I believe many people know the Diary of Rabe, and the person who discovered this important historical material is Zhang Chunru. In fact, besides Rabe's diary, Zhang Chunru also found Walter Lin's diary!
However, people who know Zhang Chunru and Rabe are far more than those who know Walter Lin.
At that time, she traveled across oceans to China and made great contributions to the education in China.
In those days, when the Japanese invaders slaughtered the city crazily, she refused to leave for five times, insisted on staying to protect the refugees, propped up an island of life in the sea of blood, and became a "living bodhisattva", which gave many China people hope to live.
Even, it can be said that she burned out the best time of her life for China.
This article is a bit long. Let's listen to her story patiently and carefully.
First, she is not a foreign devil, she is Miss Hua.
1On September 27th, 886, vautrin was born in a blacksmith's family in West Cole, Illinois, USA.
Because of her poor family, she worked a lot of odd jobs at school to earn tuition. 19 12 years, vautrin received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Illinois. Although it was a part-time job, I still got the second place when I graduated.
In the year of graduation, she joined the Overseas Christian Missionaries Union. When she heard that China's education was underdeveloped, she insisted on coming to China despite the opposition of her relatives and friends.
According to the transliteration of vautrin's surname, Vautrin gave himself a Chinese name "Hua Qun", and his classmates affectionately called him "Teacher Hua".
The first stop was in Hefei. She overcame all difficulties and founded a girls' school. The second stop was in Nanjing. She added an education management course at Jinling Women's University to train teachers and administrators of girls' middle schools.
In addition, she also tried her best to raise money, buy land near Jinda to build classrooms, recruit poor children nearby, encourage female students in Jinda to become teachers, and set up a student teaching practice system in China.
Although vautrin is an American, she has a sacred sense of mission to this hot land of China, and even gave up her boyfriend who was waiting for her to get married in the United States because she chose to stay in China, and she has been alone ever since.
Today, the statue of vautrin is still located in the College of Arts and Sciences of Jinling Women's University, where she once served as acting principal, which is now Nanjing Normal University.
In her diary, there is such a short story:
A little boy saw me coming by bike and shouted "foreign devil"! But another little boy not far away immediately corrected him and said, "Ah, that's Miss Hua!" " " .
It can be said that her arrival has made an indelible contribution to the education of women and poor people in China.
Two. I can't leave China now.
1937165438+1in late October, the Japanese soldiers who captured Shanghai attacked Nanjing in three ways, and a big war was coming!
17, before he left, Song Meiling sent someone to remove his piano and present it to Jinling Women's University. Knowing that the danger was coming, vautrin persuaded the headmaster Wu Yifang to leave on 65438+February 1, but she left by herself. She was accompanied by more than a dozen teachers from China.
In fact, the International Committee of Nanjing Safe Zone, to which vautrin belongs, is just a "non-governmental organization" spontaneously established by some foreigners. It is not an "international organization" in the sense of modern international politics and is not binding on sovereign countries. Vautrin knows very well that as a neutral citizen, it is not absolutely safe for her to stay there after the fall of Nanjing.
It was also on this day that the American Embassy summoned all American citizens stranded in Nanjing for the last time, warning them that their lives would not be guaranteed in the future if they did not evacuate.
Vautrin's answer is: I can't leave China at this time! And resolutely signed his name on the document, "in any case, I will not leave Ning".
In fact, this is the fifth time that vautrin has received the evacuation notice from the American Embassy.
After receiving the second notice, she wrote in her diary that she had the responsibility to undertake the mission.
Just like being in danger, men should not abandon their boats and women should not abandon their children.
In this way, vautrin not only stayed, but also risked his life to suggest that once the Japanese invaded Nanjing, he should be able to follow the example of Shanghai and set up a refugee shelter in Jinling Women's Hospital.
This advice became a heavy burden for her in the future, and she even became seriously ill.
Three. "You are from China, and your country is not dead."
1937 12 13. The Japanese army captured Nanjing. Almost at the same time, the terrible massacre began, and the whole city of Nanjing was in flames.
When the Japanese army entered the city, China's army had already retreated, but the Japanese army still launched the so-called "big search". Many Japanese soldiers went into the house to search and saw women being raped on the spot, or pulled back to the army to be gang-raped by soldiers.
Vitlin wrote in his diary:
"Today, all the crimes in the world can be found in this city!"
In this harsh environment, vautrin is still providing relief for women and children, and Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences has become a refugee camp. Moreover, with the pen in her hand, she recorded the atrocities of the Japanese aggressors.
"Many tired and scared women came and said they had a terrible night. Japanese soldiers keep visiting their homes. The husband was forced to leave the bedroom and the pregnant wife was cut open by a bayonet. "
The sign of the neutral zone set up in the college and the arrest warrant written by Japanese embassy officials prohibiting Japanese soldiers from entering were not taken seriously at all. Only when blondes show up and scold loudly will they be restrained.
In most cases, Japanese soldiers saw her and started to run away, but sometimes they threatened her with weapons and even beat her.
These things are recorded in China garrison battalion commander Guo Qi's "Sleepy Blood and Tears", and-Walter Lin is his savior.
During her days in the refugee camp, she either stayed at the concierge or was called to stop Japanese soldiers from entering the school to rape and plunder and take back China women from them. She can't eat a fixed meal, and she sleeps with clothes every night, ready to deal with emergencies at any time.
On one occasion, she estimated that more than 2,700 refugees would take refuge here. However, the crazy rape and murder of the Japanese army caused frightened women and children to flock, with more than 10 thousand people at most. Most of them have nothing. Vautrin must provide food and shelter for these refugees, and must also undertake a lot of management work. The pressure suddenly increased, far exceeding her expectations. Besides, she doesn't know how long this pressure will last.
In the eyes of those who are isolated and afraid in China, Vautrin is the embodiment of hope.
She not only protects women, but also helps them find their missing relatives. Every morning, she will send employees to register with the refugees, write down the names of the lost people, and then hand them over to the International Committee of Safe Zones or the Japanese Embassy, urging them to make efforts to find them.
Vautrin has been working hard to improve the living environment of refugees. She invited foreign doctors to treat refugees, vaccinate them, provide children with milk powder and cod liver oil, run private schools for women refugees and supplement their cultural knowledge. The refugees called her "Living Bodhisattva" and "Guanyin Bodhisattva".
As a foreigner who has lived in China for more than 20 years, her affection for this country even exceeds that of some China people. She once wrote in her diary in disgust:
"Sadly, some people in China often lead Japanese soldiers to businessmen with some money. Under the threat of Japanese soldiers' guns or bayonets, they had to hand over their money. "
Once, she saw a little boy from China wearing the armband of the sun flag to deliver food to his sister, so she went up to him and said, "You don't need to wear the sun flag. You are from China, and your country is not dead! Remember when you wore this thing, and never forget it! "
During this period, a large number of diaries written by vautrin not only truly described the atrocities of the Japanese army and the huge emotional trauma suffered by individuals, but also became precious historical materials for studying the Nanjing Massacre.
After the Nanjing Massacre, vautrin suffered from severe depression due to long-term fatigue and excessive mental stress.
1On May 4th, 940, vautrin left Jinling Women's College of Arts and Sciences to return to China for treatment. The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanking seriously traumatized vautrin's spirit. Instead of getting better, she watched herself slide to the edge of the cliff step by step. Only one year after returning to China, she ended her life with Sue.