World War Ⅱ, the most devastating war to the global community in history, ended 75 years and 11 months from today. An estimated total of 70-85 million people died as a result of the war. Many horrible atrocities were committed by various countries during the war. What I would like to describe is how the countries even 75 years later discuss the war to their own citizens and to the global community.
Germany and Japan, the two countries that although have publicly apologized for certain actions, have completely different ways of framing the World War Ⅱ. German President apologized to Poland on 2019 stating “This war was a German crime.” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the 75th anniversary of the end of the war to apologize and express how important events such as this as survivors have been passing away as time goes on. This was a huge step in Poland’s diplomatic works to get their people an apology as the victims of this war lost their lives, cities, culture, and more. Although Japan as a country has acknowledged some of their war crimes publicly on the 75th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War Ⅱ as Japanese Emperor Naruhito expressed his deep remorse over his country’s actions. However, then-Prime Minster Shinzo Abe only stated his praise for the sacrifices made for Japan during the war. This sadly is just one of the many instances Japan has acted negligently regarding its actions during the World War Ⅱ.
European children have a mandated Holocaust curriculum as it is important to never forget so that history does not repeat itself. German education in particular, is common that classes go on school trips to concentration camp sites. These trips were even mandatory a couple years ago. Japan, on the other hand, publicly and through school has denied many of the events that they had taken part of in the war. There have been reports that Japanese high school textbooks omit over 300,000 deaths in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, 400,000 women and girls who were forced as sex slaves for the Japanese military and much more. On the other hand, Japanese textbooks frame history from a very nationalistic point of view. Within the education system, people such as Hiromichi Moteki, the chairman of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, aids in writing these books claiming that these books are “free from a biased view of history.” He not only denies the comfort women as whole, claims the massacre of Nanjing was propaganda and that Korea exploited Japan by benefiting more from the imperialization than Japan. He has stated “We were not responsible for any wrongdoing and we cannot understand why China and Korea refuse to accept that.” He and others share these horrible views because the Japanese government has also historically denied their own partaking in these historically accurate crimes.
China has been fighting for Japan to fully admit and apologize to not only the massacre of Nanjing but the rape of the women and children. The Japanese government has started to deny this since 1972. In 1994, the Japanese Justice minister publicly stated that Nanjing massacre was “fabricated.” Korea has been fighting for Japan to publicly acknowledge and apologize to the “Comfort Women.” Girls in their teens and women who were taken by the Japanese military and forced into sexual slavery are so called “Comfort Women.” They came forward with their stories in 1991 when the survivors filed a class action lawsuit against the Japanese government. The Japanese government admitted to the comfort stations in 1991, however denied any legal responsibility for the sexual assaults. This acknowledgement did not come with an apology in fact it came with more denial from officials such as Abe Shinzo. In 2007 he stated that there was no evidence of coercion. He took back this statement only to again cast doubt on the comfort women. In 2014 he petitioned the United Nations to revise the 1996 report of the sexual slavery that took place but this request was quickly denied.
Japan has failed to acknowledge their entire role in the World War Ⅱ. The Japanese government constantly pushes doubt and allows incorrect information to be spread through their nation and it allows their citizens to believe these ideas. Because of this belief and the high nationalism, even when other countries citizens state the truth, Japan takes offense and it will lead to more conflict than peace. Japan’s failure to admit the truth not only hurts China, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan, but it also hurts their own Japanese people.
Written by: Samantha Garcia. From New York , United States . Current 4th year student at John Jay college of Criminal Justice .Pursing an International Criminal Justice B.A and a minor in Psychology. Intern at VANK (Voluntary Agency Network of Korea)