, Ms. Zhang Chunru, a Chinese-American writer, learned about Rabe and his diary from the materials because of her works on China's Anti-Japanese War. After several rounds, she found Rabe's granddaughter Reinha Mrs.After learning of the great historical value of these diaries, Reinhardt persuaded his uncle and decided to accept the invitation of the "Nanjing Massacre Victims Commemorative Association in New York", and released these diaries in New York in December 1996 in the name of relatives. Rabe's diary has a total of 8 volumes with 2117 pages, called "War Diary", which began on September 19, 1937 and ended in April 1938.At the same time, Rabe's report to Hitler and its attachments, photos, etc. were also released by relatives at the same time.This document has a total of 260 pages and 80 photos are attached, including 58 photos taken by Pastor Mech, and 22 photos taken by Accountant of Nanjing International Red Cross Society and German engineer Kreutz, all with text descriptions.

These diaries once again opened up the heavy history of the "Nanjing Massacre" to people, and provided a series of bloody testimonies for the brutal atrocities committed by Japanese fascist militarism.These testimonies are all the more irrefutable and convincing because they come from a member of the German Nazis allied with Japan. Mrs. Rabe's granddaughter Mrs. Reinhardt then sent a copy of all the materials to China's "Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall of the Victims by Japanese Invaders".After Jiangsu People’s Publishing House learned of the discovery of Rabe’s diary, it also sent a negotiating team of Cai Yuhua, Xu Zongwen, and Zheng Shoukang to Berlin at the end of March 1997. After negotiations with Deutsche Publishing, they purchased the copyright of the Chinese version. Including international Chinese version copyright.In August of the same year, it was jointly published by Jiangsu People's Publishing House and Jiangsu Education Publishing House, and received widespread attention and welcome from the media and readers.

There is no doubt that the arduous work done by Rabe 60 years ago to maintain human justice, justice and peace will continue to have a longer-term influence and dedication to the maintenance of human justice, justice and peace. Human life is limited, but human career is eternal. People who contribute to the eternal cause of mankind will live together with the eternal cause of mankind for a long time.