The International Committee was established in 1937 to establish and manage the Nanking Safety Zone. Many Westerners were living in the city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Imperial Japanese Army began to approach Nanjing (also known as Nanking), most of them fled the city. A small number of Western businessmen, journalists and missionaries, however, chose to remain behind. The missionaries were primarily Americans from the Episcopal, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches. To coordinate their efforts, the Westerners formed a committee: the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. German businessman John Rabe was elected as its leader, partly because of his status as a member of the Nazi party, and the existence of the German–Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact. Rabe and other refugees from foreign countries tried to protect the civilians from being killed by the Japanese. The Japanese army did not completely respect the immunity of the Safety Zone and soldiers would sometimes show up under dubious pretenses to take Chinese women and men into custody. There were also kidnappings of women from the Zone. Such people taken into custody would often either be summarily executed or taken away for rape. Due to Rabe's efforts some 250,000 people were protected during the Nanjing Massacre. In February 1938, as violence by the Japanese Army abated, the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone was reorganized as the Nanking International Relief Committee, which did humanitarian work in Nanjing until at least 1941. There are no records of any activity by the committee after 1941 and it is believed that it was likely forced to discontinue its operations after the United States entered World War II. Establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone The Westerners who remained behind established the Nanking Safety Zone, a score of refugee camps bordered by roads on all four sides that occupied an area of about . This is approximately the 1.5 times the size of Central Park in New York. Members The fifteen members of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone were as follows: George Ashmore Fitch, was general secretary of the "Foreign YMCA" in Shanghai, advisor to OMEA, active in the humanitarian work, named by John Rabe (chairman) to be director of the ICNSZ, and served as acting mayor of Nanjing after Mayor General Ma Shao-chuan turned over to him treasury resources, some police, and food stores.