Main topics: "The Second World War in Historical Studies and Remembrance Culture in Germany and Russia" "Russian Emigration in Germany, German Emigration in Russia in the 20th Century" The fourth volume of the Mitteilungen der Deutsch-Russischen Historikerkommission documents the colloquia "The Second World War in Historical Studies and Remembrance Culture in Germany and Russia" (Saratov 2005) and "Russian Emigration in Germany, German Emigration in Russia in the 20th Century" (Munich 2006) as well as lectures at a conference on the German Flying School in Lipeck.
AbstractJapan and Germany were allies during World War II, and both countries committed crimes. Even though the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany was unprecedented in history, Japan has also been found guilty of serious misdemeanours. Today, Germany acknowledges the magnitude of its responsibility and strives to deal with this legacy. However, in Japan, we find no consensus on dealing with the matter. Nonetheless, it would be short-sighted to conclude that Germany did a better job than Japan from the outset. In analysing the different approaches to remembrance culture in the two countries, we use the theoretical framework ofcivil religionto assess the impacts of the respective civil religions on the culture of commemoration. We hereby analyzed the structural factors as well as the influence of individual political behaviour. Immediately after the war, neither Germany nor Japan were interested in coming to terms with their past. Both countries were subject to Western integration, and both countries experienced remarkable economic growth. One of the major differences between both countries concerns civil religion. While Germany no longer relied on strong nationalism-based politics and instead pursued European integration, in Japan. Shintôism has continued to influence feelings of national belonging, making it more difficult to establish a critical dialogue with the past. Further differences are apparent: the Western origin of Japan's constitution, the conflicting international environment in Japan, the late regime change, differences in education and, most importantly, the impacts of generational change in Germany. The 1968 student generation strongly condemned Nazi aggression and demanded that the older generation face responsibility, which strongly contributed to a reappraisal of the past in the public sphere.
Yisang (1910–1937), one of the most renowned and best-studied poets of Korea's colonial period, is usually remembered as a bohemian, as an intoxicated master of modernist language games. But a close reading of the poetologically charged poems with which Yisang introduced himself to his audience as a Koreanlanguage poet in July 1933 reveals that the engagement with Korean history and identity took center place in his own view of his poetical endeavors. However, different from more simple-minded nationalist authors, Yisang recognized the doubleedged quality of "history" and "nation" — constituting both a treasure and a burden. It is argued that this complication of the "love for the nation" instigated by his poetry has been one of the reasons why the political layer of Yisang's poetry has kept being forgotten — notwithstanding repeated rediscoveries — in the scholarship in recentdecades. More than anything, it is his distrust of a celebratory politics of remembrance that makes a celebratory remembrance of Yisang's politics so difficult.
Anniversaries and jubilees play a central role in the "doing" of history. They qualitatively and quantitatively expand the group of people who consume and produce "history," while different history media correspond and compete with each other. Celebrations and ceremonies, plays and productions address individual and collective identities and (re)produce a sense of belonging to (imagined) communities.
This article features and interprets the 'Ploner-Debate', a public debate in Tyrol and South Tyrol, that focussed on the interdependencies between 'folk culture' ('Volkskultur') and NS-ideology in historical perspective and the contemporary dealing with this 'brown heritage' in political and public contexts. As one important result of this debate, the provincial government of Tyrol initiated research projects on this topic, among them one about the Intermediate Post for 'German Folk Costume' (Mittelstelle 'Deutsche Tracht') in Innsbruck (1939–1945), its head Gertrud Pesendorfer and its effects up to today. By reconstructing the debate, this article explains the background, aims and challenges of a research project about folk costumes in the context of current discussions around 'folk culture' ('Volkskultur') in European Ethnology. ; This article features and interprets the 'Ploner-Debate', a public debate in Tyrol and South Tyrol, that focussed on the interdependencies between 'folk culture' ('Volkskultur') and NS-ideology in historical perspective and the contemporary dealing with this 'brown heritage' in political and public contexts. As one important result of this debate, the provincial government of Tyrol initiated research projects on this topic, among them one about the Intermediate Post for 'German Folk Costume' (Mittelstelle 'Deutsche Tracht') in Innsbruck (1939–1945), its head Gertrud Pesendorfer and its effects up to today. By reconstructing the debate, this article explains the background, aims and challenges of a research project about folk costumes in the context of current discussions around 'folk culture' ('Volkskultur') in European Ethnology.
Commonplace Witnessing examines how citizens, politicians, and civic institutions have adopted idioms of witnessing in recent decades to serve a variety of social, political, and moral ends. The book encourages us to continue expanding and diversifying our normative assumptions about which historical subjects bear witness and how they do so.
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"This work explores the evolution from traditional to contemporary forms of war commemoration while centering around fundamental question of whether these new forms of memorial are meant to encourage the remembering or forgetting of the experience of war, as well as what implications this process may have for the continuation of the modern nation state"--Provided by publisher
