Minnie Vautrin (front, third from left), Tsen Shui-fang (front, fourth from left) and others from the Committee that organized religious work for refugee women and girls stand in front of Ginling College. The Safety Zone was a demilitarized zone for Chinese civilians set up on the eve of the Japanese breakthrough in the Battle of Nanking (December 13, 1937). Following the example of Jesuit Father Robert Jacquinot de Besange in Shanghai, the foreigners in Nanking created the Nanking Safety Zone, managed by the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone led by German businessman and Nazi party member, John Rabe. The zone and the activities of the International Committee were responsible for saving the lives of many thousands of Chinese civilians during the Nanking Massacre.