The Good German of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe

"Until the recent emergence of John Rabe's diaries, few people knew about the unassuming hero who has been called the Oskar Schindler of China. In November 1937, as Japanese troops overran the Chinese capital of Naking and began a campaign of torture, rape, and murder, one man--a German who had lived in China for thirty years and who was a loyal follower of Adolf Hitler--put himself at risk and saved the lives of 200,000 poor Chinese, 600 of whom he sheltered in his own home.

As foreign nationals and the wealthier Chinese residents fled, Rabe stayed in Nanking to set up and oversee an international safety zone for noncombatants. The survival of this fragile safety zone depended largely upon Rabe's status as a German, and hence an official ally of the Japanese. But when he returned to Germany in 1938 and wrote to Adolf Hitler detailing the atrocities he had witnessed, Rabe was arrested by the Gestapo. The Good Man of Nanking is a crucial document in understanding one of World War H's most horrific incidents of genocide and an awe-inspiring record of one man's conscience, courage, and generosity in the face of appalling human brutality. "