SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Swastikas and Germany in the modern day...

Oberon · 03-29-14, 08:54 AM

Another interesting observation and comparison that you might want to make in this thread is the nation of Japan, as well as the treatment of German history in West and East Germany.

Again, I am British so I do not have first hand experience of this matter, however I have read about it and spoken to German people, and have been able, rightly or wrongly, to draw some conclusions from this.

In Japan there wasn't any sense of war guilt impressed upon the population, the nation was demilitarised (briefly) but symbols of Imperial Japan were not banned, and the Emperor was not removed. As such, if one compares modern Japan and modern Germany one sees two very different sides of the spectrum of dealing with a difficult period of history.
Whilst Germany carries its war guilt, Japan has denied it for the most part, although it has paid reperations in many instances, it still denies many of its most brutal crimes such as the 'Rape of Nanking' and conducts historical revision in its school textbooks.

Furthermore in Germany itself, and admittedly this is a more sketchy conclusion that I have drawn, and I await confirmation or denial from those more in the know, there was a difference between how the post-war guilt was taught to East and West Germany, and that, coupled with the vast difference in economic prosperity between East and West Germany in the modern day has meant that if one were to look at Neo-Nazism in Germany you would likely find a slightly higher percentage of Neo-Nazis in the former territories of East Germany than in the West, as people were educated and society tackled the issue in a different manner.

So, it's not really a clear cut issue, few things really are, and historical revisionism takes place all over the world, and I think that as we approach the 100th anniversary of the First World War, there's a danger of it happening again as the victorious Entente look to place the blame of the war firmly upon the Central Powers, one only has to look at Max Hastings on the causes of WWI to see the arguements being put forward at this centenary.

03-29-14, 08:54 AM	#3
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	Another interesting observation and comparison that you might want to make in this thread is the nation of Japan, as well as the treatment of German history in West and East Germany. Again, I am British so I do not have first hand experience of this matter, however I have read about it and spoken to German people, and have been able, rightly or wrongly, to draw some conclusions from this. In Japan there wasn't any sense of war guilt impressed upon the population, the nation was demilitarised (briefly) but symbols of Imperial Japan were not banned, and the Emperor was not removed. As such, if one compares modern Japan and modern Germany one sees two very different sides of the spectrum of dealing with a difficult period of history. Whilst Germany carries its war guilt, Japan has denied it for the most part, although it has paid reperations in many instances, it still denies many of its most brutal crimes such as the 'Rape of Nanking' and conducts historical revision in its school textbooks. Furthermore in Germany itself, and admittedly this is a more sketchy conclusion that I have drawn, and I await confirmation or denial from those more in the know, there was a difference between how the post-war guilt was taught to East and West Germany, and that, coupled with the vast difference in economic prosperity between East and West Germany in the modern day has meant that if one were to look at Neo-Nazism in Germany you would likely find a slightly higher percentage of Neo-Nazis in the former territories of East Germany than in the West, as people were educated and society tackled the issue in a different manner. So, it's not really a clear cut issue, few things really are, and historical revisionism takes place all over the world, and I think that as we approach the 100th anniversary of the First World War, there's a danger of it happening again as the victorious Entente look to place the blame of the war firmly upon the Central Powers, one only has to look at Max Hastings on the causes of WWI to see the arguements being put forward at this centenary.