John Rabe

German businessman and Nazi Party member best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking occupation and his work to protect and help the Chinese civilians during the massacre. The Nanking Safety Zone, which he helped to establish, sheltered approximately 200,000 Chinese people from slaughter during the massacre. He officially represented Germany and acted as senior chief of the European–U.S. establishment that remained in Nanking, the Chinese capital at the time, when the city fell to the Japanese troops.

On 5 January 1950, Rabe died of a stroke. In 2005, Rabe's former residence in Nanking (as it then was called) was renovated and now accommodates the "John Rabe and International Safety Zone Memorial Hall", which opened in 2006. His war-time diaries were published in English as The Good German of Nanking (UK title) or The Good Man of Nanking (US title) (original German title: Der gute Deutsche von Nanking).