For greater than three months, the plant grew to become a sanctuary for almost 20,000 civilians. Sindberg, a younger man of 26, stood guard on the gates, waving the Danish flag to discourage intruders.
By Xinhua author Zhang Yuliang
COPENHAGEN, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — In the quiet Danish metropolis of Aarhus, a cellphone name from China this July reopened a chapter of historical past that has been cherished throughout continents for greater than eight a long time.
On the road was Huang Xinghua, whose mom Ai Yiying had survived the Nanjing Massacre because of the safety of a younger Dane, Bernhard Arp Sindberg. During the winter of 1937-1938, Sindberg risked his life to shelter hundreds of civilians inside a cement manufacturing unit on the outskirts of Nanjing, China.
“My mother always said that without the Jiangnan Cement Plant and Mr. Sindberg, our family wouldn’t have survived. We will always remember his life-saving kindness,” Huang informed Mariann Stenvig Andersen, Sindberg’s niece and chairperson of the Sindberg Foundation.
COURAGE IN DARK TIMES
Sindberg, born in Aarhus in 1911, arrived in Nanjing in December 1937. Working as a watchman on the Jiangnan Cement Plant, constructed by Danish firm F.L. Smidth, he all of the sudden discovered himself in the course of one among historical past’s darkest atrocities. Together with the German manufacturing unit supervisor Karl Gunther, he opened the manufacturing unit gates to terrified civilians fleeing Japanese troopers.
For greater than three months, the plant grew to become a sanctuary for almost 20,000 civilians. Sindberg, a younger man of 26, stood guard on the gates, waving the Danish flag to discourage intruders.
His niece recollects her uncle as “not tall, about 1.73 meters, but very strong,” a former soldier with curly blond hair and a Nordic toughness that by some means made Japanese troops hesitate. “I still don’t understand why they didn’t kill him,” Andersen stated. “Maybe, as he said himself, he was just lucky.”
Journalist Peter Harmsen, creator of Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing, describes how Sindberg would confront troopers on the gate, generally carrying solely a double-barreled shotgun and the Danish flag. “It seemed almost magical,” Harmsen writes, “as if the flag itself forced the soldiers to step back, like demons confronted with a powerful spell.”
Sindberg additionally bore witness. A gifted photographer, he captured haunting photos of the bloodbath’s aftermath. “It is a huge loss that he never wrote detailed memoirs,” Harmsen informed Xinhua. “He had both the eye of a photographer and the words of a journalist.”
A LASTING LEGACY
Sindberg left Nanjing in March 1938, later settling in California, the place he died in 1983. Yet in China, his legacy endured. In 1938, the Shanghai municipal authorities awarded him a medal, and a yr later, grateful civilians introduced him with a silk banner embroidered with the phrases ‘performing bravely for a simply trigger.’
That banner, as soon as gifted by Sindberg to his niece, is now preserved on the Memorial Hall of the Victims within the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. Andersen stated donating it was her manner of honoring each her uncle and the Chinese folks. “Since the Chinese commemorate my uncle so sincerely every year, I felt I should do something too,” she stated.
In Aarhus, Sindberg’s hometown, a statue stands tall in Marselisborg Memorial Park, a present from Nanjing and unveiled in 2019 by then-Queen Margrethe II.
REMEMBERED AS A FRIEND
This August, an exhibition titled “My Friend: Bernhard Arp Sindberg” opened on the China Cultural Center in Copenhagen, curated by college students from Nanjing University.
“His courage, wisdom, and kindness deeply inspire our students,” stated Chen Min, director of the college’s German Department. “To them, he is not only a friend but also a role model.”
Sindberg’s half-brother Ole attended the opening. “Bernhard never knew during his lifetime that his actions in Nanjing would be remembered like this. If he could see this today, I believe he would be proud,” he stated.
For a long time, Sindberg was little identified in Denmark, regardless of being revered in China. Harmsen’s e-book has helped revive his reminiscence at residence.
“Sindberg was an average person in most ways,” Harmsen famous. “But he managed to rise to the occasion and act ethically and heroically at a decisive moment in history. His story has universal appeal because it shows that one individual can make a difference, even in the face of overwhelming circumstances.”