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 Embassy in Nanjing requesting all German nationals in the city to provide emergency contact details. Rabe typed his response: Continue reading Preparing for war: 6 August 1937 →