Nanking Massacre

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The battle of Nanking took place in December 1937 after the fall of Shanghai . The Japanese managed to take over the city in about six to seven weeks, in which, during the time they managed to kill an estimated 40,000 - 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers, rape 20,000 Chinese women, and ruin the capital of China . When the war first broke out, the foreigners residing in Nanking were encouraged to evacuate and leave; however, a group of 20-30 foreigners had decided to stay . These were the people who came together to form the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, establishing a Japanese Chinese neutral area . The zone managed to serve their main purpose well, which was to provide refuge for the civilians during battle, along …show more content…
For instance there were fewer killings inside the zone than outside as well as fewer rapes inside the zone than outside; however, rapes and kidnappings did still occur in the zone when no committee members were around to stop it . In fact, many survivors of the Nanking Massacre have Rabe and the International Committee to thank for, as without them, they would have been subjected to the Japanese killings. For example, Xia Shuqin, who was a little girl at the time, was found hiding in her home with her sister by an elderly couple that eventually snuck them out and into the safety zone . If they had not done so, there would have only have been one fate for them, death, either from starvation or by the Japanese. They would either have been founded by the Japanese and been raped and murdered, or they would have died from starvation because they couldn’t leave in fear that the Japanese would find them. Not only did Rabe provide refuge for Xia, he comforted her, cleaned her up and eventually proposed adopting her when he returned to Germany; however Xia’s uncle refused and she lived the rest of her life out as an orphan