—Edmund Burke, English philosopher

The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.

— Edmund Burke, English philosopher

What ACTIONS has each country taken to address its past?

Facing Their Histories:

Germany vs. Japan

ACTION:

Offered formal apology to its victims.

Offered vague, indirect, and personal apologies.

GERMANY

YES

Offer an official apology

JAPAN

NO

ACTION:

Dec 7, 1970: German Chancellor Willy Brandt lays a wreath at the monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto…

GERMANY

YES


…and then kneels.

ACTION:

GERMANY

YES


Brandt is named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1970.

In 1971 Brand is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1995, then-PM Murayama offered a personal apology:

Tomiichi Murayama

“Japan… caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly… Asian nations.”

ACTION: Offer an official apology

JAPAN

NO

In 1995, then-PM Murayama offered a personal apology:

Tomiichi Murayama

“I express… my feelings of deep remorse and… heartfelt apology [and] express my feelings of profound mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad.”

Offer an official apologyACTION:

JAPAN

NO

Its Emperor has offered:

Emperor Akihito

“I strongly hope that the scourge of war will never be repeated, and I, along with all the people in this nation [Japan], hereby express my deep mourning for those who died and suffered in the battlefield.”

JAPAN

NO

ACTION: Offer an official apology

Japan’s Parliament

has been silent.

JAPAN

NO

Offer an official apologyACTION:

ACTION:

Opened all its wartime archives to researchers and investigators.

Refuses to open its archives and frequently denies the existence of documents, e.g., those related to wartime military sexual slavery and biochemical warfare experiments.

Open its war-time records

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

ACTION:

Teaches the destructive fanaticism of German ultra-nationalism and its role in the European Holocaust.

Since 1972, Japan’s wartime atrocities have been downplayed or eliminated in school textbooks.

Accurately portray wartime history in school textbooks

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

Accurately detail the National Socialist agenda and actions.

The Yūshūkan military and war museum portrays Japan as an Asian liberator, provoked into war by European and U.S. interests.

ACTION: Accurately portray wartime history in school textbooks

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO


JAPAN

Plaque in the Yūshūkan museum

Highlight heroic war stories, including kamikaze missions

– but omit mention of -- slave labour

-- ‘comfort women’

-- mass killing of civilians

-- biological weapons

testing and use on civilians and POWs.


Highlight the heroism of German anti-fascist movements from 1933 to 1945.

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

Cooperative in identifying Nazi war criminals and bringing them to justice from from foreign asylum and hidden identities.

Refuses to verify names of war criminals submitted by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

ACTION: Identify war criminals

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

Verified over 60,000 names of war criminals as requested by the U.S. Dept. of Justice. All have been banned from entering the U.S.

Refuses to conduct its own war crime investigation.

ACTION: Identify war criminals

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

Many war criminals pursued and punished by Germany’s federal government and ostracized by German society.

Contrastingly, war criminals are openly honoured and revered at the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine by government high officials and Japanese society at large.

ACTION: Pursue and try war criminals

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

As well, most war criminals prospered: they became key government, business and academic leaders.

ACTION: Pursue and try war criminals

JAPAN

NO

Coordinated a settlement with 1.7 million still-surviving victims of slave labour.

ACTION: Investigate and compensate slave labour

GERMANY

YES

German companies engaged in slave labor practices have paid $4.37 billion euros to their wartime victims.

Conceals records of wartime slavery conducted by Japanese companies.


GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

Incredibly, paid $450 million to “compensate” 135 Japanese companies for “managing the contract labourers” after the war.


JAPAN

NO

July 2010 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Is considering compensating South Korea women who were slave labourers during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule.


JAPAN

Changing ?…

ACTION:

Since 2000 has paid 525 million USD in compensation to Holocaust victims.

Refuses to pay any compensation to its wartime victims.

Instead, a non-gov’t public-donation fund was created to offer monies to former ‘Comfort Women’.

Restitution to victims of ultra-nationalism

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

ACTION:

Since 1985, German laws prohibit Holocaust denial and use of the Swastika and SS runes.

Addressing Holocaust denial and ultra-nationalism

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

New (2002) displays at Yūshūkan blame President Roosevelt and U.S. policies for starting the “Greater East Asia War”—a war of “survival and self-defense”.

ACTION:

Since 1985, German laws prohibit Holocaust denial and use of the Swastika and SS runes.

Japanese authors publish denial literature.

Addressing Holocaust denial and ultra-nationalism

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

At national ceremonies, Japanese ultra-nationalists frequently display the Rising Sun flag.

ACTION:

January 27 is Memorial Day for the Victims of National Socialism.

No such recognition.

Declare a National Day of Remembrance

GERMANY

YES

JAPAN

NO

ACTION:

The Yasukuni Shinto Shrine is dedicated to the spirits of 2.5 million warriors who died for Japan’s Emperors.

Honour war criminals and military aggression

GERMANY

NO

JAPAN

YES

Twice a year major rituals are conducted at the Yasukuni Shrine honouring Japan’s warriors.

GERMANY

NO

JAPAN

YES

ACTION: Honour war criminals and military aggression

Since 1978, 25 Class A war criminals have been enshrined.

GERMANY

NO

JAPAN

YES


Former Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi (2001-06) visited the Yasukuni shrine 5 times while in office.

Junichiro Koizumi

GERMANY

NO

JAPAN

YES


Japanese PM Taro Aso (2008-09) donated a potted plant to the Yasukuni shrine

— a week before visiting China in April 2009.

Taro Aso

GERMANY

NO

JAPAN

YES


August 6, 2010:

Japanese Prime Minister Kan and his cabinet refuse to attend ceremonies at the Yasukuni Shrine.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan

GERMANY

NO


JAPAN

Changing ?…

I would like to face history with sincerity. …to have courage to squarely confront the facts of history and humility to accept them, as well as to be honest to reflect upon the errors of our own….

Prime Minister Naoto Kan August 11, 2010

To the tremendous damage and sufferings that this colonial rule caused, I express… my feelings of deep remorse and my heartfelt apology.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan August 11, 2010

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (Tokyo 2005):

Helmut Schmidt

“Sadly, the Japanese nation doesn't have too many genuine friends in the world.”

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (Tokyo 2005):

Helmut Schmidt

…a syndrome he blamed on

“ the ambiguity of the Japanese public when it comes to acknowledging the conquests, the start of the Pacific war and the crimes of the past history.”

Helmut Schmidt

No Japanese media published the content of the Chancellor’s speech.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

— George Santayana

Germany has recognized its past, apologized in its Bundestag and made amends. In so doing, it has restored its honour and is a trusted member of the international community…

Japan can do the same.

The survivorsare waiting...

The survivorsare waiting...

Adapted from material from Global Alliance by Cam Fahlman — OCT 2010

[email protected]

http://edmontonalpha.org

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—Edmund Burke, English philosopher