APPENDIX D

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN SAFETY

ZONE COMMITTEE AND JAPANESE

AUTHORITIES, ETC.

The international committee for the Nanking Safety Zone had received full recognition from the Chinese authorities but from the Japanese only a statement that they would not intentionally attack the area if there were no Chinese military forces in it. The Chinese authorities had been slow in withdrawing non-active military establishments, had failed to remove a small anti-aircraft gun installed inside the south-west boundary of the Zone, and Chinese forces retreated through the Zone on the night of December 12. But by the morning of the 13th they were out, so there was no actual contact between the two armies in the Zone. {Japanese artillery had made nine hits in the southern part of the Zone, killing about forty people.) The promoters thus hoped that, at least after the first few days of chaos resulting from the Chinese withdrawal and the Japanese occupation, normality would return of itself, even if business and cultivation could not revive at once, and the refugees would, with assistance, "be able to go back to their homes and assume a semblance of ordinary existence.

The Committee approached the Japanese forces with as little delay as possible. The Chairman made contact with the Japanese advance guard on Han Chung Road on the afternoon of December 13 and tried to explain the Zone to him. The Zone was not marked on his map. On the morning of December 14 the Committee tried to present to the officer in command the following letter (Doc. No. 1) but were referred to the Chief of the T'eh Wu Chi Kwan (Special Service Organ or "Corps") who would not arrive until the next day. The latter granted the Chairman an interview at noon on December 15, after which General Harada inspected the Zone and paid a visit to the Zone Headquarters.

Document No. 1 (Z 1)

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NANKING SAFETY ZONE

5, Ninghai Road

December 14, 1937

Japanese Commander of Nanking.

Honorable Sir:

We come to thank you for the fine way your artillery spared the Safety Zone and to establish contact with you for future plans for care of Chinese civilians in the Zone.

The International Committee has taken responsibility for putting people into buildings' in the area, has stored rice and flour for feeding the population temporarily, and has taken control of the police in the area.

We would respectfully request that the Committee may:

1. Be favored with a Japanese guard at entrances to the Safety Zone.

2. Be allowed to police the inside of the area with its own civilian police who are armed only with pistols.

3. Be allowed to carry on sale of rice and operate its soup kitchens in the area.

a. We have stores of rice in other parts of the city and would like to have free passage of trucks to secure them.

4. Be allowed to continue the present housing arrangements until the common people can return to their homes. (Even then there will be thousands of homeless poor refugees to care for.)

5. Be given the opportunity to cooperate with you in restoring telephone, electric, and water services as soon as possible.

Yesterday afternoon an unforeseen situation developed when a number of Chinese soldiers were trapped in the northern part of the city. Some of them came to our office and pleaded in the name of humanity that we save their lives. Representatives of our Committee tried to find your Headquarters but got no farther than a captain on Han Chung Lu. So we disarmed all these soldiers and put them into buildings in the Zone. We beg your merciful permission to return these men to peaceful civilian life as is now their desire.

We would further like to introduce to you the "International Red Cross Committee of Nanking" with Rev. John Magee (American) as Chairman. This International Red Cross Committee has taken charge of the former military hospitals at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;, the Ministry of Railways, and the Ministry of War, the Red Cross Committee yesterday disarmed all men on these places and will see that these buildings are used only for hospital purposes. If it is possible to put all the wounded in it, we suggest transferring all the Chinese wounded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

We will be glad to cooperate in any way we can in caring for the civilian population of this city.

Most respectfully yours,

International Committee for Nanking

Safety Zone

John H. D. Rabe, Chairman.

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NANKING SAFETY ZONE

5, Ninghai Road

Telephones : 31961

32346

31641

Membership List

Name Nationality Organization

1. Mr. John H. D. Rabe, Chairman German Siemens Co.

2. Dr. Lewis S. C. Smythe, Secretary American University of Nanking

3. Mr. P. H. Munro-Faure British Asiatic Petroleum Co.

4. Rev. John Magee American American Church Mission

5. Mr. P. R. Shields British International Export Co.

6. Mr. J. M. Hanson Danish Texas Oil Co.

7. Mr. G. Schultze-Pantin German Shingming Trading Co.

8. Mr. Ivor Mackay British Butterfield and Swire

9. Mr. J. V. Pickering American Standard-Vacuum Oil Co.

10. Mr. Eduard Sperling German Shanghai Insurance Office

11. Dr. M. S. Bates American University of Nanking

12. Rev.W. P. Mills American Northern Presbyterian Mission

13. Mr. J. Lean British Asiatic Petroleum Co.

14. Dr. C. S. Trimmer American University Hospital

15. Mr. Charles Riggs American University of Nanking

INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS COMMITTEE OF NANKING

5, Ninghai Road.

Telephones : 32346

31641

31961

1. Rev. John C. Magee, Chairman

2. Mr. Li Chiiin-nan, Vice-Chairman

(Chinese Red Cross Society of Nanking)

3. Mr. W. Lowe, Vice-Chairman

4. Rev. Ernest H. Forster, Secretary

5. Mr. Christian Kroeger, Treasurer

6. Mrs. Paul de Witt Twinem

7. Miss Minnie Vautrin

8. Dr. Robert O. Wilson

9. Mr. P. H. Munro-Faure

10. Dr. C. S. Trimmer

11. Rev. James McCallum

12. Dr. M. S. Bates

13. Mr. John H. D. Rabe

14. Dr. Lewis S. C. Smythe

15. Rev. W. P. Mills

16. Mr. Cola Podshivoloff

17. Paastor Shen Yu-shu

Since contact could not be established with the Japanese Commander on December 14 and several groups of disarmed Chinese soldiers and civilians were tied up and marched off on that day in spite of the protests by the members of the Committee, the Committee decided that a more comprehensive statement regarding disarmed Chinese soldiers in the Zone should be made. So on the morning of December 15 the Chairman of the Committee addressed a letter to the Attache at the Japanese Embassy {now Vice-Consul) as follows (Doc. No. 2). This letter was presented to Mr. Fukuda at the same time as Document No. 1 during the forenoon of December 15. He had come to the Zone Headquarters to inquire about the Zone. Consequently, the statement {by the Chief of the Special Service Corps at noon that day was also an answer to this letter.

(See Document No. 4.)

Document No. 2 (Z 4)

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NANKING SAFETY ZONE

5, Ninghai Road

December 15, 1937.

Mr. Tokuyasu Fukuda,

Attache to the Japanese Embassy,

Nanking.

Dear Sir:

The International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone is very much perplexed by the problem of soldiers who have thrown away their arms. From the beginning the Committee strove to have this Zone entirely free of Chinese soldiers and up to the afternoon of Monday, December 13, had achieved considerable success in this respect. At that time several hundred soldiers approached or entered the Zone through the northern boundary and appealed to us for help. The Committee plainly told the soldiers that it could not protect them. But we told them that if they abandoned their arms and all resistance to the Japanese, we thought the Japanese would give them merciful treatment.

In the confusion and haste of that evening, the Committee was unable to keep the disarmed soldiers separate from civilians, particularly because some of the soldiers had abandoned their military clothing.

The Committee fully recognizes that identified soldiers are lawful prisoners of war. But in dealing with these disarmed soldiers, the Committee hopes that the Japanese Army will use every precaution not to involve civilians'. The Committee further hopes that the Japanese Army will in accordance with the recognized laws of war regarding prisoners and for reasons of humanity exercise mercy toward these former soldiers. They might be used to good advantage as laborers and would be glad to return to civilian life if possible.

Most respectfully yours:,

John D. Rabe.

John H. D. Rabe, Chairman.

At the same time the International Red Cross Society asked the Attache's assistance for their Society from the Japanese Military Authorities :

Document No. 3 (Z 5)

INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS SOCIETY, NANKING BRANCH

5, Ninghai Road

December 15, 1937.

Tokuyasu Fukuda, Esquire,

Attache to the Japanese Embassy,

Nanking.

Sir:

Owing to the large number of wounded soldiers and civilians in Nanking, we have organized a local branch of the International Red Cross Society to deal with the situation.

We have appealed for recognition from the International Red Cross Society in Shanghai and from the Red Cross Society of China.

We now request your good offices in securing for us permission from the Japanese Military Authorities in Nanking to carry on this humanitarian work.

We herewith enclose a list1 of the membership of our Committee:

With kind regards, I am,

Yours cordially,

Ernest H. Forster,

Secretary.

1 See list submitted with Document No. 1,

The brief interview was granted by the Chief of the Japanese Special Service Corps to the Safety Zone Committee. This interview was merely a statement made by way of reply to the Committee's letter of December 14 (See Document No. 1 [Z 1]). Point 9 refers to rice the Committee had not been able to haul in the Zone before the entry of the Japanese troops. A rough minute of the interview follows:

Document No. 4 (Z 6)

MEMORANDUM OF INTERVIEW WITH CHIEF OF SPECIAL

SERVICE CORPS

Bank of Communications, noon, December 15, 1937.

Translator: Mr. Fukuda. (The interview was a categorical statement by the Chief and no questions or discussion. It was in answer to our letter of December 14th, which had been given to Mr. Fukuda that morning and was presented to the Chief in Japanese.)

1. Must search the city for Chinese soldiers'.

2. Will post guards at entrances to Zone.

3. People should return to their homes as soon as possible, therefore, we must search the Zone.

4. Trust humanitarian attitude of Japanese Army to care for the disarmed Chinese soldiers.

5. Police may patrol within the Zone if they are disarmed excepting for batons.

6. The ten thousand tan of rice stored by your Committee in the Zone you may use for the refugees. But Japanese soldiers need rice so in the Zone they should be allowed to buy rice. (Answer regarding our stores of rice outside of Zone not clear.)

7. Telephone, electricity, and water must be repaired, so this P.M.will go with Mr. Rabe to inspect and act accordingly.

8. We are anxious to get workers. From tomorrow will begin to clear city. Committee please assist. Will pay. Tomorrow want one hundred to two hundred workers.

9. Will inspect rice locations and guard.

(Signed) Lewis S. C. Smythe,

Secretary, International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone.

Members of Committee present :

Mr. Rabe, Chairman

Dr. Smythe, Sec.

Mr. Sperling, Inspector-General.

On the 16th the Committee addressed to the Japanese Attache the first letter requesting the restoration of order and drawing attention to the growing savagery which was occurring in the city.

Document No. 5 (Z 8)

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NANKING SAFETY ZONE

5, Ninghai Road

December 16, 1937.

Mr. Tokuyasu Fukuda,

Attache to the Japanese Embassy,

Nanking.

My Dear Sir:

As pointed out by the Major we interviewed with you at the Bank of Communications yesterday noon, it is advisable to have the city return to normal life as soon as: possible. But yesterday the continued disorders committed by Japanese soldiers in the Safety Zone increased the state of panic among the refugees. Refugees in large buildings are afraid to even go to nearby soup kitchens to secure the cooked rice. Consequently, we are having to deliver rice to these compounds directly, thereby complicating our problem. We could not even get coolies' out to load rice and coal to take to our soup kitchens and therefore this morning thousands of people had to go without their breakfast. Foreign members of the International Committee are this morning making desperate efforts to get trucks through Japanese patrols so these civilians can be fed. Yesterday foreign members of our Committee had several attempts made to take their personal cars away from them by Japanese soldiers. (A list of cases

of disorder is appended.)

Until this state of panic is allayed, it is going to be impossible to get any normal activity started in the city, such as : telephone workers, electric plant workers, probably the water plant workers, shops of all kinds, or even street cleaning.

In order to quickly improve this situation, the International Committee respectfully suggests that the Imperial Japanese Army take the following steps at once:

1. Have all searching done by regularly organized squads' of soldiers under a responsible officer (Most of the trouble has come from wandering groups of three to seven soldiers without an officer.)

2. At night, and if possible also in the daytime, have the guard at the entrances of the Safety Zone (proposed by the Major yesterday) to prevent any stray Japanese soldiers from entering the Safety Zone.

3. Today, give us passes to paste on the windshields of our private cars and trucks to prevent Japanese soldiers' from commandeering them. (Even under the stress of defense of the city the Chinese Army Headquarters supplied us with such passes and the cars that were taken before we got the passes were returned to the Committee within twenty-four hours after our reporting the cases. Furthermore, even in that difficult situation, the Chinese Army assigned to us three trucks to use for hauling rice for feeding civilians. Certainly, the Imperial Japanese Army in full control of the city, with no fighting going on, and with much greater amount of equipment, cannot do less for the Chinese civilians that have now come under their care and protection. )

We refrained from protesting yesterday because we thought when the High Command arrived order in the city would be restored, but last night was even worse than the night before, so we decided these matters should be called to the attention of the Imperial Japanese Army, which we are sure does not approve such actions by its soldier

Most respectfully yours,

(Signed) Lewis S. C. Smythe,

S ecretary.

John H. D. Rabe, Chairman.

At an interview on the afternoon of the 16th the Japanese Consul General called on the Committee and informed them that they (the Japanese) had not recognized the Committee but would deal with them as though they had been recognized. Mi Kiyoshi Fukur was introduced at that time as the man with whom the Committee should deal. So a letter was addressed to the Japanese Embassy on the 17^th explaining the anomalous situation and seeking to come to some understanding with the Japanese that would facilitate the restoration of order among their troops in the city.

Document No. 6 (Z 9)

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR NANKING SAFETY ZONE

5, Ninghai Road

December 17, 1937.

The Imperial Japanese Embassy

Nanking.

For the kind attention of:

Mr. Kiyoshi Fukui,

Second Secretary to the Japanese Embassy.

Dear Sirs:

In view of the statement of Consul-General Katsuo Okazaki yesterday afternoon that the International Committee had no legal status, some explanations of our position seem to be in order. Vis-à-vis your Japanese authorities we are not claiming any political status whatever. But on December 1st, Mayor Ma of the Nanking Municipality turned over to our Committee nearly all the functions of the City Government for the emergency of transitions: police, supervision of essential utilities, fire department, housing regulation, food supply, and sanitation. Consequently, when your Army victoriously arrived in the city on Monday noon, December 13, we were the only administrative authority carrying on in the city. Of course, that authority did not extend outside of the Safety Zone itself, and involved no rights of sovereignty within the Zone.

Being the only administrative authorities and having had assurances from the Japanese authorities in Shanghai that if the Safety Zone did not contain soldiers or military establishments, your troops would not intentionally attack it, we tried to establish contact with your advance guard immediately. In the afternoon of December 13, we found a captain with a group of Japanese soldiers resting on Han Chung Lu. We explained to him where the Zone was and marked it on his map. We politely called his attention to the three Red Cross Hospitals and told him about the disarmed soldiers. He was reassuring so we felt that all was understood by your Army.

That night and early the next morning we drew up our letter of December 14 and had it translated into Japanese. Then, as Mr. Fukuda, Attache to the Imperial Japanese Embassy, may tell you, Mr. Rabe, Mr. Smythe, and Rev. Forster went to find a high Japanese officer to whom we could present the letter. We talked to five different officers but they told us to wait for the arrival of the High Commander the next day.

The following morning, December 15, we were favored by calls by Mr. Tokuyasu Fukuda of the Imperial Japanese Embassy, and by Mr. Sekiguchi with cards from the Captain and Officers of the H.I.J.M.S. "Seta" at our headquarters. We presented our letter of December 14, referred to above, to Mr. Fukuda, and assured Mr. Sekiguchi that we would be glad to cooperate in starting the electricity works. At noon, we had the pleasure of meeting the Head of the T'eh Pei Kwan Chang (Special Service) at the Bank of Communications and from him received a formal oral statement in answer to our letter of December 14. In his reply, among other points, he said that they would station guards at the entrance to the Zone; that the civilian police could patrol within the Zone provided they were armed only with batons; that the Committee could use the ten thousand tan of rice it had stored and move in the other stores of rice assigned to it by the former City Government; and that it was essential to repair the telephone, electricity and water works as soon as possible. But no answer was given to point 4 in our letter of the 14th excepting to say that people should return to their homes as soon as possible.

On the basis of this reply, we encouraged our police to go ahead with their duties, assured the people they would be well-treated now that we had explained to the Japanese officers, and started to move rice. But since then any truck that appeared on the streets without a Westerner on it has been commandeered ; the Red Swastika Society (working under our direction) , which started trucks Tuesday morning to pick up dead bodies in the Zone, had its trucks either taken or attempts made to take them and now yesterday fourteen of their workers were taken away. Our police were interfered with and yesterday fifty of them stationed at the Ministry of Justice were marched off, "to be killed" according to the Japanese officer in charge, and yesterday afternoon forty-six of our "volunteer police" were similarly marched off. (These volunteers' had been organised by our Committee on December 13 when it looked as though the work to be done in the Zone was greater than the uniformed police who were on day and night duty-could take care of. These "volunteer police" were neither uniformed nor armed in any way. They simply wore our armbands. They were more like Boy Scouts in the West who do odd jobs in helping to keep crowds in order, clean up, and render first aid, etc.) On the 14th our four fire trucks were commandeered by Japanese soldiers and used for transport.

The point we have been trying so hard to get across to your Embassy and to the Japanese Army is that we were left to carry on the City Government services for the civilian population of Nanking until the Japanese authorities could establish a new City Government or other organization to take over these functions in the city. But unfortunately your soldiers have not been willing to let us continue with our maintenance of order and services for the civilian population in the Zone. This resulted in a breaking down of our system for maintaining order and for providing necessary services which we had carried on up till the morning of December 14. In other words, on the 13th when your troops entered the city, we had nearly all the civilian population gathered in a Zone in which there had been very little destruction by stray shells and no looting by Chinese soldiers even when in full retreat. The stage was all set for you to take over that area peacefully and let the normal life therein continue undisturbed until the rest of the city could be put in order. Then the full normal life of the city could go forward. All twenty-seven Westerners in the city at that time and our Chinese population were totally surprised by the reign of robbery, rapine, and killing initiated by your soldiers on the 14th.

All that we are asking in our protests is that you restore order amongst your troops and get the normal life of the city going as soon as possible. In the latter process we are glad to cooperate in any way we can. But even last night between 8 and 9 p.m. when five Western members of our staff and Committee toured the Zone to observe conditions, we did not find a single Japanese patrol either in the Zone or at the entrances! Yesterday's threats and marching off of our police had driven all our police from the streets. All we saw were groups of two and three Japanese soldiers wandering about the streets of the Zone and now, as I write, reports are pouring in from all parts of the Zone about the depredations of robbery and rape committed by these wondering, uncontrolled soldiers. This means that nothing has been done about our requests in our letter of yesterday, December 16, namely point 2, that stray soldiers be kept out of the Zone by guards at the entrances.

Consequently, as a first step in turning over to your authorities the maintenance of order in the Zone, we suggest:

1. That the Imperial Japanese Army set up a system of regular military police to patrol the Zone both day and night with full authority to arrest soldiers found looting, entering houses, and committing rape or carrying off women.

2. That the Japanese authorities take over the 450 Chinese police assigned to us by the former Chinese Nanking City Government and organize them to maintain peace and order among the civilian population. (This order has never once broken down in the Zone.)

3. In view of the number of fires in the city yesterday and last night, fortunately not in the Zone, we suggest that the Fire Department be re-organized under your authorities and the four trucks be returned by your soldiers to such service.

4. We further respectfully beg to suggest that as soon as possible you kindly bring an expert in Municipal Administration to Nanking to manage the life of the civilian population until a new city government can be formed. (There is nothing left of the former city government excepting the police and firemen in our Zone and three clerks. All others left the city. Your army has taken the physical structure of the city of Nanking and the poorer sections of its population, but most of the trained, intelligent and active people have all moved further west.)

May we again reassure you that we have no interest in continuing any semi-administrative function left to us by the former Nanking City Government. We earnestly hope that you will kindly take up these functions as quickly as possible. Then we will become simply a relief organization.

If the depredations of the last three days continue, this relief problem is going to be multiplied rapidly. We organized the Zone on the basis that every family that could should make private arrangements for housing and food in order to reduce the administrative load suddenly placed on our ad hoc organization. But if the present situation continues, in a few days we are going to have large numbers of people facing starvation; their private supplies of food and fuel are running out; money, clothing, and personal articles have been taken from many of them by wandering Japanese soldiers; and little normal business or other activity can be carried on because people are afraid to either open shops or appear on the streets. On the other hand, since the morning of December 14, our supply trucks have been practically at a standstill. Before your troops entered the city we concentrated on getting supplies into the Zone and expected to carry out distribution later because the people had been urged to bring a week's supply of food with them. But in order to keep some of our camps from going without food over a day, Western members of our staff and committee have had to haul bags of rice to these places in their private cars after dark!

Besides the starvation facing the people if these services cannot be extended quickly, there is the stirring up of the people. Some families have had their houses entered, robbed, and their women raped as much as five times in one night. Is it any wonder that the next morning they move out and try to find a safer place? And yesterday afternoon while three officers of your Army Supply Department were asking us to help get the telephone service started, a small number of telephone workers wearing our insignia were turned out of their houses in the Zone and are now scattered to unknown places in the Zone. If this process of terrorism continues, it will be next to impossible to locate workers to get the essential services started. It is hard to see how starvation may be prevented amongst many of the 200,000 Chinese civilians if order is not re-stored at once among the Japanese soldiers in the city.

Assuring you that we will be glad to cooperate in any way we can in caring for the civilian population of this city, I am,

Most respectfully yours,

John H. D. Rabe, Chairman.

Enclosures :
Explanation in Chinese.
Regulations in Chinese.

PS. Cases of disorders in the Zone committed by Japanese soldiers since yesterday noon will be filed later.

The preceding letter is firmer, almost peremptory, compared to the extremely conciliatory tone of the others. The situation was desperate and it is surprising that the only sentence emphasized was the concluding one in which the prospect of starvation for the 200,000 Chinese in the Zone was urgently indicated.

As the result of a strong verbal protest to Mr. Fukui on the afternoon of December 17, guards had been promised at the eight refugee camps on American Mission property. They did not arrive but the fact they were expected made the first incident referred to in the following letter difficult for the Westerners involved to understand.

Appendix D 1
Appendix D 2
Appendix D 3