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Unit 8—Handout 9-3
Wilhelmina (Minnie) Vautrin (1886-1941)
Charred bodies tell the tales of some of these tragedies. The events of the following ten days are
growing dim. But there are certain of them that lifetime will not erase from my memory and the
memories of those who have been in Nanjing through this period. —From Minnie Vautrin’s Dairy
Minnie Vautrin was born on September 27, 1886, in Secor, Illinois. Her
father, Edmund Vautrin was a blacksmith; her mother, Pauline Lehr Vautrin,
died when Minnie was six years old. Vautrin worked her way through the
University of Illinois with a major in education, graduating with high honors
in 1912. She trained as a teacher in Champaign at the University of Illinois,
where she became involved in missionary activities. In 1912, at age twenty-six,
Vautrin was commissioned by the United Christian Missionary Society as a
missionary to Hofei, China, where she served as a high school principal for
four years. Upon her arrival in China, she was moved by the pervasive illiteracy
and inferior status among Chinese women and resolved to devote her life to
promote women’s education and help the poor in her community.
In 1918, Vautrin returned to the U.S. and in 1919 was awarded her master’s
in education from Columbia University. Vautrin returned to China, becoming
the chairman of the education department of Jinling Women’s University in
Nanking in 1919. She served as acting president of Jinling Women’s University
when President Matilda Thurston returned to America for fundraising. According to Hu and Zhang, “at
Jinling, Vautrin devoted herself to promoting women’s education and improving the university’s curriculum.
Also, she launched a ‘good neighbor” policy to serve the poor in the vicinity of the university. She guided her
students to open an elementary school and establish a free clinic for the poor of the neighborhood” (5-6).
At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese war in July 1937, Vautrin defi ed the American embassy’s
order to evacuate the city. In December 1937, the capital city of Nanking fell to Japanese forces, and soldiers
marauded through the streets looting, raping tens of thousands, and killing an estimated 300,000 civilians.
Vautrin was again called on to take charge of the university campus, as most of the faculty left Nanking for
Shanghai or Chengdu, Szechwan Province.
Minnie Vautrin became known in China as the “Living Goddess” or the “Goddess of Mercy” because
she set aside her personal safety to protect the lives of the powerless, saving over 10,000 Chinese women and
children. In December of 1937, when the Japanese army invaded the city during the Second Sino-Japanese,
with only the protection of American fl ags and proclamations from the U.S. Embassy, Vautrin made Jinling
Women’s University a sanctuary for women and children. Risking her life, Vautrin confronted armed soldiers
who stormed the campus and refused to let troops ransack the school or seize the refugees.
In 1938, the Chinese government covertly awarded her the Order of the Jade.
After the siege ended in March 1938, Vautrin devoted herself to caring for the refugees and helping the
women locate husbands and sons who had been taken away by the Japanese soldiers. She taught destitute
widows the skills required to make a meager living and provided the best education her limited resources
would allow to the children of Nanking.
Minnie Vautrin’s writings provide a detailed account of the situation in Nanking under Japanese occupation.
Wednesday, 15 December 1937
It is so diffi cult to keep track of the days—there is no rhythm in the weeks any more.From
8:50 this morning until 6 this evening, excepting for the noon meal, I have stood at the front
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