A Dane Saved Chinese Lives During the Rape of Nanking-- Part 5: China

Bernhard Sindberg arrived in China in 1934, once again as a stowaway on a Danish merchant ship, but this time he was caught, but escaped.  He then held several different jobs, including one where he demonstrated Dutch rifles to the Chinese.

One job that he held for awhile probably had a huge impact on his later days in Nanking.  He was the chauffeur for English journalist Penbroke Stephens after the Japanese occupied Shanghai.  The Daily Telegraph reporter covering the Sino-Japanese War was noted for his front line style of reporting until he was killed doing just that.

The Danish company F.L. Smidth was building a concrete factory in Nanking and hired Sindberg as a guard.  It was dangerous, but well-paid work.  He arrived in Nanking on December 2, 1937.  Eleven days later the Japanese occupied the city and the atrocities began.  Sindberg documented them with his camera and wrote extensively about what he was seeing.

--GreGen