Minnie Vautrin
明妮·魏特琳
1886–1941
- Dean of Studies, Ginling Women's College, Nanjing
- Organiser of civilian shelter, International Safety Zone (1937–1938)
Biography
Missionary Educator in Nanjing
Minnie Vautrin was born in Secor, Illinois in 1886. She graduated from the University of Illinois and went to China as a missionary educator in 1912, eventually becoming Dean of Studies at Ginling Women's College in Nanjing — one of China's foremost institutions of women's higher education. She spent over two decades in China and was deeply committed to her students and the college. When the Japanese assault on Nanjing became imminent in late 1937, she refused to evacuate.
The Living Goddess of Ginling
During the massacre, Vautrin transformed Ginling Women's College into a refuge. At its peak, the campus sheltered over 10,000 women and children. Vautrin stood at the college gate daily, turning away Japanese soldiers who sought to enter and remove women. She intervened personally on countless occasions, placing herself between soldiers and civilians. Chinese refugees called her "Hua Guanyin" — the Goddess of Mercy. She kept a detailed diary throughout the massacre, recording the systematic nature of the violence and the relentless pressure on the safety zone.
Trauma and Death
The psychological cost of what Vautrin witnessed and was unable to prevent proved insurmountable. She suffered a breakdown in 1940 and was sent back to the United States for treatment. On 14 May 1941, she died by suicide in Indianapolis. She was fifty-four years old. Her diary, preserved at Yale Divinity School alongside Rabe's, was published in English in 1999 under the title Terror in Minnie's Diary and is considered one of the essential firsthand accounts of the massacre. She was posthumously awarded a citation by the Chinese government. Ginling College commemorates her with a monument on campus.