Synopsis
1937. For nearly 30 years now, businessman JOHN RABE has been living with his wife DORA in the capital city of China, Nanking, where he heads the Siemens branch. It is difficult for him to hand over the reins of the branch office to his successor, FLIESS, and return to Berlin. He has learned to love the country, and he knows that while he is a man of influence here, at the Siemens headquarters in Berlin he will be only one employee among many. During the farewell ball in his honor, Nanking is bombed by Japanese airplanes following the Japanese army's capture of Shanghai. As panic breaks out, Rabe resolutely opens the company gates and offers refuge to the families of his employees.
The next morning, while the fires are being extinguished and the damage examined, the foreigners who stayed in the city discuss what they should do in this dangerous situation. The German Jew and diplomat DR. ROSEN tells them about a safety zone for civilians that was set up in Shanghai. Right away VALÉRIE DUPRES, the director of the Girls' College, thinks the idea is fantastic, and she nominates John Rabe as chairman, because as a German he's more or less an "ally" of the Japanese. Her suggestion annoys DR. WILSON, senior physician of the local hospital, because he detests the "Nazi" Rabe. Actually, Rabe had wanted to leave for Germany the next day. But now he decides to stay, and immediately gets down to work.
While the Imperial Japanese Army unleashes a wave of brutality on the civilian population Rabe and his comrades courageously and skillfully negotiate with the Japanese and wrest a guarantee for a safety zone from them. Hundreds of thousands of people pour into the zone – much more than expected. However, the Japanese continue to harass and attack the population, and it becomes more and more difficult to get supplies. Then the Japanese plan to use a pretense to storm the zone – and a race against time begins for Rabe...