Editing Nanjing Massacre (section)

=== Establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone ===
{{Main|Nanking Safety Zone}}
[[File:Some members of the International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone on Dec 13, 1937.jpg|thumb|Members of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, including John Rabe (center) and John Magee (center right)]]
Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Japanese army approached Nanjing, most of them fled the city, leaving 27 foreigners. Five of these were journalists who remained in the city a few days after it was captured, leaving the city on December 16. Fifteen of the remaining 22 foreigners formed a committee, called the [[International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone]] in the western quarter of the city.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David |last=Askew |title=The International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone: An Introduction |url=https://chinajapan.org/articles/14/14.03-23askew.pdf |journal=Sino-Japanese Studies |volume=14 |pages=3–23 |date=April 2002 |access-date=February 23, 2020 |archive-date=August 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190819031634/http://www.chinajapan.org/articles/14/14.03-23askew.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

German businessman [[John Rabe]] was elected as its leader, in part because of his status as a member of the [[Nazi Party]] and the existence of the [[Germany–Japan relations|German-Japanese]] bilateral [[Anti-Comintern Pact]]. The Japanese government had previously agreed not to attack parts of the city that did not contain Chinese military forces, and the members of the Committee managed to persuade the Chinese government to move their troops out of the area. The Nanking Safety Zone was demarcated through the use of [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|Red Cross Flags]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm |title=Genocide in the 20th Century: The Rape of Nanking 1937–1938 (300,000 Deaths) |website=History Place |access-date=March 27, 2017 |archive-date=March 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308232201/http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Minnie Vautrin]] was a Christian missionary who established [[Ginling Girls College]] in Nanjing, which was within the established Safety Zone. During the massacre, she worked tirelessly in welcoming thousands of female refugees to stay in the college campus, sheltering up to 10,000 women.<ref name="auto7">{{cite web |url=https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07032/yuen/minnievautrin.html |title=Minnie Vautrin |access-date=October 5, 2022 |archive-date=October 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005030657/https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07032/yuen/minnievautrin.html |url-status=live}}</ref>