John rabe saved hundreds of thousands of people in our country during the Second World War. How did he do it?

1937 12 13, Nanjing fell. John rabe held high the flag of the safety zone and led the staff in the safety zone to prevent the Japanese vanguard from entering the safety zone. He took out a map indicating the location of the "international safety zone" and specially asked them to pay attention to three Red Cross hospitals.

Rabe built a solid bomb shelter in the courtyard of the apartment and prepared food, drinks, medicines, bandages soaked in vinegar and other items. Next to the bomb shelter, he propped up a 6-meter-long and 3-meter-wide canvas, and drew the party flag-German Socialist Party on the canvas with the word "swastika" on it to warn the Japanese bombers: No aggression, this is German territory, and nearby residents have come to avoid the air crash.

10, in order to minimize the harm of war to civilians, Hangzhou, chairman of the board of directors of Jinling University, proposed to set up a refugee area in Nanjing. Party member Rabe, German National Socialist Workers' Party, was elected as the chairman of the International Committee of Nanjing Safe Zone. The safe area covers an area of 3.86 square kilometers, including Jinling University, Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences, Gulou Hospital, American Embassy and other institutions. The safe area has been demilitarized and 25 refugee shelters have been established. Rabe's residence is one of them, and it was called "Siemens Refugee Shelter" in history.

According to assistant Han Xianglin's statistics, up to 602 people (302 men and 300 women) live in Rabe's office and yard, including 126 children 10. This statistic does not include 14 employees, handymen and their families, so the total number is about 650.

Japanese troops often harass them, and they often enter the security zone in the name of searching China soldiers. Rabe had to stay at home to protect the refugees. Under such difficult circumstances, the Japanese army showed full respect for the German flag and Nazi party party emblem. In most cases, Rabe can shock Japanese soldiers simply by showing his armband or shouting "Germany" and "Hitler".

For the survival of the refugees in the safe area, Rabe asked for help and was willing to run around in the name of the chairman of the International Committee of Nanjing Safe Area, begging for donations, food, medicine and other basic necessities for the refugees.

He led a dozen foreigners to negotiate with the Japanese embassy on the food problem of more than 200,000 refugees. At the same time, he urged the British, American and German embassies to put pressure on the Japanese army, and finally forced the Japanese army to agree that the refugee areas could buy 65,438+0,000 bags of rice every day. Rabe personally visited British and American embassy officials, hoping to lend a helping hand to China refugees, and finally raised a donation of 210.5 million yuan to buy urgently needed food and medicine. Thanks to Rabe's efforts, the porridge factory that once stopped cooking porridge raised smoke again, providing a life-saving food for the refugees who were hungry and naked. He also went through all kinds of hardships to get broad beans from Shanghai to prevent the spread of beriberi.