THE CONTROVERSIES THE DAYS AFTER WORLD WAR TWO THE CONTROVERSIES THE DAYS AFTER

FROM THE READING What is being said? What conclusions can you come to from reading the article?

CONTROVERSIES IN HISTORY Why do they exist? Who are involved in this controversies?

JAPANESE TEXTBOOKS The Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi provoked a diplomatic rift with South Korea and China over a school history textbook. It is argued that the text sanitises and justifies the role of Japanese militarism in Asia in the first half of the 20th Century The disputed text has been approved for use in high schools. - It was authored by a rightwing academic grouping the History Textbook Reform Society

EAST ASIAN RESPONSES South Korean historians have cited 25 passages or omissions in the textbook that distort the history of Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1905-1945. Academics in China have highlighted eight passages or omissions that distort the Japanese seizure of Manchuria in 1931 and the invasion of China from 1937 – 1945. The depth of feeling in these countries, extending to broad sections of the populations, stems from the fact that both were victims of Japanese colonial rule.

HOLOCAUST DENIERS

HOLOCAUST DENIER [ACADEMIC JUSTIFICATION] http://www.holocaustdenier.com/holocaust-six-million-jews-myth/

ENOLA GAY CONTROVERSY 50th anniversary of WWII http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/enola/ Plans to exhibit the fuselage of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum The exhibit was to be entitled “The Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of WWII” It was designed to provoke debate about the decision to drop atomic bombs Museum visitors would be encouraged to reflect on the morality of the bombing

RESPONSE TO THE PROPOSAL The part of the script that produced the most opposition stated that: For most Americans, this ….was a war of vengeance. For most Japanese it was a war to defend this unique culture against Western imperialism Another controversial section addressed the question: Would the bomb have been dropped on the Germans? The proposed answer began, “Some have argued that the US would never have dropped the bomb on the Germans, because Americans were more reluctant to bomb ‘white people’ than Asians.”

RESPONSE TO THE PROPOSAL Veterans felt that the exhibition was sympathetic to the Japanese Insult to U.S. soldiers who fought and died in the war. U.S. Senate passed a resolution: called for a revised version of the exhibit reminded museum of its “obligation to portray history in the proper context of its time.”