caption death_date birth_place nationality party relatives article_title birth_date known_for spouse image employer name occupation
john rabe 5 january 1950 hamburg , german empire german nazi party grandfather of dr. thomas rabe john rabe
 23 november 1882 saving civilian lives during the nanking massacre dora rabe johnrabe.jpg siemens ag john rabe businessman
john rabe

john heinrich detlev rabe -lrb- november 23 , 1882 -- january 5 , 1950 -rrb- was a german businessman who is 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 event .
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 -- american establishment that remained in nanjing , the chinese capital at the time , when the city fell to the japanese troops .
