Suping Lu. Japanese Atrocities in Nanjing. The Nanjing Massacre and Post-Massacre Social Conditions Recorded in German Diplomatic Documents. Singapore 2022

Last updated: 26/05/2023

The Austrian engineer was present in Nanjing during the entire time of the siege and the following massacre. Although he was not an official member of the International Safety Committee, he served as mechanic for the Safety Zone.

Hatz had several violent encounters with Japanese soldiers. As Rabe noted on 17 December, he was able to stave off three soldiers during an argument by knocking-out one soldier with a strong punch. When Christian Kröger and Hatz tried to drive off a drunken Japanese soldier on 22 December, he defended himself with a chair. He left Nanjing on 27 February 1937.