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The Nanjing Safety Zone (南京安全区) was a 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. Some people refer to the city as Nanjing, and some others call the city Nanking.
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 Nanking 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.
What Happened in the Zone
A common chronology of events accepted by the majority of credible researchers is:
- 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:
- In January 1938, the citizens in the Safety Zone started realizing that the Japanese Army was friendly rather than enemy. Even a Japanese-hating Christian Father, John Maggie, stated that he saw only one homicide case in the small Safety Zone. This is the one of the reasons why the population of the Safety Zone increased from 200,000 to 250,000. The population of the Safety Zone was 200,000 before the Japanese entering Nanking. The population was reported by the Chief of Nanking Police Department to International Committee, according to "Documents of the Nanking Safety Zone" issued by Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai. However, according to the publicity, the population of The Safety Zone on February 14th was 250,000. In May, the citizens went back to the home because of restoration of the city's security.
Most researchers and scholars believe the Japanese soldiers committed atrocities in the Safety Zone. However, a minority of predominantly right-wing Japanese politicians and authors disagree. John Rabe sent the Japanese Army a letter of appreciation that he "appreciate the Japanese Army secured the safety of the Safety Zone and the citizens inside had been saved."