Foreigners in China help publicize Nanjing Massacre stories

A group of foreigners living and studying in Nanjing have made a series of special reports to reproduce stories of foreigners who had helped the Chinese during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the holocaust.

The Nanjing Massacre articles focus on the foreign good Samaritans Minnie Vautrin and John Rabe, after referring to the works of Vautrin and Iris Chang's famous work The Rape of Nanking, in a bid to remember the history of the Nanjing Massacre and mark China's National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims.

The series of Nanjing Massacre articles, published in seven installments starting from Dec 11, were spontaneously planned and independently completed by Cassidy McDonald, an American student studying in Nanjing University. She had heard of the Nanjing Massacre when she was in America, while she never knew Vautrin's story.

"Now I am writing an article for American media to tell Vautrin's story and the history of the Nanjing Massacre," said Cassidy.

"She dedicated her life to the cause, hence she should be remembered," she added.

Minnie Vautrin, who came to China as a missionary and teacher in 1912, was working as the acting dean of Ginling Women's College in Nanjing when the Japanese army invaded in 1937. She had protected as many as 10,000 Chinese refugees during the Nanjing Massacre. After persevering in the Nanjing Safety Zone from 1937, she returned to the US in 1940. She committed suicide under extreme stress there in 1941.

John Rabe, who was a German businessman, made great efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanjing Massacre. The Nanjing Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 200,000 Chinese people from slaughter during the massacre.