George Ashmore Fitch

George Ashmore Fitch (January 23, 1883 – January 21, 1979) was an American Presbyterian missionary that lived and worked in China, southern Korea, and Taiwan. Fitch notably smuggled out of Nanjing some of the only known reels of film that documented the Nanjing Massacre.

Fitch was born and raised in China, and was a fluent speaker of Chinese. He and his siblings went to the United States for their education, but all returned afterwards and worked in various religious and humanitarian roles. Fitch himself worked with the YMCA for most of his career.

He is most notable for his assistance of civilians and documentation of the Nanjing Massacre. Fitch served as director of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone, and like John Rabe, was one of the few foreigners in the city at that time. When he eventually left the city, he smuggled with him evidence of the atrocities. He then embarked on a public awareness tour across the United States that drew significant media attention.

Fitch and his wife are also remembered in South Korea for their roles as Korean independence activists. They provided aid to and befriended notable Korean politicians, including first President of South Korea Syngman Rhee and President of the Provisional Government of Korea Kim Ku. After he left China, Fitch eventually served as head of the South Korean YMCA between 1947 and 1949.

Early life and education Fitch was born on January 23, 1883, in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. He was born the fourth child of his parents, Presbyterian missionaries George Field Fitch (1845–1923) and Mary McLellan Fitch (1848–1918). He had a brother and three sisters. Fitch and his siblings were all born in China. He smuggled in the lining of his coat eight reels of 16 mm negative movie film that contained evidence of the massacre. On January 8, 1952, Fitch received the Order of Cultural Merit from the South Korean government. On March 1, 1968, Fitch was among 56 foreigners who were awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation.

The personal documents of him and his wife between 1909 and 1949, including their correspondence with Syngman Rhee, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek, are held in the Fitch collection at the Harvard–Yenching Library of Harvard University.

Personal life Fitch's first wife was Alberta Casterlin Kempton (1887–1919), whom he met while studying in the United States in 1910.

Fitch was the grandfather of politician George B. Fitch, who served as mayor of Warrenton, Virginia, and founded the infamous Jamaican Bobsled Team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics.

In popular culture

Portrayed in the 1995 film Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre. William J. MacDonald, the creator of the HBO series Rome, wrote an unproduced screenplay that featured Fitch as a character. Portrayed by John Getz in the 2007 documentary film Nanking.