John Rabe Quotes

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko: Congratulations, Major. You'll make an excellent commander one day. But I ask myself, why is it that I give orders not to take prisoners, and you arrive with thousands?

Major Ose: Please forgive me.

Japanese Officer: Your Highness.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko: I didn't ask you to speak!

[Japanese officer steps back and bows]

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko: So, Major. What do you propose?

Major Ose: Your Highness. It would be extremely difficult to execute that many prisoners.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko: Is that so?

Major Ose: Furthermore, I believe such executions could be considered to be illegal.

Prince Asaka Yasuhiko: Illegal? I am entrusting you personally with resolving this matter once and for all. I want no prisoner alive by tomorrow morning. We will also shell the city center. Nanking must experience the superiority of our troops.

Colonel Nakajima Kesago: He disobeyed the rules by not staying in the car.

John Rabe: He didn't stay in the car? His head was cut off!

Colonel Nakajima Kesago: It was an honorable death. A contest between two officers. Very popular in Japan.

John Rabe: What contest?

Colonel Nakajima Kesago: Who decapitates the most enemies.

John Rabe: To the Führer of the German people. Chancellor Adolf Hitler. My Führer. As a loyal party member and upstanding German. I turn to you in a time of great need. The Japanese Imperial troops conquered the city of Nanking on December 12, 1937. Since then I have witnessed atrocious crimes against civilians. Please help to end this catastrophe and make an appeal to our Japanese allies in the name of humanity. With a German salute.

[Rabe signs the letter]

John Rabe: Stop it! This is the safety zone. Get out and leave the women alone.

[Rabe switches to German and makes a Nazi salute]

John Rabe: We're Germans. Germans. We're Germans.

[Japanese officer aims his pistol at Rabe]

John Rabe: Help me out here, damn it!

Dr. Georg Rosen: [Rosen also makes a Nazi salute] Heil... Shitler. Heil Shitler.

John Rabe: [after resolving the situation] That's not funny.

Dr. Georg Rosen: We got through.

John Rabe: All the same, he is the Führer of the German people.

Dr. Georg Rosen: And shall I tell you what I don't find funny?

John Rabe: Yes what is it?

Dr. Georg Rosen: It also concerns the so-called Führer.

John Rabe: Listen here...

Dr. Georg Rosen: Friedrich Rosen, my father. An ambassador and foreign minister, forced to flee and die in China. Simply because my grandfather, Beethoven's best friend, no less, happened to be Jewish. My father couldn't die in the country he always lived for. That's not funny. Nor is my position as secretary. After years as embassy councillor. I should be glad to even be alive. Do you think that's funny?

[Rosen makes a Nazi salute]

Dr. Georg Rosen: Heil Shitler.

John Rabe: Chang, what's the point in you having a head?

Chang: So that it not rain into my neck.

John Rabe: Quite right.

Dr. Robert Wilson: I don't like Nazis.

Valérie Dupres: He isn't a Nazi.

Dr. Robert Wilson: Yes he is.

Valérie Dupres: He's just a member of the party.

Dr. Robert Wilson: Which makes him a Nazi.

Valérie Dupres: Are you a member of the church?

Dr. Robert Wilson: Yeah, so what?

Valérie Dupres: What do you think of witch burning?

Dr. Robert Wilson: Ah, well, looking at you, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.