Robert de Besange (born March 15, 1878 in Saintes, France, died 1946 in Berlin, Germany ) was a French Jesuit who set up a successful model of safety zones that saved over half a million Chinese people during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

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The model includes the Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

 Safety Zone, or "Jacquinot de Besange Safe Zone", the Nanjing

Nanjing

' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...

 Safe Zone (simplified Chinese: 南京安全区; traditional Chinese: 南京安全區; pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

: Nánjīng Anquán Qǖ), the Hankou

Hankou

Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...

 Safe Zone, the Zhangzhou

Zhangzhou

Zhangzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Located on the banks of the Jiulong River , Zhangzhou borders the cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou to the northeast, Longyan City to the northwest and the province of Guangdong to the southwest.Zhangzhou...

 Safe Zone and the Shenzhen

Shenzhen

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...

 Safe Zone. These Safe Zones (pinyin: Anquán Qǖ) were demilitarized zones for Chinese civilians. Following the example of de Besange in Shanghai, the foreigners in Nanking created the Nanking Safety Zone

Nanking Safety Zone

The Nanking Safety Zone was a demilitarized zone for Chinese civilians set up on the eve of the Japanese breakthrough in the Battle of Nanking...

, managed by the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone, led by German businessman John Rabe

John Rabe

John Rabe was a German businessman who is best known for his efforts to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army during the Nanking Occupation and his work to protect and help the Chinese civilians during the event...

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Jacquinot de Besange's family originates from Lorraine

Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

, Northeastern France.

His work is acknowledged in the Protocols and Commentaries to the 1949 Geneva Convention. A film of his life an work, Jacquinot: A Forgotten Hero directed by Krzysztof Zanussi

Krzysztof Zanussi

Krzysztof Zanussi, is a Polish producer and film director.He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop...

, was featured in the 2009 Shanghai International Film Festival

Shanghai International Film Festival

The Shanghai International Film Festival , abbreviated SIFF, is one of the largest film festivals in East Asia.Along with Tokyo International Film Festival, the SIFF is one of the biggest film festivals in Asia. The first festival was held from October 7 to 14, 1993, and was held biennially until...

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