Trudy Gold
What Makes a Rescuer? The Case of John Rabe
Summary
Trudy Gold explores the life of John Rabe, a German businessman and Nazi Party member best known for his efforts to stop war crimes during the Japanese Nanjing Massacre and his work to protect and help Chinese civilians during the massacre that ensued. The Nanking Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 250,000 Chinese people from being killed.
Trudy Gold
Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.
But he did help the Chinese. That’s the point. He saved a quarter of a million of them, Romain. Did he risk his life? Well, he stood up to the Japanese army when they went in to try and take out some Chinese soldiers. He was obviously horrified by what had happened. He did use the fact that he was a member of the Nazi party. And when he says, “They must have respected me because they made me the leader.” But if you were cynical and you were setting up a rescue committee, bearing in mind the Japanese had an alliance with the Germans, the Comintern Pact, you probably would have chosen a German. So maybe that had nothing to do with it.
David, there is no logic in this. They made the Japanese into honorary Aryans. And for those of you who know about the apartheid situation in South Africa, the Japanese were not, they were not considered a subgroup like the Chinese. They were honorary Aryans.
This is the complexity of it, Rose. This is the point. That’s why in these days of all, when we are meant to be reflective, I just thought it would be interesting to bring him into the equation because it shows you just how complex the human condition is. I mean, look at a character that we all know, like Oskar Schindler. Oskar Schindler was not a really, he was a member of the Nazi party. He was not a nice man in any sense. You know, he was a devil may care adventurer. But something touched him. Something touched him. He made a lot of money out of the war, but something touched him.