The article, “The Rape of Nanking and the Faith of John Rabe,” is an excellent introduction to the controversial figure, who acted as an Oscar Schindler-like savior to the besieged and brutalized Chinese inhabitants of Nanking by Japanese Imperial troops in December, 1937. Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed in the onslaught, and over 60,000 women and girls (from infants to the elderly) savagely raped.  Nazi Party member Rabe was chosen leader of The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, a group of Westerners who tried to protect the civilians from getting killed by the Japanese military. The Committee is said to have saved between 200,000 and 250,000 Chinese people from extermination. The late Iris Chang’s international best-seller, The Rape of Nanking, and the films, History Undercover: The Rape of Nanking, Nanking, and John Rabe provide more searing historical documentation and graphic presentation of the horrific facts of this largely-forgotten series of atrocities.

The Best of Charles Burris