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.

According to Miner Searle Bates, one of the American missionaries, "The Chinese authorities agreed to the idea of the Zone, though the military were naturally reluctant to move out of the area before the very last minute."

On this narrow margin of agreement, the Chinese promise to evacuate the area and the Japanese statement that they would not intentionally attack an unoccupied place, the Safety Zone was finally put through.

The International Committee appealed a number of times to the Japanese army, with John Rabe using his credentials as a Nazi Party member, but to no avail.

In late January 1938, the Japanese army forced all refugees in the Safety Zone to return home, and claimed to have "restored order".

[5][6] After George Ashmore Fitch departed, Hubert Lafayette Sone was elected Administrative Director of the Nanking International Relief Committee.

[7] Before the normalization of relations between China and the West, the Westerners who remained behind in Nanjing to run the Nanking Safety Zone were vigorously criticized by the Chinese government.

As Chinese concerns about "American imperialism" diminished, and as Japan became the target of official vitriol (partly at least because of the highly politicized and contentious issue of Japanese textbooks), views in China dramatically changed.

The museum of the Yasukuni shrine omits any mention of the Nanjing massacre and proclaims that "The Japanese established a safety zone for Chinese civilians and made a special effort to protect historical and cultural sites.