Peter Harmsen, "Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing" (Casemate, 2024)

Feb 28, 2024

A Danish hero, Bernhard Sindberg, saves thousands during the Nanjing massacre in 1937, resembling Oskar Schindler. The podcast explores his courageous acts, the tragedy of Nanjing, Japan's air raids, and Sindberg's early life and influences. It sheds light on his rebellious nature, commercial relations, and impact on women and children. The story unveils a forgotten hero's remarkable journey amidst war-torn China.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

The Danish Hero of Nanjing

03:58 • 16min

The Tragedy of Nanjing

20:08 • 8min

Simberg's Turbulent Arrival in China

28:04 • 23min

Analysis of Japan's Air Raids on Nanjing and Impact on Women and Children in the Second Sino-Japanese War

50:53 • 3min

Bernhard Sandberg: Early Life and Influences

53:32 • 18min

Discussion on Future Projects and Book Publication

01:11:16 • 2min

In December 1937, the Chinese capital, Nanjing, falls and the Japanese army unleash an orgy of torture, murder, and rape. Over the course of six weeks, hundreds of thousands of civilians and prisoners of war are killed. At the very onset of the atrocities, the Danish supervisor at a cement plant just outside the city, 26-year-old Bernhard Arp Sindberg, opens the factory gates and welcomes in 10,000 Chinese civilians to safety, beyond the reach of the blood-thirsty Japanese. He becomes an Asian equivalent of Oskar Schindler, the savior of Jews in the European Holocaust.

Bernhard Sindberg: The Schindler of Nanjing (Casemate, 2024) follows Sindberg from his childhood in the old Viking city of Aarhus and on his first adventures as a sailor and a Foreign Legionnaire to the dramatic 104 days as a rescuer of thousands of helpless men, women, and children in the darkest hour of the Sino-Japanese War. It describes how after his remarkable achievement, he receded back into obscurity, spending decades more at sea and becoming a naturalized American citizen, before dying of old age in Los Angeles in 1983, completely unrecognized. In this respect, too, there is an obvious parallel with Schindler, who only attained posthumous fame.

The book sets the record straight by providing the first complete account of Sindberg's life in English, based on archival sources hitherto unutilized by any historian as well as interviews with surviving relatives. What emerges is the surprising tale of a person who was average in every respect but rose to the occasion when faced with unimaginable brutality, discovering an inner strength and courage that transformed him into one of the great humanitarian figures of the 20th century and an inspiration for our modern age, demonstrating that the determined actions of one person--any person--can make a huge difference.

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