As we known

John Rabe

An ordinary and upright businessman

A German who saved 250,000 Chinese people

The Good Man of Nanjing

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 John Rabe

that you don’t know 

1、The Birth of Rabe

John Rabe was born in Hamburg, Germany on November 23, 1882.  His father was a ship’s captain. 

John Rabe in 1885

John Rabe’s residence in Hamburg in his childhood

2、Apprentice Age

John Rabe’s father died when he was very young, so he served as an apprentice in Hamburg after he finished middle school. 

John Rabe’s manuscript: my apprentice age

John Rabe(third from left in the back row) with his friends in Hamburg in 1903

In 1903, Rabe, at his boss’ recommendation, was sent to work for a British company in Mozambique, a Portuguese colony in southeastern Africa. A bout of malaria forced him to return home in 1906.

John Rabe (first from left in the front row) with his clients in Africa in 1903

John Rabe’s residence in Africa

3、John Rabe Entering Siemens

In 1908, Rabe came to Beijing, China. He married Dora Schubert on October 25 of the following year.

Wedding photo of Dora and John Rabe on October 25, 1909(taken in Shanghai)

In the winter of 1911, Rabe obtained a job in the reputable Siemens Co., and worked in its Beijing office as an accountant and assistant.

Thanks to his diligence and competence, Rabe was highly appreciated by his supervisor, and was soon promoted to be Director of the Beijing office. In the same year, he established the first telegraph station of China in Beijing, and later built another one in Shanghai. Siemens had all along enjoyed the monopoly over the telecommunication equipment used by China’s Navy before Rabe returned to Germany in 1938.

Rabe maintained good relationships with his colleagues, since he could spot quickly the merits of others and was always ready to help. Prof. Zhang Weilian of Nanjing University, once working together with Rabe for Siemens in the 1920s after his graduation from the German faculty in Peking University, recalled, “Rabe got along specially well with his Chinese colleagues ; he liked to make friends with them. There was a young man called Bao Jialiang, an accountant under Rabe. Rabe treated him just like his own son.”

Granddaughter of John Rabe had a chat with Prof. Zhang William (right) while visiting Nanjing University in 1997

Bao Jialiang, Siemens employee

In 1913, the Beijing office of Siemens moved to Dengshikou, Beijing, where the company built a residence for John Rabe, a sales manager at that time. 

The Beijing office of Siemens in the 1930s

Since China declared war on Germany in World War I, Germans in China had a difficult time. However, Rabe and his friends could always get help from the Chinese people at critical moments. During the Imperial Restoration led by Zhang Xun in 1917, gunfights broke out in the Beijing city proper; Rabe sheltered a large number of refugees in his own house, providing them with food and shelter.

The Rabe couple and their son and daughter

Otto Rabe with the baby sitter

On November 11, 1918, the allied Germany and Austria lost the war and declared their surrender. Rabe, like all the Germans in China, had to be repatriated to Germany. In early March, 1919, Rabe and his wife returned to Hamburg with their children, one 2-year-old and the other 8-year-old. 

Hamburg

In 1920, Rabe returned to Beijing. To his surprise, his house and properties were left untouched. This impressed him so much that he told everyone he met about the kindness of the Chinese people. In 1925, the headquarters of Siemens in North China moved from Beijing to Tianjin to meet the increasing need of personnel for the new automatic telephone service station there. Rabe was transferred there to be Director of the Tianjin office.

The Tianjin office of Siemens, on Guangdong Rd. in the British Concession

Rabe’s house in Tianjin in 1925

He treated his employees nicely. One salesperson, a young German, later became Rabe’s son-in-law. In August 1930, Rabe held the wedding ceremony for his daughter Margaret in a church in Tianjin.

Rabe’s daughter and son-in-law at their wedding in 1930

Rabe’s daughter and son

In November 1930, returning to China from Germany, Rabe was appointed by the headquarters of Siemens in Shanghai as Director of Siemens office in Nanjing, the capital of China under the National Government (KMT). After his arrival in Nanjing on November 2 1931, Rabe lived temporarily at a rented 2-storey building in Xiaguan District. He was in charge of the sales of communication equipment, air raid alarm system, telephone system, and materials for transportation.

John Rabe’s business card and seal in Chinese

As a young man, Rabe had an indissoluble bond with China and a profound friendship with the Chinese people.

Through the long dark night,

"The Schindler of China" saved the lives of more than 250,000 Chinese people.

He buried himself in the winter only to push us into a new century full of spring.

The people and the country have always existed, and the heroes have always been brilliant.