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DePauw University Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University Student research Student Work 4-2017 Peace Museums on the Land of Victims and the Land of Perpetrators: Analyses of Curation and Design of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Information Center Under the Field of Stelae in Berlin Yuka Kitajima DePauw University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch Part of the Museum Studies Commons, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kitajima, Yuka, "Peace Museums on the Land of Victims and the Land of Perpetrators: Analyses of Curation and Design of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Information Center Under the Field of Stelae in Berlin" (2017). Student research. 73. http://scholarship.depauw.edu/studentresearch/73 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student research by an authorized administrator of Scholarly and Creative Work from DePauw University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Peace Museums on the Land of Victims and the Land of Perpetrators: Analyses of Curation and Design of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Information Center under the Field of Stelae in Berlin Yuka Kitajima Honor Scholar Program Senior Project 2017 Sponsor: Julia Bruggemann, Ph.D. First Reader: David Worthington, Ph.D. Second Reader: Hiroko Chiba, Ph.D. This paper was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Honor Scholar Program at DePauw University 1 Acknowledgement I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis sponsor Dr. Julia Bruggemann as well as the two professors on my thesis committee, Dr. David Worthington and Dr. Hiroko Chiba for their guidance throughout the process. I also appreciate Dr. Kevin Moore, Ms. Amy Welch, and Ms. Peg Lemley for coordinating the Honor Scholar Program. I am thankful for all the professors I have had for the seminars leading up to a senior year: Dr. Sherry Mou and Dr. Keith Nightenhelser. Lastly, I am grateful to my family, boyfriend, housemates, friends for their unconditional love and support as well as to my fellow Honor Scholar seniors for being inspirational and encouraging figures to me. 2 3 Table of Contents Abstract ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 6 Introduction • Background of the Atomic Bombing and the Holocaust・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 8 • Rationale of the Research • Research Questions • Research Design • Relations Between Museums and Peace Museum Analysis・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 14 • Sponsors • Mission Statements • Permanent Exhibits • Topography and Architecture • Location Discussion・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 66 References・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・ 70 · 4 Abstract This paper examines if, how and to which degree, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Nakajima District of Hiroshima, Japan and the Information Center under the Field of Stelae in Berlin, Germany, transform a Culture of Violence and a Culture of Neutrality into a Culture of Peace. I analyzed sponsors, mission statements, exhibits, topographical and architectural designs, and geographical factors as a reflection of the degree of these selected museums’ contribution to the cultural transformation. The two selected museums stand on the soils with a complex history involving mass tragedies. Hiroshima became the first-ever victim to the atomic bombing which killed 140,000 people as well as destroyed an integral military city of the Imperial Japan. Berlin was a capital city of the Nazi Germany as well as a victim of the Ally’s air raids and post-war occupation. The comparison of these museums and the respective city tell us how the museums contribute to a Culture of Peace with different concepts of and approaches to peace. It is shaped by whether them standing on the land of victims or the land of perpetrators, and whether the city itself was completely destroyed or not in the same way as how the victims of a larger tragedy were produced. 5 6 Introduction Background of the Atomic Bombing and the Holocaust At 8:15 AM on August 6th, 1945, the American Air Force dropped a nuclear weapon Little Boy on a military city, Hiroshima City located in the west of Japan, targeted Nakajima District. Up until that point, air raids on Hiroshima City were prohibited within the American Air Force in order for them to see the actual effect of the newly invented scientific weapon. About 60,000 people were instantly killed by the atomic bombing, and the number of victims eventually increased to approximately 140,000 by the end of December, 1945.1 To date, many survivors of the atomic bombing (hibakusha) suffer from different aftereffect diseases. The Little Boy also obliterated the city structure. Three days after the initial atomic bombing, another nuclear weapon was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Because of these damages, Imperial Japan2 realized that it was impossible for them to keep up with the Allies in the war and thus surrendered to them on August 15th, 1945. Following immediately, the U.S. occupied Japan until the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Nazi Germany perpetrated the Holocaust which killed over six million Jews, 500,000 Sinti and Roma, 200,000 people with mental or physical disabilities, and 50,000 homosexuals throughout Europe.3 It was a systematic, state-led, mass-murder operation, with the use of 1 “Virtual Museum” Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/virtual/index_e.html. 2 In this paper, I use two terms for each country to make it easier for the readers to follow the arguments. Those terms are Imperial Japan (1868-1945) and Japan (1945-today) as well as Nazi Germany (1933-1945) and (post-reunification) Germany (1989-today). It is not my intention to argue that the newer regime is completely separated from the previous regimes. Rather, it is the premise of this paper that the history and its narrative are passed down to newer generations, across regimes. They are, in a sense, inseparable when we discuss the matter of memorialization of the past. 3 Bill Niven, “8: The Holocaust Memorial,” in Facing the Nazi Past: United Germany and the Legacy of the Third Reich. (Cornwall: TJ International Ltd, 2002) 7 endless violence and concentration camps, continued until May 7, 1945. After the Nazi Germany’s surrender to the Allies, Germany was divided into two countries, East and West, and respectively occupied by the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain. Germany reunified the country in 1989 followed to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. To date, the perpetrators of the Holocaust are still prosecuted on trials. Rationale of the Research The Hiroshima Museum and the Holocaust Information Center are classified as peace museums and museums for peace4. These museums are believed to transform a Culture of Violence and a Culture of Neutrality to a Culture of Peace by providing an educational platform and by visually speaking to the visitors’ heart. In the past few decades, scholars have debated that there are different types of peace within a Culture of Peace. Regarding the peace museum studies, some scholars have attempted to classify them into categories based on what type of peace they manifest to achieve through their exhibits. However, there has not been too much research that discusses how and why these museums transform culture to a more peaceful one. Moreover, there have also not been too many of specific case studies on how a museum, including surrounding memorials, its location, and historical background contribute to the transformation. It is important for us as citizens of 21st century to revisit the purpose and impact of these museums, as we face great challenges in the use of violence today all over the world. In this paper, I compare two museums for peace, respectively located in Hiroshima, Japan and Berlin, Germany. These selected museums are the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum 4 According to Ted Lollis in 2011, there are 55 traditional peace museums, those have “peace” in their name, and 155 other museums for peace. The number varies based on different range of definitions (Apsel, 2012). 8 (forward: Hiroshima Museum) and the Information Center (forward: Holocaust Information Center), which is located under the Field of Stelae or the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (forward: Holocaust Memorial) in Berlin. Among many peace museums and museums for peace in Japan and Germany, there are valid reasons why these two museums are ideally comparable. Both museums are memorial-museums, meaning, built with memorials to serve the purpose of the commemoration of the victims. They also attract many visitors from all over the world. At a larger scale, both Hiroshima and Berlin attempt to reconstruct themselves as a peace actor. The only obvious difference here is the location of the museums, not in terms of East and West, but in terms of the history behind the land they stand on. Before the atomic bombing, Hiroshima functioned as one of the few essential military cities of Imperial Japan where the national government built naval academies, military hospitals, and military factories. Until August 6th, in terms of the functionality, the city actively supported the Imperial Japan’s advancement in the war. Hiroshima-unique military unit, the Fifth Division had been formed and sent out to China and Korea to ensure the Imperial Japan’s power over these colonies.5 From the moment of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima became the first-ever victim to nuclear weapons. All of sudden, the military city became a land of victimhood with the obliteration brought by the Little Boy. The Hiroshima Museum is located in the heart of the land of victimhood, the Ground Zero. Berlin, especially where the Holocaust Information Center stands, has an interesting story too. Before the establishment of the Holocaust Information Center, the land was completely empty with the Berlin Wall standing to divide East Berlin from West Berlin.

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