John Rabe`s Nanking Diaries: A study of his complete records and collection of documents in the context of contemporary sources

本项目旨在从约翰·雷比的日记角度来研究1937-1938年间日本士兵在中国首都南京大屠杀。作为主要来源，这些日记的完整版本超过2000页，包括雷比收集的相关材料(信件、照片、剪报等)，可以进行批判性的审查和评估。为了将这一主要来源联系起来，将比较使用德语、英语、日语和汉语的其他战争日记、回忆录和其他目击者的著作。由于主要来源的体裁，本项目在方法论上属于历史日记研究领域。雷比的日记不是“事实叙述”(J.Rabe，1942)，而是“自我文件”，还需要根据日记作者的自我搜索和自我辩护的功能维度进行分析。因此，该项目不仅将有助于研究南京大屠杀本身、日中关系、日德关系和中德关系，还将有助于战争日记的研究，作为一个案例研究，考虑到日记作者作为参与者的角色，有自己的意图和不断变化的记忆。除了是对这一非凡历史来源的首次分析，这个项目的特殊相关性还在于南京大屠杀在日本和公关中国之间的历史和记忆争议中继续发挥的作用。在两国关于第二次世界大战的性质和东亚遗留问题的公开争端中，大屠杀一直处于中心位置，并继续损害日中外交关系。在这种背景下，研究日本南京大屠杀的研究人员中国和其他方面一直呼吁对约翰·雷比的孙子提供给我的完整版本的拉贝日记进行详细研究。

This project proposes to study the Nanjing Massacre of 1937/38 committed by Japanese soldiers in the Chinese capital of Nanjing from the perspective of John Rabe`s diaries. As the main source, for the first time, the complete versions of the diaries which comprise more than 2000 pages, including Rabe`s collection of related materials (letters, photographs, newspaper clippings etc), can be critically examined and evaluated. To contextualize this main source, other war diaries, memoirs, and other writings by witnesses in the German, English, Japanese, and Chinese languages will be used comparatively. Due to the genre of the main source, this project methodologically falls into the field of historical diary research. Rabe`s diaries are no "factual accounts" (J. Rabe, 1942) but 'ego documents' that need to be analyzed also according to their functional dimensions of self-search and self-justification of the diarist. Consequently, this project will not only contribute to research on the Nanjing Massacre itself, on Japanese-Chinese as well as Japanese-German and Chinese-German relations but it will also make contributions to research into war diaries as a case studies that takes into consideration the diarist`s role as a participant with own intentions and changing memories. In addition to being the first analysis of this extraordinary historical source, the special relevance of this project lies in the role the Nanjing Massacre continues to play within the history and memory controversies between Japan and the PR China. The Massacre has remained at centre stage in the public dispute between both countries on the nature and legacy of the Second World War in East Asia and continues to harm the Japanese-Chinese diplomatic relations. Against this background, researchers on the Nanjing Massacre in Japan, China, and elsewhere have long called for a detailed study of the complete versions of the Rabe diaries which was made available to me by John Rabe`s grandson.