Bearing in Remembrance: Wartime Japan and Germany
This project ties together several perspectives from social science and cultural studies that address the study of how wartime Japan and wartime Germany are remembered in our contemporary societies. We are particularly interested in, firstly, how civic education and teaching projects create cultural memory among the young generation. To this end, we also collaborate with initiatives that address the media and art contributions in the process of shaping and manifesting remembrance. Secondly, we put a special focus on regional differences and the question of how local wartime experiences keep resonating within our societies as local identities and potential points of friction in day-to-day politics or even within the larger concept of national identities.
Principal Researchers: Yumiko Murata, Gabriele Vogt
Associated Researchers: Jane Khanizadeh, Anna Wiemann
Collaborator: André Hertrich (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
Grants:
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Grant for cooperation with Waseda University, 2022-2023.
- The exhibition “Afterimages. Shifting Perspectives on Hiroshima” and related publication received funding by the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, Hamburg.
Publications:
Monograph:
- Hertrich, A. (2020): Krieg und Kriegsverbrechen in Museen der japanischen Selbstverteidigungsstreitkräfte. Militärische Erinnerungspolitik und museale Selbstrepräsentation. Hamburg: Kumulative Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades des Doktors der Philosophie (Dr. phil) an der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Hamburg.
Edited volume:
- Rojkowski, D., S. Bamberger-Stemmann and G. Vogt (2020): Nachbilder. Wechselnde Perspektiven auf Hiroshima / Afterimages. Shifting Perspectives on Hiroshima. Hamburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.
Journal papers and book chapters:
- Vogt, G. (2022): Okinawa’s Unsettled Membership in Japan. In: Current History, 121 (836), pp. 224-230. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2022.121.836.224
- Hertrich, A. (2022): Kriegsverbrecherprozesse im Museum: Die historischen Schauplätze von Nürnberger und Tōkyōter Prozess und deren museale Verwendung. In: Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG), 196-198.
- Murata, Y. (2018): Japanese Language Education with Social Responsibility: Engaging with the History of National Socialism. In: Japanese language education in Europe 22, pp. 430-435.
- Vogt, G. (2018): Political protest from the periphery: social movements and global citizenship in Okinawa. In: Chiavacci, D. and J. Obinger (eds.): Social Movements and Political Activism in Contemporary Japan: Re-emerging from Invisibility. London: Routledge, pp. 71-92.
- Hertrich, A. (2016): War memory, local history, gender: self-representation in exhibitions of the Ground Self-Defense Force, In: Seaton, P. (ed.): Local History and War Memories in Hokkaido. London: Routledge, pp. 179-197.
- Vogt, G. (2015): Setting Out to Imagine a New Community: Okinawa’s Reversion to Japan. In: Hein, I. and I. Prochaska-Meyer (eds.): 40 Years Since Reversion. Negotiating the Okinawa Difference in Japan Today. Wien: Japanologie am Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften der Universität Wien. pp. 44-70.
Media contributions:
- Nach Friedensnobelpreis - Einblicke in die japanische Gesellschaft (by Gabi Szarvas). In: SR 2 - Der Nachmittag, Saarländischer Rundfunk (2024/10/14). (Vogt), https://www.blog.japan.uni-muenchen.de/2024/10/21/radio-interview-mit-prof-gabriele-vogt-nach-friedensnobelpreis-einblicke-in-die-japanische-gesellschaft/
- Korean ‘comfort women’ statue in Berlin angers Japan (by Julian Ryall). In: DW Asia (2020/10/01). (Vogt)
Events:
Exhibition:
- Rojkowski, D.: Nachbilder. Wechselnde Perspektiven auf Hiroshima / Afterimages. Shifting Perspectives on Hiroshima. Hamburg: Mahnmal St. Nikolai (2020/07-08).
Film Screening:
- Shusenjo – The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue (film screening and Q&A with director Miki Dezaki), Munich: LMU (2019/11/28).
International symposium:
- Politics and Culture in Contemporary Okinawa (Joint Organization of an International Symposium by Gabriele Vogt, LMU and Ina Hein, University of Vienna), 2022/07/07, Online.
Teaching Project:
- To foster the practical relevance of language acquisition and content comprehension, Japanese Studies students and Japanese exchange students are working together to create a Japanese version of the guidebook, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. (Murata)
Presentations:
- “Holocaust Template” und Holocaust-Musealisierung in japanischen Gedenkmuseen. At: LMU Japan-Center General Lecture Series, 2021/05/06, Online. (Hertrich)
- Hiroshima. Heimat. At: Nachbilder. Wechselnde Perspektiven auf Hiroshima / Afterimages. Shifting Perspectives on Hiroshima, 2020/08/06, Mahnmal St. Nikolai, Hamburg. (Vogt)
- Japanese Language Education Connected by “Dialogue”: Based on History of National Socialism. At: Political Education, Peace Education and Japanese Language Education: Focusing on Practices in Germany, 2019/03/20, Waseda University. (Murata)
- The Teacher’s Role in Japanese Language Education Connecting to the Future using the History of National Socialism. At: Japanese Language Education for a Peaceful Society and the Role of Teachers: Select Topics According to Different Learning Environments at Universities in Japan, Germany, and Korea (Panel), Venezia 2018 International Conference on Japanese Language Education, 2018/08/04. (Murata)
- 日本とドイツ、二つの自由 (Movie screening 『ハトは泣いている』and panel discussion with Sachie Oka and Akiko Okazaki). At: 映画カフェ, Kyūshū University, 2017/11/28, Fukuoka/Japan. (Vogt)
- Political Protest from the Periphery: Social Movements and Global Citizenship in Okinawa. At: Future Perspectives for Island Society: Sustainability and Self-Management (International RETI 2017 Symposium), 2017/11/17-19, Okinawa/Japan. (Vogt)
- 報告「市民(権)の基盤:アイデンティティと参加」・The Foundations of Citizenship: Identity and Participation. At: 市民が創る新しい未来・Civic Engagement Towards a New Future, International Symposium, 2016/10/10, Fukuoka/Japan. (Vogt)