War is the manifestation of the most extreme levels of human conflict as tensions culminate
in mass violent action.
In such circumstances, rules, codes of honor and care are frequently sacrificed as the
goal of triumphing over an opponent, whether civil or international in nature becomes central.
Yet it is worth noting that in certain cases, wartime has been recognized as a time where
showing more humanity rather than less may be warranted as the best in people is brought
out on rare occasions.
In this account, we scour exceptional cases including the Japanese boy who fed a starving
POW, a Luftwaffe pilot who escorted his intended victim to safety and a Nazi officer who protected
Chinese citizens from rapacious Japanese Imperial Army troops.
10 John Rabe & the Chinese Germany and Japan may have officially been
co-members of the Axis but one German businessmen and bonafide Nazi party member based in Nanjing,
Jiangsu province presented an unusual juxtaposition of loyalties in the annals of war history.
Considered a hero and a humanitarian, John Rabe was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1882
and moved to China in 1908 to pursue his work with the Siemens Company, a German business
with operations in China.
He moved his family to China and developed strong ties with the local populace, including
the Chinese workers and their families.
John Rabe established a German school in Nanjing in the year 1934 which he placed and operated
on his property.
By the time the Japanese Imperial Army was invading China, Herr Rabe had already become
an enthusiastic member of Germany’s National Socialist German Worker’s Party through
his work with the German school.
In the same breath as he talked about what being a Nazi meant to him in terms of supporting
German workers, he also acted as a humanitarian.
He described facing a “moral dilemma” in Nanjing, and ended up playing a key role
in establishing a demilitarized safe zone in Nanjing.
While he was technically an ally of the Japanese, he used that nominal alliance with the Japanese
as a Nazi party member to protect Chinese civilians and even soldiers despite great
risk from Japanese atrocities.
While there were many he could not save, he protected hundreds of Chinese refuges in the
safe zone, using the Nazi armband, Nazi flags and Swastika emblems to keep his Japanese
allies from harming his Chinese trusters to the extent possible.
9 Franz Stigler & Charlie Brown It is not often in history that the person
officially tasked with killing you becomes your guardian without having even met you.
It is even more exceptional for that person to eventually meet their intended victim who
they chose to protect and subsequently become good friends in person.
But the pilot of the deadly Messerschmitt BF-109 that was in the process of intercepting
a B-17 bomber over Germany had a change of heart as Luftwaffe airman with a sense of
fair fighting.
Despite the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany, it is known that a certain number of German
combatants fighting for the Third Reich retained a sense of proper conduct.
One of the most spectacular examples of this wartime honor that went far above and beyond
is the case of Luftwaffe fighter pilot Franz Stigler and American B17 pilot Charlie Brown,
whose life and the life of surviving crew onboard were spared in the course of the interception
over Germany.
Instead of shooting down the badly damaged B17, Stigler chose to escort the bomber to
safety, waving to the pilot and flying alongside the plane to prevent it from being shot down
until it could get within range of the English coast.
The pilots did not discuss the incident until after the war, when Stigler and Brown found
each other following a newspaper notice placement.
The two men became friends until death.
Stigler had immigrated to Canada, while Brown had remained in the USA.
8 Fumio Nishiwaki & Carl Ruse American soldiers captured by the Imperial
Japanese Army in World War II could not expect good treatment and a certain Carl Ruse was
no exception.
Imprisoned in the Yokkaichi-Ishihara Sangyo Japanese prison camp, Ruse was underfed and
poorly treated by guards and could have faced death through stress and starvation.
After surviving what would eventually be called the Baatan Death March of April 1942, Carl
Ruse had arrived at the camp where he faced the daunting prospect of forced labor.
By the time of his liberation and repatriation to the United States in 1945 following the
closing of World War II hostilities, Ruse was in lousy shape to say the least but fortunately
still alive.
His survival, however had not been a matter of mere personal strength and determination.
A young boy, later found out to be a very young factory worker by the name of Fumio
Nishiwaki took a liking to the imprisoned Carl Ruse and formed a friendly acquaintance
with him.
Aware of the starvation rations that put Ruse’s very survival at risk, the young Nishiwaki
snuck in food for Ruse on a steady basis, supplementing his far too meagre rations.
Nishiwaki also gave Ruse a picture of himself to keep, which Ruse took with him upon his
departure aboard the USS Rescue in September 1945.
A non-profit effort backed Carl Ruse’s grandson Tim Ruse’s efforts at looking into the story
he learned about the boy who assisted his grandfather.
The work enabled a Japanese man named Takeo Nishiwaki to be found, who explained that
his brother, who died at age 30 had given a prisoner of war food at the age of 14 while
working at a factory.
7 Hasan Jusovic & Aco Nenadic One of the tragedies of war is that not only
are spoils sought and brief moments of success at other’s expense commonly sought, but
those in close proximity may be turned against each other.
It is even more remarkable when wartime hostilities bring those who know each other into the dubious
status of being legitimate enemies.
When honor and loyalty prevail over politics and states of war, being saved by the enemy
stands out as a remarkable twist in the annals of history.
In the horrific conflicts between Bosniak and Serb forces in 1992 in former Yugoslavia,
a 19-year-old Serbian man named Aco Nenadic who was in the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA)
was part of a convoy that was violently attacked while in the process of withdrawing from Sarajevo.
The convoy’s attackers were Bosniak members of the Bosniak Territorial Defence, or (TO),
which were reacting to what they viewed as a provocation aggression in the form of Yugoslav
People’s Army takings of military supplies.
In the midst of the violence, Aco Nenadic heard a voice that was most familiar to him
urging him to keep quiet and offering safety and protection.
The voice was that of his friend Hasan Jusovic, who had earlier urged him to leave his home
due to mounting hostilities.
Jusovic smuggled Nenadic to his home under pretense and soon, civilian disguise and cared
for him for a month.
He then arranged for him to get to his own family home.
After the conflict, the men had lost touch but in later years, the two men reunited in
friendship in 2009 with the assistance of a TV show called “All for Love”.
6 Wilhelm Hosenfeld, Leon Warm & Wladislaw Szpilman
The German Wehrmacht was hardly the best friend to Jewish victims of National Socialist military
and political aggression.
As the German national army, the Wehrmacht was at the beck and call of Adolf Hitler and
his Third Reich.
Yet amongst the fairly uniform consensus of aiding, abetting or simply complying with
aggression and anti-Jewish and anti-minority group human rights abuses, individuals existed
who were sometimes willing to put the welfare of two intended victims ahead of their own
mandates or even personal safety.
German Wehrmacht Officer Wilhelm Hosenfeld, born near Fulda, Hessen in 1895 grew up Catholic
and as a German patriot.
He became a soldier in World War One, survived and become a teacher, marrying and having
five children.
Although initially a supporter of National Socialism, Hosenfeld became disturbed by the
violence against persecuted identifiable groups and the hostile content of Mein Kampf.
As a Wehrmacht officer stationed in Poland, he first saved Leon Warm by hiding him under
a false identify and employed position after he escaped a Nazi train en route to Treblinka.
He then rescued Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish musician and gave him survival provisions
in the final stages of World War II.
Things did not go so well for Hosenfeld, however.
The Nazis did not get him, but in 1945 he was arrested and taken into Soviet captivity,
remaining in prison until his 1952 death despite petitions from the two rescued Jewish men,
Warm and Szpilman.
In June 2009, Hosenfeld received post-humous honor and recognition as “Righteous Among
Nations” in the Israeli Yad Vashim Holocaust memorial for his work in saving instead of
persecuting those labeled as targets by Nazi Germany.
5 Najah Aboud and Zahed Haftlang The Iran-Iraq War lasting from September 1980
to August 1988, being characterized by innumerable human rights abuses and hostilities that pitted
determined combatants on both sides following the Iraqi invasion of Iran under the rule
of Iraqi dictator Sadaam Hussein.
Zahed Haftlang was an Iranian recruit into the paramilitary Basij forces that made the
use of underage soldiers to take the brunt of battle confrontations and pave the way
for experienced soldiers.
Just 13 years of age when he signed up, Zahed was thrust into the ghoulish conflict that
left 1.5 million people dead but managed to survive the chaos and violence, becoming a
medic in time.
He soon had the opportunity to save the life of an enemy soldier, a certain Najah Aboud,
an Iraqi fighter intent on being married but conscripted and thrown into the midst of hostilities
as Saddam Hussein ordered the ill-fated invasion of Iran that led to a protracted struggle
over territory, people and politics.
Zahed Haftlang found a seriously injured Najah Aboud and was under orders to kill, even being
subjected to physical violence from a superior intended on driving the point home.
But after finding a picture of the Iraqi man’s fiancée and baby, Haftlang put humanity over
military aggression and did all he could to provide clandestine emergency medical care
and save Aboud’s life until orders were changed to take Iraqi prisoners of war alive.
Aboud spent 17 years in Iranian captivity, while Zahed ended up serving more than 2 years
in Iraqi captivity.
Then, 20 years later, a despairing Zahed was interrupted by a caring roommate in the course
of middle of a suicide attempt in Canada and ended up at the Vancouver Association for
Survivors of Torture when he encountered Aboud and the two reunited and remain close friends.
4 Major Josef Gangl, the Americans & the prisoners One of the most remarkably complicated instances
of being saved by the enemy is the case of Itter Castle in Austria.
The castle was being used as a prison by the Nazi regime for high profile prisoners including
French political and military leaders and cultural icons, apparently intended to be
used as hostages for negotiation purposes if needed.
Among the ranks of prisoners were no less than Marie-Agnes Cailliau, sister of General
Charles De Gaulle and former French Prime Ministers Paul Reynaud and Edouard Daladier.
However, as the Nazis began losing the war in an increasingly obvious way, the prisoners
were abandoned in the castle, but could not escape themselves as the area was full of
Nazi personnel.
Heinrich Himmler’s SS intended to seize control of the castle and put the prisoners
to death.
French prisoners sent out scouts on bicycles, only to have them encounter German Major Josef
Gangl.
Major Gangl opted to save the French, but he and his men could not do so alone.
Major Gangl strategically surrendered to American forces, and then joined forces with them to
fight the SS and save the prisoners.
The castle was captured and the prisoners freed, but sadly Gangl himself was killed
in the fighting that followed, shot in the head by an SS combatant.
If the prisoners had not been rescued, saved by the joint forces of their official enemy
and the Americans to whom their enemy surrendered, French figures who played a great role in
rebuilding France would have been killed and never able to make their vital contributions.
3 Hoichi “Bob” Kubo and the Japanese standoff In the history of World War II, the fact that
the United States and Canada were immigrant countries meant and racially and ethnically
based policies were still in place in both countries meant that at times, there could
be a conflict between one’s ethnic background and perceived loyalty in the wartime environment.
In the case of Japanese Americans for example, there were widespread detentions and concerns
about their suitability for US armed forces service against Japan.
Yet Japanese American serviceman Hoichi “Bob” Kubo was determined to serve the US, seeing
a cultural parallel to a Japanese story about a conflict between family loyalty and imperial
loyalty and served with conviction.
In July 1944, an incident in the Battle of Saipan materialized where 130 Japanese soldiers
and civilians were hiding in a cave, the civilians standing around the soldiers.
Previously, the bloody conflict had been defined by a number of mass deaths to suicide by civilians
and soldiers who saw surrender as dishonorable.
Hoichi “Bob” Kubo, however, volunteered to address the tense situation in hopes of
saving lives.
He talked the 130 Japanese out of killing themselves and into surrendering.
So, all these Japanese people were saved from suicide or from being killed in a fight with
American forces by one who was their enemy by nationality but was ethnically Japanese,
using his culture bridging skill to bring a solution to a potentially horrific and bloody
impasse.
2 Gino Farnetti-Bragaglia and the Canadian Trio
Encountering Canadian soldiers or other Allied forces would not be the best fate for Italian
combatants fighting for Fascist Italian forces in World War II.
Many civilians were unfortunately killed by Allied air raids or as a result of collateral
damage in the course of ground based battles.
In both the Kingdom of Italy under fascist rule and the puppet state the Italian Social
Republic established following the surrender of the Kingdom of Italy and switching of sides
to join the Allies in 1943, a great number of lives were lost on both the Allied and
Axis sides.
For the young Italian war orphan Gino Farnetti-Bragaglia, however, a group of Canadian soldiers saved
him from near certain death in the Italian province of Frosinone in June 1944.
After finding him in bad shape and alone following the death of his parents in the war and separation
from his brother, the boy was cared for by three Canadian soldiers named Lloyd ‘Red’
Oliver, Paul Hagen and Mert Massey.
He referred to the men as his “Guardian Angels” and stayed in touch after he was
left in Italy following the departure of the soldiers for Western Europe in February 1945
and his being placed in the care of a family in the region.
It was agreed that he would be able to remain in contact and he did throughout his life
until the death of the last soldier, ‘Red’ Oliver in 2012.
Immensely thankful for being rescued by the Canadian soldiers, the rescued Gino Farnetti-Bragaglia
travelled to Canada upon invitation to recognize the soldiers who saved him.
1 Gehrard Kurzbach and Yisrael Fruman The World War II era mass murder of Jewish
people wantonly taken as prisoners and refugees stands out starkly among global war crimes.
Yet amongst the ghastly happenings, the actions of German Wehrmacht commander Gehrard Kurzbach
stand out so strongly that he has his picture on the wall of a Jewish holocaust survivor
in Israel as well as having been recognized as “Righteous Among Nations” for his lifesaving
good deeds amongst the overwhelming horror and treachery that defined the worst moments
of World War II.
The clever, most honorably devious Gehrard Kurzbach used his strategic position as the
person in charge of a military vehicle repair shop making sure vehicles used by Nazi forces
were in good working order.
Kurzbach is a classic example of one who might seem to protesteth too much, for he ranted
and yelled abuse at Jewish prisoners and seemed to be just a little too die hard in spilling
hate speech.
In fact, the truth to which no one caught onto for enough time for hundreds of Jewish
prisoners to be saved from deportation was that Kurzbach was pretending to persecute
Jews and then hiding them in the workshop before arranging escapes.
One survivor, Israeli citizen Yisrael Fruman may be one of the few holocaust survivors
to have a World War II German officer’s portrayed displayed in honor upon his wall.
Fruman acknowledged the good Kurzbach in a letter to his family and has been preparing
to meet the German Sergeant’s grandson.
Tragically, it appears Kurzbach paid for his actions with his life, being arrested by Nazi
fanatics at gunpoint in 1942 and remains presumed dead.