who is born great

Braeden 2022-04-19 09:02:49

This is a biopic, not a historical one.

Johann Rabe, Nazi Party member, Siemens engineer.
Just such an ordinary person - even the dazzling Nazi party membership may make people think he is not a good kind, in 1937, in that bloody day, and his companions, saved 200,000 Chinese people. life.

What is driving him to do this?
Gudao hot sausage? Compassionate? Chivalrous? Humanistic care?
No, neither, just the line "You're both stubborn people to die". Rabe lived and worked in China for 27 years, and the beginning of everything was that Rabe wanted to keep his factory and his workers - just like our Schindler.

But what made Rabe finally resolutely stay and lead that "international committee" to set up a safe zone to protect Chinese civilians?
It was his feelings for this land, the mission he felt obliged to do, and even a trace of anger with Dr. Wilson—the dignity of a man.

But his prediction of the war was wrong from the beginning. He took the leaflet "Japanese soldiers are your friends" dropped by the Japanese army, trying to tell people that the Japanese would avoid needless killings, and even saw that A royal prince, he still held a glimmer of hope, hoping that the Japanese army would be restrained. In his bones, Rabe's ideal of war was naive - as if he sent a telegram to Hitler, asking Hitler to intervene in Japan's behavior.

But it was this man who had fantasies about war who saved countless Chinese in the war.

- Who is born great?

Tired of high-level heroes and slogan-style slogans, I prefer to see vivid people.

Our education, that heroic plot, that high-profile character, has been completely lingering—like the cult of saints that has stretched for thousands of years.
The stories of Huang Jiguang and Dong Cunrui have been passed down for generations, but we have never seen Huang Jiguang, nor heard of Dong Cunrui, our propaganda machine, which has always held high the banner of idealism to educate our descendants, telling them that we should pay tribute to the martyrs. In learning, we must sacrifice our lives to go to hell, forget our own lives to save the people; but in our lives, the stick of realism has been swayed, and we have been woken up, "Don't be the first bird", "You are a fool when you are righteous",— —I myself am the product of such a system.

I'm tired of it.
I don't want to see that a person's great love comes without any reason, a person's huge sacrifice is just for the slogan of China's immortality, and a person's willingness to die becomes a matter of course - such a hero is meaningless, or, There will always only be meaning in books - but we can't live with books.

So I need Rabe and his friends, who will be angry with each other, will be blind and naive, will weigh their own interests, will have love, and will quarrel.

——Because no one is great, and only by believing that no one is great can we achieve greatness.
Because we are all mortals, we all have selfishness, we all have timidity, and we all run away - but it is the selflessness, bravery, and responsibility we show under those historical lenses that can confirm the greatness of our lives.

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Extended Reading

John Rabe quotes

  • 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]