On 7 September 1937 John Rabe returned to Nanjing from the beach resort Beidaihe (Peitaiho) in Eastern Hebei where he had spent most of August with his wife Dora. For safety reasons, he had left behind Dora in Beidaihe. She later moved to Tianjin and then Shanghai. In February 1938 John was reunited...

John Rabe's birthday

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Torsten Weber (18 déc. 2019)

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Based on: Hua-ling Hu and Lian-hong Zhang, The Undaunted Women of Nanking: The Wartime Diaries of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang. Carbondale, 2010Thomas Rabe, John Rabe. Sein Leben, seine Zeit. Heidelberg 2009 John Detlef Heinrich Rabe was born on 23 November 1882 in the harbour area of Hamburg....

Preparing for war: 6 August 1937

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Torsten Weber (6 août 2019)

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John Rabe started his famous Nanjing Diaries on 21 September 1937, approximately twelve weeks before Nanjing fell to the Japanese. However, the first document he included in the first volume of his diary is dated 6 August 1937. It is a letter he received from the "security committee" at the German E...

Rabe and the 'History Wars'

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Torsten Weber (2 août 2019)

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Ever since their discovery, the Rabe Diaries have been politicized as part of the ‘history wars’ between China and Japan over the Nanjing Massacre. While some have claimed that Rabe’s accounts are ‘ironclad proof’ and represent ‘the truth’ about Nanjing, others have dismissed them as ‘full of lies’...

Introducing Diary Entries

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Torsten Weber (23 juil. 2019)

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Over the next few months, diary entries written by John Rabe in Nanjing in 1937/38 and documents collected by him as part of his diary will be introduced on this blog. Preparing for war: 6 August 1937 John Rabe's Birthday: 23 November 1937 Starting his diary: 21 September 1937

John Rabe: Short Biography

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Torsten Weber (24 juin 2019)

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John Rabe (1882-1950) was a German businessman. Originally from Hamburg, he moved to China in 1908 and spent most of the following decades there as a representative of the Siemens company. When the Japanese military began its attacks on the city, Rabe decided to remain in Nanjing. In 1937, together...

Christian Kröger Biography

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Torsten Weber (21 juin 2019)

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Author: Jens Kröger Christian Jakob Kröger (February 5, 1903 – March 21, 1993) was a German engineer and businessman who acted as a Treasurer for the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone led by John Rabe. Christian Kröger, courtesy of Jens Kröger Born in Altona, now part of Hamburg in...

John Rabe's Nanjing Diaries

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Torsten Weber (14 juin 2019)

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Studying the perspective of the German businessman John Rabe (1882-1950), this project focuses on the events of winter 1937/38 in the Chinese capital city of Nanjing (Nanking) which led to its fall and occupation by the Japanese military. Originally from Hamburg, John Rabe had moved to China in 1908...

John Rabe’s Nanjing Diaries: Testifying and Contesting War Experiences in China and Japan

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Yasuko D'Hulst (30 mai 2022)

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Dans le cadre de Global Japon(s), animée par Aleksandra Kobiljski, Grégoire Sastre et Cyrian Pitteloud, le Centre de recherches sur le Japon a le plaisir de vous inviter à la conférence de Torsten Weber (Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien – Tokyo), le 16 juin 2022. Vous pouvez suivre le blog de rec...

China, Japan, and the Contest for ‘Asia’

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Editorial Board (23 mai 2018)

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By Torsten Weber China’s recent rediscovery of the Silk Road for its ‘One Belt-One Road’ initiative reaffirms the country’s claim to being acknowledged once again in its role as the ‘Central Kingdom’. Its ambition is global but at its core lies China’s position in Asia. Until the late 19th century,...

Liens de la semaine (12 juillet 2016)

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Alexis D'Hautcourt (12 juil. 2016)

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Débats O. Arewa, Cultural appropriation: when ‘borrowing’ becomes exploitation, The Conversation 20 juin 2016 (Traduction francaise: Appropriation culturelle : quand emprunter devient exploiter, 29 juin 2016) Bibliographie John Hennessey. Review of Barth, Volker; Cvetkovski, Roland, eds., Imperial C...