Report written by Nike Kutzner, B.A. student of Film Studies
This was the title of the Q+ seminar and the excursion to Berlin at the beginning of April. The aim of the seminar was to gain a more detailed insight into the cultures of remembrance in Germany and Japan, but also in South Korea, and to explore similarities and differences.
It all goes back to the war crimes committed in these countries during the Second World War. In Germany, the persecution and murder of six million Jews is summarized under the name “Shoah” or “Holocaust” and is an integral part of history lessons at school. The murder of other people who did not fit into the National Socialists' “worthy of life” image, namely homosexuals, Sinti and Roma and the physically and mentally disabled, is mentioned rather marginally, but is also addressed.
In Japan, the fate of the very euphemistically named “comfort women” is treated in a very undifferentiated way. These women were South Koreans, women from other Asian countries such as the Philippines or Taiwan, but also women from Japan. They were taken to Japanese military brothels, usually under constraint or false promises, and forcibly prostituted. It is no longer possible to determine how many women were affected in total, as many records were destroyed and most of those affected remained silent out of shame or fear of stigmatization. There is talk of up to 200,000 women, but there are hardly any reliable sources available. In the 1990s, the first women broke their silence, which led to cross-border debates about the extent, circumstances and atonement or compensation for the war crime.
Our seminar began on April 8th with a full-day workshop in which Prof. Atsuko Kawakita, who teaches German and European Studies at the renowned University of Tokyo (Todai), introduced us to the topic with a lecture on the cultures of remembrance in Germany and Japan. In the afternoon, the comparison of German and Japanese cultures of remembrance was continued by Dr. Torsten Weber, who teaches at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo and who was a guest at Q+ for a week as a Q+ International Fellow and thus accompanied us academically during the seminar as well as the three-day field trip.
On April 10th, we traveled to Berlin. Our first stop was the Jewish Museum. In addition to focusing on Jewish life during the so-called “Third Reich”, the museum also provides an all-encompassing view of the history of Judaism in Germany. The design of the museum building itself is remarkable, as star architect Daniel Libeskind designed some of the rooms and corridors in such a way that they deviated from the usual symmetries, making visitors dizzy, unsure of how to walk and perceive and “losing their footing”. In a drastic and very touching way, this conveyed the situation of the Jewish people in Germany, whose existence was thrown out of joint, who lost all orientation, security and 6 million people also lost their lives and who are on a constant search for a home.
The next morning, we made our way to Berlin-Moabit to visit the so-called “Peace Statue”. This statue, which shows a seated young woman with an empty chair next to her, is a memorial to the “comfort women” of the Second World War, but also to sexualized violence worldwide. Nataly Jung-Hwa Han, Chairwoman of the Korea association, told us about the history of the statue and then gave us an introduction to the Museum of Comfort Women. The statue has been in Berlin since 2020 and caused quite a stir as the Japanese government protested against its installation. After many discussions and demonstrations in favor of the statue, it is currently secured to remain in Moabit, although further negotiations are pending.
The history of the statue and its background was presented in detail in the Museum of the Comfort Women. In addition to information boards with historical data, there were also various illustrative materials such as comic strips, written accounts of individual fates and newspaper headlines about the discussion surrounding the statue. The museum, which is not particularly large, is beautifully designed and its bright colors create an atmosphere that makes it easier to talk about the touching fates of the “comfort women”.
After lunch, the Japanese embassy welcomed us in a stately, very well-secured building, which we could only enter after extensive security checks. There we had a two-hour conversation with the 1st Embassy Secretary, Mr. Ogasawara, about the Japanese perspective on their culture of remembrance and Japan's official treatment of the “comfort women”. Mr. Ogasawara emphasized that the Japanese embassy had never been asked about this topic before and that this was the first time he had been asked questions about it. Accordingly, each of his answers was carefully chosen.
Immediately afterwards, we walked to the South Korean embassy, which we entered without a security check and where we were received by the 1st Embassy Secretary Mr. Muhee Tak and the interpreter Ms. Jisun Hwang. During this conversation, too, it quickly became clear how sensitive this topic of “comfort women” is and how high the mutual mistrust between South Korea and Japan still is today, although there is official cooperation between Japan and South Korea due to the geopolitical situation and the perceived threat from China and North Korea.
On our last day, we took a three-hour city walk on the German culture of remembrance during which Mr. Adam Kerpel-Fronius, research associate of the Foundation “Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe”, took us to the various memorials in Berlin that were initiated for the victims of Nazi crimes - mostly due to civic engagement. They are all located in the immediate vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate, so we could easily reach them by foot. Our first stop was the memorial to the Sinti and Roma murdered under National Socialism, which was designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan. It shows a black pool of water full of “dark tears” surrounded by flat stones on which places with concentration camps where Sinti and Roma were murdered can be read. In front of the memorial itself is a chronology of the Nazi murders and, further away, various information boards that tell of the individual fates of the Sinti and Roma. Hundreds of thousands of victims have been mourned.
The next stop was the memorial to the homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism, which stands rather inconspicuously in Berlin's Tiergarten. Through a glassed-in, square peephole in a concrete block, you can see a video sequence showing same-sex couples kissing, which runs in a continuous loop.
We then visited the memorial and information site for the victims of the National Socialist “euthanasia” murders, which – as indicated by the name “T4-Aktion” - can be found at Tiergartenstraße 4. A steel sculpture here commemorates the systematic murder of around 500,000 physically or mentally impaired people who were labeled “unworthy of life” and systematically murdered during the Nazi era. There are several information boards with the names of victims and perpetrators to help visitors understand the extent of the crime.
Finally, our last stop was the famous Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which consists of almost 3,000 concrete blocks located near the Brandenburg Gate. It was erected in the early 2000s and designed by Peter Eisenman.
So many dead people! Millions of people were murdered by the Nazis in the name of Germany in just 12 years. The tour left us stunned and saddened. After these four very informative days, we all agreed in a final feedback session that this excursion had been a very valuable experience. Even if Germany officially accepts its responsibility for the millions of murders, it is up to each and every one of us to ensure that this never happens again.
Despite the difficult topic, this Q+ workshop was enriching for everyone and we look forward to further field trips as part of Q+.
Nike Kutzner, BA Film Studies
