Reading the first two
chapters of Desmond Tutu's “No Future Without Forgiveness”, I
thought it was interesting to find so many references to Germany –
so let me focus on that.
I think it is fascinating
to look at different types of dealing with the aftermath of such
devastating conflict. How does a people cope with such sudden and
grave change? How can former victims of discrimination, oppression or
genocide work side by side with their former oppressors or their
families' murderers?
Looking at the other side,
how do soldiers, police men etc. deal with their value system being
turned upside down and suddenly being the bad guys?
And getting back to Tutu –
what role do institutions play in this?
Germany, as Tutu mentions
in the second chapter, deals with its past through a culture of
remembrance. Every year, starting in fifth grade until graduation,
we dealt with National Socialism in some way. We probably read about
five or six novels in our German classes about Anne Frank, Sophie
Scholl and their oppressors. We learned facts and figures in our
history classes and analyzed the manipulative power of Hitler and
Goebbels in our social ed class. In eleventh grade we went to the
concentration camp in Dachau and in thirteenth grade we went on a
guided tour of the Eastern German prison Hohenschönhausen in Berlin,
guided by one of the former inmates.
A lot of students in my
class got annoyed. They didn't want to be constantly reminded. To
them, it all was so far in the past that they didn't see the
connection to their personal lives today (And this in rural Germany,
where in some villages the swastika is still immured into some
houses).
I don't know how many of
them talked to their grandparents, who fought in the second world
war, were supporters or victims of the regime. I don't know if their
grandparents would actually talk to them about it if they were asked.
I think remembering is a
very effective way of dealing with the aftermaths of conflict. It not
only honors its victims, but it shows us how we are connected to our
past. It also shows the government's willingness to fight national
socialism.
How does the American
education system deal with segregation for example? In a similar way?
The part of the book that spoke about acknowledging the past of their South African people as a way to acknowledge their identity as a person really resonated with me. I think it is true that our past has made us who we are and therefore is a part of our identity. I say a part because there are people who would make a certain event in their past their whole identity, which in my opinion is unhealthy. I do believe it is important for people to remember their past as a way to remember what they have gone through to get to where they are today and I think it is just as important to remain in the present and remember that there is more to you than a tragic past or at least there can be. It is a subtle difference that I hope I am explaining correctly. I’ll give an example to try to explain my way of thinking.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago I was in a diversity workshop for my job. One activity was called the privilege walk where at the end of the activity some people were at the front of the room (very privileged) others at the back of the room (not as privileged). Your place in the room was subjected to the statements read by the facilitator.
When we were in a circle debriefing the activity and everyone was sharing their feelings of sadness, embarrassment, and guilt. I tried to show the light at the end of the tunnel by saying "although we have all been through different things it doesn't matter because we all were able to still make it to college and have this opportunity to work here and go further" My choice in the words "doesn't matter" was not the best idea because one person felt I was denying the importance of her past. To be clear, that was not my point.
My point was that no, we should not deny the identity of someone by denying their past, nor should would try to make the past our present. I think that is why in mediation we do not argue the past, we agree on what we can and we move on to how to construct the future. Does that make sense?
I would like to introduce the education of history, especially the World WarⅡ in Japan, because it is a significant point in understanding the relationship between China and Japan and South Korea and Japan. Beginning in elementary school, students learn about World War Ⅱ. Everyone learned about the World War Ⅱ. The problem of history understanding between China and Japan is the Nanking Incident. The problems of history understanding between South Korea and Japan are the annexation of Korea and a sexual slave for Japanese soldiers. Every Japanese people learned these incidents through classes from elementary schools to high schools. Contrary to Germany, I did not read books about these incidents during the World WarⅡin my class. I just learned these incidents as historical facts. Since Japanese class style is teacher-oriented, which means basically students just sit and listen to a teacher talking, my teacher just introduced names, years of these incidents and summarized what happened at that time briefly. They did not touch controversial parts of these incidents. However, almost all Japanese people knew that between China and Japan, and South Korea and Japan had different understanding of these historical incidents because frequently, China and South Korea emphasized on our faults during World WarⅡpolitically. Some Japanese people feel “how long dose Japan have to keep blaming about World WarⅡ? Japan compensated much money and apologized officially. Moreover, many politicians and serviceperson were convicted on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East”. Some people also feel it is so far in the past that they do not see the connection to their personal lives today. Therefore, it is not rare to blame political behaviors, which China and South Korea emphasize on incidents during World War Ⅱby Japan. When will Japan be forgiven by China and South Korea? What is the genuine apology for China and South Korea? I agree that we should not forget the past but the most important thing is that we should remember the past in order to create our better future.
ReplyDeleteIf you cannot understand my ideas, please ask questions to me!!
Stephanie, this is a response to your blog post on commemorative culture in Germany. You write that Germany "deals with its past through a culture of remembrance," and you identified some ways that specific forms of remembrance about WWII are taught in school there. I wonder when such memory-focused education came into being. I am married to a German who was educated in Berlin during the era of the Wall. I have asked him what he was taught then about recent German history. He has told me that no one dealt ever with it at all in his school (Ernst-Abbe Gymnasium, in Berlin). So is the culture of commemoration a recent development in Germany?
ReplyDeleteI am recalling Jenn's comment in class yesterday, who gets to remember whose story? And I am thinking of all those Holocaust Museums that now girdle the globe. If Desmond Tutu is right, that there really is no future without forgiveness, then it seems to me that the burden is now on those who were persecuted, especially in Israel, to travel the path of forgiveness. But Jewish culture is built upon remembrance, and the Holocaust narrative of remembrance about WWII does not ordinarily include the move to forgiveness. Tutu suggests that those who presently remember do not believe they are authorized to forgive on behalf of those who suffered. So does real forgiveness also require forgetting? Tutu says not. But is there a way to write a different narrative of the past, so that there can be a shared future based on forgiveness?
Stephanie, in response to your question about how the American education system deals with teaching segregation, I would say, in my experience, it is pretty similar to what you described: a culture of remembrance. As someone born and raised in the South, I remember learning about segregation by reading books, hearing personal stories, watching movies, and discussing the effect of it on our society then and now. I know that the intent was to educate us about our past, but I also have a feeling that part of the school and community’s agenda was to convince students (and perhaps themselves) that times have changed since the time of segregation. Being from Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, I felt that there was an extra sense of the community’s need to believe that times have changed and racial issues are not the same as they once were. But that is a discussion for another time…
ReplyDeleteGoing back to how schools address embarrassing chapters of our history…I remember going on a school field trip (more than once) to the National Civil Rights Museum in Downtown Memphis. The museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. King’s assassination. The motel has been turned into a museum to educate the public about the Civil Rights Movement and honor the accomplishments of its leaders and participants. Just like the students in your class who got annoyed with learning about Germany’s past, students in my class would roll their eyes, thinking none of it had anything to do with them. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Nothing in our past ever truly leaves us. The most important thing we can do as a society (and for our society) is to keep teaching our history and explain its effect on the world and in our daily lives. The more we learn about the past, the harder it is to forget, and the less likely we are to repeat our mistakes.
While reading your blog post I began to think about the idea of shame. When does education about one people’s atrocities inflicted on another people begin to hold a different value and how do we deal with that? How do people of mixed backgrounds deal with having dual histories?
ReplyDeleteAt my high school we had a day each year where instead of our typical classes, we went to diversity-based classes. One of those classes was taught by my grandmother, a class I attended without knowing who the speaker was going to be. In this class I actually learned a lot, but it was awkward. Not because my grandmother was teaching the class, but because I felt a certain inner conflict.
My grandmother told us about what her mother had to go through in boarding schools where her Native heritage was crushed out. She talked about being the first in our family to leave the reservation permanently. She also talked about how she faced an unimaginable amount of conflict being a person of both white and Native blood. She talked about the challenges she faced and the challenges she still faces to this day because of her DNA.
Students and guests had a lot of questions for my grandmother, questions I had never thought to ask. I had gone to Pow-Wows before and have attended this and that, and my great grandmother told me stories and taught me Chickasaw words. However, I never really felt the full impact and to this day I feel awkward talking about my heritage. One class I took in my last year of undergrad was based on Northwest Native Communities, the teacher asked all Native students to come up. A few students walked up immediately, a few got up slowly, and then the teacher called me up. She knew who my grandmother was and knew her influence in the local Native community. I felt uncomfortable. It didn’t feel right stepping up with the rest of the students, some were from reservations, they had earned their spot.
My question is, if many people feel this sense of guilt and inner conflict about horrible things done in the past, then can we ever move on from the past? Do we want to move on? Is it a matter of time? How do you all feel about having a mixed background and have you studied your heritage and learned what your people have done, both “good” and “bad”?