Shanghai "Bella" Rao Jiaju, a hero who single-handedly defended 300,000 civilians, should not be forgotten

From November 1937 to June 1940, under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders, a Frenchman named Rao Jiaju united to form the Shanghai Heather Refugee Area.

Since then, more than three years ago, the refugee zone in southern Shanghai has protected about 300,000 civilians. He was Rabe's apprentice in Nanjing. A few years later, he was included in the UN Geneva Convention and became a model for protecting civilians in wartime around the world.

It is a pity that Rao Jiaju is not as lucky as Rabe. He and his safe zone were gradually lost in the dust of history.

In 2015, "Liberation Monday" used multiple versions to restore the entire story of Rao Jiaju and the development of Shanghai's Heather Refugee Area.

On December 14, 2017, the second day of National Memorial Day, the monument to the Shanghai Heather Refugee Area was completed. Two years have passed, and still

We continue to follow Rao Ka Kui - the unforgettable memory of this city.

Travel: 80 years of waiting

The French town of Saintes is the hometown of Rao Jiaju.

He was born in France, and everything naturally started in France. What kind of family, what kind of growth experience, and finally tempered to create Rao Jiaju who can save about 300,000 civilians in Shanghai?

We don’t know.

In 2015, historian Professor Su Zhiliang uncovered the detailed story of Rao Jiaju and the Heather Refugee Area for the first time. However, most of the historical materials found in Shanghai still focus on Rao Jiaju's charity activities in China.

At that time, the survivors in the Heather refugee area are now gray-haired old people. They vaguely remember that a one-armed priest came to the refugee area every day in the morning light; I remember the sound of gunfire outside the refugee area, but everyone in the refugee area can still sleep peacefully; I remember that some people came regularly to distribute food and medicine . The refugee area has a hospital, classrooms, and disciplined people. It is almost like a condensed small society with good order.

As for Rao Jiaju’s position? Why was he so powerful and the security zone was recognized by the Shanghai authorities, the concession and the Japanese invaders at that time? Later, he even received a large amount of food aid from then US President Roosevelt?

We still know very little about his personal life.

In 2015, after learning about Rao Jiaju’s story from Su Zhiliang, Wang Min, director of the Comprehensive Acquisition, Editing and Research Department of the Shanghai Audiovisual Archives, became interested. After research, the Shanghai Audio and Video Archives plans to set up a filming team to go to Europe to dig out more first-hand information.

After intermittent email exchanges and bumpy contact progress, finally in 2017, a team of 5 people started a European trip.

The moment I stepped off the plane from the Paris airport, history finally reached its due moment.

In the past two years, all Rao Jiaju’s researchers have been able to read and reread only a few sentences in historical materials and ponder the story of the Heather Refugee Area. Now, I can only imagine in my mind that Rao Jiaju is within reach, so close.

80 years later, Rao Jiaju’s hometown finally came to Shanghai, where he once helped, to come for him.

Hometown: No one remembers him.

Sante, a few hundred kilometers away from Paris, is a small town in western France and the hometown of Rao Jiaju. The streets are dotted with ancient buildings from the Roman era, and two thousand years have been condensed into the unique appearance of this ancient city.

Before departure, the travel agency repeatedly confirmed one thing: "Are you sure you want to stay in this small hotel in Santer?" The team members nodded in agreement. Even though the travel agency repeatedly emphasized that this hotel was small, old, and poorly equipped, and it was not recommended to book it, the team members still insisted.

Because that is the apartment where Rao Jiaju was born.

No. 3 Bull Square, the current house number is changed to No. 1. Rao Jiaju was born here on March 15, 1878.

When the visiting group stood in the hotel lobby and looked in, dragging suitcases of various sizes, everyone had the impression that it was really shabby.

This is a four-story old house. The corridors are cramped and the rooms are small. Each room only has space for a bed and simple shower facilities, and the interior is almost empty.

The most impressive thing is that the European-style stairs are winding and creaking, and the lights on them flicker on and off, just like Rao Jiaju's life.

Charles, a Belgian history buff who accompanied him, said that according to the investigation, Rao Jiaju's father was a junior officer in the French army, and his family had been moving with the army. The entire apartment was occupied by the officer's family. After Rao Jiaju was born, the number of family members increased and space became tight. They moved several times to do so. During the Sante period alone, Rao Jiaju had three addresses, one of which is now a residential building, and the other only knows the basic location, but the specific address cannot be found.

The young Rao Jiaju moved several times with his military father and spent his childhood in the shadow of war. Did the seeds of charity sprout in his heart?

Now, the owner of the small building where everything originated has changed several times, and no one remembers him anymore.

During their stay, members of the delegation asked around. No one knew about Rao Jiaju, whether it was the landlord of the small building, the owner of the hotel, or the nearby neighbors. No one has heard this man's story. He seems to have disappeared in his hometown.

When people put their photography equipment in front of the hotel and start shooting, passers-by will pass by from time to time. They will curiously ask similar questions: Why are you shooting here? Is there anything I can take pictures of here?

You can only tell people about Rao Jiaju's humanitarian feats over and over again, telling them that he once rescued about 300,000 civilians in distant China.

“Oh,” people responded. Probably surprised, but also sober after his curiosity was satisfied.

Will they remember this? Will the name Rao Jiaju leave any mark on his hometown in the future? The visiting team can only hope so.

The next day, interview with Mayor Santer. After previous contacts and explanations, the Santer City Government Archives has found Rao Jiaju’s birth file, which clearly records Rao Jiaju’s birth certificate and family member information. It turned out that none of Rao Jiaju's family left any descendants, so the name was gradually forgotten.

Rao Jiaju’s birth record

Diary: a surprise after years of silence

On a cloudy day in Paris, the visiting group came to the Sever Library.

The following are reports from pastors and churches sent to various places at that time. Among them, an internal publication from 1937 contains it.

It has been lying quietly in the library for 80 years. No one had read it before, and no one thought it was important. It sleeps in time with countless ordinary files.

It was not until the information provided by the visiting delegation that the library director, Ms. Jacqueline Diaw, learned about Rao Jiaju in advance. She was surprised by this.

In the archives, there is a photo of Rao Jiaju when he was young. In the letter, Rao Jiaju reported in detail the story of the establishment of the refugee area in Shanghai's Shinan in November 1937, covering all aspects of the work in the refugee area, and even two photos taken by Rao Jiaju himself

Young Rao Jiaju

These materials are precious. People in the library felt that no one had ever come here to check out Rao Jiaju's information before, and they had no idea that such a person had done such a touching thing.

After taking away these precious first-hand information, the visiting group can do nothing else for the time being. Only after we return to China and have professional scholars translate them one by one can we learn more about the deeds of the refugee area in the southern city of Shanghai.

Another unexpected gain is that the file mentioned that after Rao Jiaju returned to France from China, he lived in an apartment at 42 Rue Grenel in Paris.

With the help of Ms. Dio, the search team found the old apartment.

The apartment is still in use and is in good condition. At the door of the apartment, manager Deville told a lot about the history of the house. It was used as a dormitory long ago. However, when asked about Rao Jiaju, Deville shook his head, he didn't know anything.

Unfortunately, the documentary records only mentioned that Rao Jiaju once lived here, but did not say which room he lived in. This detail may only be lost in time.

Red Cross Headquarters: A precedent for opening safe zones during wartime

In Geneva late at night, the streets were deserted. The ICRC's symmetrical U-shaped house sits on a green slope.

Since everything had been contacted before, the visiting delegation successfully arrived at the archives room of the committee headquarters the next day.

How did the International Committee of the Red Cross discover Rao Jiaju and his Heather refugee area? How did you come up with the idea to write down the case of refugee zones in detail in the Geneva Convention?

Looking at the archives, we know that all of this is inseparable from a man named Louis Karam. He was a Swiss doctor who practiced medicine in China in the 1930s and was appointed as the representative in China by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Lewis Karam has been very concerned about the war in China. In Shanghai, he visited the refugee area in Shinan many times. In 1937 and 1938, he wrote very detailed reports on various practices in the refugee areas and submitted them to the Geneva headquarters.

How did Louis Karam get to know Rao Jiaju in that war-torn era? Was he also deeply moved, so he mentioned and publicized the refugee area in Shanghai Shinan many times in the report? We still don’t know the answer, it can only be translated and compiled by scholars.

On 12 August 1949, under the Fourth Geneva Convention,

Daniel Palmieri

Daniel Palmieri was a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross Library and Historical researcher at the Public Archives. He gave Rao Jiaju a very high historical evaluation. He said:

"As far as I know, the Rao Jia Kui Safe Zone is the first internationally recognized and successfully established international safe zone. It is a neutral protected area. It has no precedent and was established during wartime. A jurisdiction that was successfully established to protect civilians. I think Rao Ka Kui created a new model of protected areas that is still used in some conflict areas. If people want to establish safe zones, they will also learn from Rao Ka Kui's experience." /p>

Francois Bignon, member of the General Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross, is also a historian. He believes that the refugee area in Heather has great inspiration for the protection of civilians during wartime and the construction of war neutral zones in the second half of the 20th century.

In this house that embodies the glory of the world's humanitarian spirit, the committee members pointed to the information and said that a certain item in the "Geneva Convention" was based on the case of the Shanghai Heather Refugee Area.

So-and-so, inspired by the Shanghai Heather Refugee Zone.

In the history of war, nothing is more touching than saving people.

We should not forget.

Cemetery: Far away in the suburbs, simple and hard to find.

The last stop in Berlin is the resting place of Rao Jiaju.

In 1945, Rao Jiaju, who returned to his hometown from China, did not give up on humanitarian aid. Appointed as an inspector by the United Nations Refugee Agency, he continued to engage in refugee relief work in European countries amid war and ruins. He went to Poland and, after the defeat, to Germany.

The Rao Jiaju cemetery was discovered by Klaus Pegler, a local historian who wrote local chronicles. In 2013, a domestic scholar followed Rabe's clues and accidentally discovered a

Klaus Pegler talked about Rao Jiaju's last years in Berlin and the changes in Rao Jiaju's cemetery.

Rao Jiaju has been suffering from chronic malnutrition and overwork, and his health is getting worse and worse. He fell down because he was too weak while in Berlin and was later diagnosed with leukemia.

On September 9, 1946, Rao Jiaju was critically ill. He was lying on the bed and wanted a glass of champagne. The person beside him gave him a few sips with a spoon. By this time, he was already very weak. On the 10th, Rao Jiaju began to fall into coma and died at 16:40.

At first, Rao Jiaju was buried in the French National Cemetery in Vilnau. In 1951, the French National Cemetery was rebuilt and relocated. Most of the remains of those buried in the cemetery were moved back to France, and some were moved to the Berlin Wetland Cemetery on the outskirts of Berlin. But Rao Jiaju's family has no descendants, and his cemetery has remained in Berlin.

The weather was nice that day, and the Berlin Wetland Cemetery in Holy Lake was empty. Looking around, there is only a group of tombstones that look almost identical.

I thought it would take some time to find Rao Jiaju’s tombstone. By chance, an old lady wearing a little red riding hood came up and asked if she needed any help. Members of the visiting group replied: "We are looking for Rao Jiaju's tombstone. Have you heard of Rao Jiaju?"

I didn't have much hope, but the old lady nodded immediately and said excitedly: "I know this person ! I heard my husband mention it. Let me take you to his cemetery."

It turns out that there are still people who remember him.

Although the old lady didn’t know why her husband remembered it and couldn’t say more, she remembered the location of the cemetery and turned two corners to find it in the French cemetery area of ??the cemetery.

The visiting delegation presented flowers and candies in front of Rao Jiaju’s simple tombstone. First of all, in 2013, people from China, Germany and France erected monuments for Rao Jiaju. After a few years, a layer of green moss grew underneath it. The inscription "The benevolent love others" written by cultural scholar Yu Zai on the stone tablet is still clearly visible today.

Rao Jiaju sleeps here quietly. In the German cemeteries he helped, among the rows of tombstones of French soldiers, his was just an ordinary one.

The German translator of Suituan, a Chinese in his forties, said: "I only knew Rabe before. This time you gave me the address of the cemetery, so I checked online and found out We don’t know much about how powerful Rao Jiaju is.”

So when he came out of Rao Jiaju’s cemetery, the translator said: “You should go and see Rabe’s cemetery.” He gestured, “and Rao Jiaju’s. The cemetery is very different”.

Rabe’s grave is located in the cemetery of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in central Berlin. In 2013, the Nanjing Municipal Government funded the restoration of a memorial cemetery at the original site of Rabe's cemetery to express memory of Rabe. Therefore, its tombstone can be seen at a glance, and the flowers around it are in bloom all year round, indicating that people often come to worship and pay homage.

Pegler said with emotion: Everyone knows John Rabe. Comparing Rabe and Schindler, they are undoubtedly great humanitarians. But from a research perspective, Rao Jiaju was a pioneer. He inspired Rabe a lot, and Rabe wrote to Rao Jiaju for advice.

During the trip, almost everyone who heard about Rao Jiaju’s deeds would repeat this sentence: His historical value is no less than that of Rabe, and this piece of history should be discovered, not forgotten.

[Reporter's Notes]

The disappeared person in history

After the visit to Europe, almost everyone in the group lamented: Rao Jiaju has been forgotten. It seems that there has never been such a person in history.

Almost everyone I met along the way did not know him beforehand. His hometown does not recognize him; his workplace does not recognize him; the cemetery is deserted and young people do not recognize him.

Almost every file I read along the way was something I had never read before. All the letters, reports, photos, and videos have been lying quietly for more than half a century. During this period, no one has touched them and no one knows about them.

Ruan, an American scholar who studied World War II, encountered the name "Rao Jiaju" many times in historical materials, so he later wrote a short book "Rao Jiaju Safe Zone: Refugees in Wartime Shanghai". After 2015, there were few breakthrough documents to enrich and continue the research on Rao Jiaju and the Heather Refugee Area he founded.

Rao Jiaju, like a speck of dust caught in the cracks of history, gradually dissipated. We have forgotten him, and our hometown has forgotten him.

Wang Min said that in all previous contacts in Europe, all clues have been recovered, and most of the responses received were "this person has not been found."

Charles was originally a Belgian engineer, and his hobby is studying old houses in Shanghai.

He met Wang Min at an academic seminar. After learning that the Shanghai Audiovisual Archive had collected and photographed Rao Jiaju's topic, Charles enthusiastically said that you would accompany me throughout the process because "I want to do something for him."

Even now, the first-hand documents brought back are waiting for verification and unsealing. In other words, Rao Jiaju is still lying in the data, in the corner of historical memory.

What else can we do today to commemorate Rao Jiaju and the Heather Refugee Area?

Sun and Wang, junior students in the History Department of Shanghai Normal University, and Zhu ***Tong, a student in the Advertising Department, formed a project: using children's picture books to describe the local history of Shanghai, including the history of wars.

After learning about Rao Jiaju from their teacher, they decided to turn his story into a picture book. The students looked up historical materials and found an interesting detail: Rao Jiaju always liked to put a few candies in his pocket. Every time he went to the refugee area, he would coax the children with sweets.

So it took six months and eight revisions to complete the picture book "Grandpa in the Pocket". During this period, they checked what the door of the Shanghai City God's Temple looked like, checked the colors of Shanghai candies at that time, and made a series of rigorous reviews before publishing the picture book.

Today, three college students took picture books and told stories to Shanghai children many times. "Grandpa in the Pocket" has become a children's story that these children talk about.

At the end of the story, it was getting dark. The heroine, the Shanghai grandmother, took out a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped her tears, and prepared to go home.

"Huh? Who put two candies in my pocket?"

"Is it you, grandpa? That's why you have been in my pocket."

"Then you must know that I miss you."

Yes, we all miss you.

The following excerpt is from "The Story of Rao Jiaju's Safety Zone" published by "Liberation Monday" in 2015.

In 1913, a French priest came to Shanghai. Looking from the Huangpu River, he probably did not expect that 24 years later, the fate of 300,000 people here would be closely linked to his own.

His name is Rao Jiaju.

August 13, 1937 is a day that Shanghai will never forget.

On this day, the destroyed city was filled with death and terror. The Japanese invaders continued to burn, kill and loot in the scorched earth. Thousands of people were displaced and became refugees.

Countless refugees gathered in Heather. They crowded on the Republic of China Road, looking longingly at the gate of the French Concession. They lacked food and clothing, and were in a miserable situation.

Rao Jiaju, the captain of the rescue team, came up with an idea.

"After consultation with the Chinese and Japanese military authorities, the area north of Fangbang Road was designated as a safe zone as a refugee shelter." This is the Heather Refugee Area, also called Rao Jiaju District, which was established in November 1937 January 9th.

The initial negotiations were extremely difficult to reconcile the concerns and interests of all parties.

The public concession and the French Concession must agree, China must agree, and Japan must agree. Both warring sides signed a written agreement and the safe zone made sense.

This "almost impossible task" actually allowed Rao Jiaju to succeed with his superb communication skills. Thanks to Rao Jiaju for his accumulated connections and reputation.

Later, Rabe, who tried to establish a safety zone in Nanjing, was forced to close the safety zone within half a year because he failed to obtain approval and under pressure from the Japanese side.

The benefits of a written agreement are obvious. On November 11, the Japanese army occupied most of the area in Shinan and set fires along the streets for several days, but the Shinan safety area was not affected.

The refugee zone is divided into nine zones. Under each regional head, there are general affairs, clerical, discipline, design, supply, public affairs, sanitation, cleaning, registration, investigation, medical, etc. The staff are all from China. The comprehensive office consists of a refugee group, a resident group, a security group, a health group, and a material group. The budget is divided into four parts: food, clothing, hospital and other.

This is a "small refugee area" with almost a complete management system.

The Heather Refugee Area can be written as the Geneva Convention, and its unique exemplary value lies in this. Because it was not only conceived, but also created the wartime refugee management system, which has had a worldwide impact to this day.

Five points for six ounces of rice. This is the daily share for each refugee. Data shows that there are 24 food distribution centers and 24 collective canteens in the safety zone.

Every day, the procession winds hundreds of meters in the temple courtyard. The issuer sat at the table and the tickets were stamped and punched one by one. Rice was scooped from a pile of sacks and poured into the refugees' bags.

The committee's biggest concern is health care. Once an infectious disease breaks out in a safe area, the consequences are unpredictable. The job is too heavy for any organization to handle alone, so the responsibility is shared among a variety of good groups. There are too many sick refugees, and even abandoned babies on the roadside often get sexually transmitted diseases.

On November 16, 1937, the first temporary hospital was established in the Chenghuang Temple. The outpatient department handles more than 300 cases per day, which is still disproportionate to the number of refugees.

The next day, a temporary maternity hospital was established at the Heather Circulation Library. Later, disaster children's hospitals were opened one after another. These free clinics cost a lot of money.

Every day, there is always a rickshaw, facing the morning light, leaving Yiluo from Luban Road, Old North Gate, Xinkaihe River

The heather is like a maze of narrow streets. Be careful when two rickshaws pass each other. The streets were rough with sharp stones. After the refugees poured in, they quickly occupied all the empty rooms and filled every corner.

Rao Jiaju does everything himself. He goes to the refugee area every day, because no matter how good the management is, there will always be oversights.

Ren Xipeng, the head of the Seventh District, falsely reported the number of refugees and withheld food rations. After the incident, some relief rice, 100 sets of relief clothes, and more than 100 silk quilts were found from his home, and he was severely punished.

In April 1939, the refugee area entrusted Hengda Matheson Company to purchase 1,000 bags of brown rice, hundreds of which were mixed with tares and stones.

Illegal incidents such as drug abuse, gambling, alcoholism, and fighting will also occur in the refugee area. Therefore, criminal courts were established.

It can be said that the people of Shanghai and international friends have jointly supported the refugee zone. It has maintained a population of 300,000 for nearly three years through relief, and many researchers have lamented that it is "really amazing."

In the brochure of the French version of "The Story of Rao Jiaju", there is this sentence: "Admirable Shanghai, a city with immeasurable charitable donations, is so generous that it seems we can't expect more. ”

Source: Shangguan.com

Original title of the article: Shanghai should not be forgotten! Li Xun visits Rao Jiaju.