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Remembrance of World War II and the Postwar in the United States and Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Laura Hein
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One of the central lessons of the literature on the invention of tradition is that historical symbols are always available for reinterpretation in a variety of ways. Yet, there are some facts that are still rooted in the incontrovertible logic of the human life span. The sixtieth anniversary of anything means that those who were active participants are no longer making decisions in public capacities although some of them are still here. For example, this spring Lisa Fittko, who had helped such figures as Hannah Arendt and Marc Chagall escape Europe, died at age 95. Like the people she guided across the Pyrenees, she eventually settled in the United States and helped institutionalize the European war in American memory.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 3 , Issue 5 , May 2005 , e21
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

References

Notes

[1] “The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” Director Nic Diamond Playwright: Carson Kreitzer at Next Theater, Evanston IL, March 2005. “John Adams has brought contemporary history to the opera house with such music theater works as ‘Nixon in China’ and ‘The Death of Klinghoffer.’ His ‘On the Transmigration of Souls’ was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to commemorate the victims of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. He is presently at work on his third opera, ‘Doctor Atomic,’ based on J. Robert Oppenheimer and the scientific and moral crises surrounding the creation of the world's first atomic bomb in 1945.” NU Observer on line, February 17, 2005, accessed March 21, 2005. Also note American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, 2005.

[2] Tsuda gets ideas for her art by interviewing atomic bomb survivors and descendents of people from various parts of the world whose lives were disrupted by the war. See http://www.afterhiroshima.org/tsuda.htm. Accessed March 21, 2005.

[3] This is particularly striking because one of the key points they debate is whether the use of the bombs was necessary to bring Japan's wartime leaders to surrender – something that we CANNOT learn simply by focusing on the American side. Yet many people continue to try. For a sobering analysis of Japanese decision making in August 1945, see Sadao Asada, “The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan's Decision to Surrender: A Reconsideration,” Pacific Historical Review 67.4 (1998): 477-512.

[4] David E. Nye, American Technological Sublime, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994. Quotes on pp. 282, 225, 228.

[5] In fact, attention to this subject has grown markedly in the last decade in Japan, underscoring my point that such issues do not automatically fade away with the deaths of survivors.

[6] “Japan's Hidden Role In The ‘Return’ Of Zainichi Koreans To North Korea” by Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Feb. 07, 2005.