Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, sent a batch of medical supplies to Thomas Rabe, a doctor at the Medical School of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, on April 17 as a way to thank his deceased grandfather, who helped Chinese people during the Nanjing Massacre over 80 years ago.

Earlier this month, Thomas Rabe contacted the embassy of China in Germany and asked China for help with certain medicines used for combating the epidemic.

When they heard about this request, pharmaceutical companies in Nanjing, together with the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, quickly went into action, procuring 620 bottles of the medicine, 200 pieces of protective clothing and 30,000 medical masks in a very short time.

The batch of medical supplies will be donated to Thomas Rabe and his family, Heidelberg’s City Hall and the Heidelberg University Hospital.

John Rabe, grandfather of Thomas Rabe, set up a security zone with a number of other foreigners during the 1937 Nanjing Massacre and saved the lives of 200,000 Chinese people. He also recorded the atrocities committed by the Japanese in his diary, which is considered the best-preserved historical data on the Nanjing Massacre in recent years.