HIST 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Collective Memory, Nuclear Weapons Testing
Document Summary
Collective memory of wwii and japan: wartime atrocities and hiroshima. Day: many contesting factions within a singular group"s collective memory, any group has collective memory, from church groups in small towns to a nation. Surrender of japan: emperor says that japanese race did not fail, but was defeated by american science. Atrocities: mass killings and women in brothels during invasion of china, japan wasn"t forced to confront their crimes like west germany did. Remembering hiroshima: us censorship prevented news of hiroshima and nagasaki during the occupation of. Japan: film of 2 cities were confiscated, john hersey"s hiroshima was banned, casualty figures are not well known, remembering hiroshima became an assertion of japan"s independence in 1952. 3 dominant collective memories in japan (1950s-1960s: refusal to dishonor, dishonor to japanese veterans if forced to confront atrocities, it wasn"t central. Nagasaki: the hiroshima spirit compels them to look down upon other immoralities and call other nations out for them.
