The International Committee For The Nanking Safety Zone

The International Committee For The Nanking Safety Zone

The International Committee was established in order to establish and manage the Nanking Safety Zone.

Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Japanese army began to approach Nanking, most of them fled the city. A small number of Western businessmen, journalists and missionaries, however, chose to remain behind. The missionaries were primarily Americans from the Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches. To coordinate their efforts, the Westerners formed a committee, called the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone.

German businessman John Rabe was elected as its leader, partly because of his status as a member of the Nazi party and the existence of the German-Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact. Rabe and other refugees from foreign countries tried to protect the civilians from getting killed by the Japanese. The Japanese didn't recognize the Safety Zone, and hundreds of men and women were raped and killed. Due to Rabe's efforts some 250,000 people were protected during Nanking Massacre.

In February 1938 as violence by the Japanese Army abated, the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone was reorganized as the Nanking International Relief Committee, which did humanitarian work in Nanking until at least 1941. There are no records of any activity by the Committee after 1941 and it is believed likely that it was forced to discontinue its operations after the United States entered World War II.