Hitler and the “Nanking Massacre” Exposed in Rabe’S Diary

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Hitler and the “Nanking Massacre” Exposed in Rabe’S Diary Hitler and the “Nanking Massacre” Exposed in Rabe’s Diary Furuso Koichi, Freelance Journalist Overlooked Evidence The so-called Nanking Massacre was something that the Chiang Kai-shek administration manufactured using foreigners. Afterward, however, the Chinese Communist Party dramatized it how ever they wanted, painting a fictitious portrait of hell. Buying into the story, 70 years after the fall of Nanking a documentary film called Nanking, directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, was screened in America in 2007. Furthermore, in the US House of Representatives, Rep. Mike Honda (who has received considerable political donations from citizens with Chinese ties) and others have put forward a resolution seeking an apology from Japan over the issue of “comfort women.” The resolution was passed handily, and this fact aggravated the situation for Japan all the more. This is a development at which we can not merely be spectators. At this opportunity, I would like to present evidence on the “Nanking Massacre” the Chinese Communist Party was involved with, and clarify the intention behind their deceptive methods. As is well known, The Rape of Nanking, written by Iris Chang, an American woman of Chinese extraction, became a best-seller 10 years ago. There was no Japanese translation of the book. Countless errors in the book were pointed out, but Chang refused to allow them to be removed or corrected, so the publication was halted by the publishers. Therefore, it has come to be seen in Japan as containing nothing but the charge of “barbarism” on the part of the Japanse army. This is a mistaken perspective, however. The point that must be noted is the fact that of all the countries participating in the Second World War, even Germany has been given absolution for her crimes — only Japan has not been accorded that forgiveness. War Crimes of America and Europe Ignored “The chronicle of humankind’s cruelty to fellow humans is a long and sorry tale. But if it is true that even in such horror tales there are degrees of ruthlessness, then few atrocities in world history compare in intensity and scale to the Rape of Nanking during World War II.” (Chang’s The Rape of Nanking, p. 3) “It is certainly true that in this century, when the tools of mass murder were fully refined, Hitler killed about 6 million Jews, and Stalin more than 40 million Russians, but these deaths were brought about over some few years. In the Rape of Nanking, the killing was concentrated within a few weeks.” (p. 5) “The death toll of Nanking — one Chinese city alone — exceeds the number of civilian casualties of some European countries for the entire war. (Great Briatain lost a 1 total of 61,000 civilians, France lost 108,000, Belgium 101,000, and the Netherlands 242,000.)” (p. 5) “It is likely that more people died in Nanking than in the British raids on Dresden and the firestorm that followed.... Indeed, whether we use the most conservative number — 260,000 — or the highest — 350,000 — it is shocking to contemplate that the deaths at Nanking far exceeded the deaths from the American raids on Tokyo (an estimated 80,000 – 120,000 deaths) and even the combined death toll of the two atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the end of 1945 (estimated at 140,000 and 70,000 respectively).” (p. 6) “Nothing the Nazis under Hitler would do to disgrace their own victories could rival the atrocities of Japanese soldiers under Gen. Iwane Matsui.” (p. 7) Setting aside for a moment Chang’s feigning ignorance that Mao Zedong killed 70 million and Chiang Kai-shek killed several million of their own countrymen, Europeans and Americans coming across accounts in the opening of her book that there were incidents of war crimes exceeding their own countries’ can read on in comfort. Moreover, Chang changes the story to praise of Germans. American and European readers are completely caught up in Chang’s pacing. Rabe, the Merchant of Death Before going into details of this trick, we must trace the changes in the so-called Nanking Massacre. Generally speaking, this fabrication has passed through three phases up till now. The first phase was from the time it all began, with 20,000 dead, to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Tribunal) held in Tokyo. John Rabe. He is the main character in a Chinese–German co-production being filmed about the Nanking Massacre. 2 Chiang Kai-shek’s government’s claim in court was that 300,000 had died, but this was unacceptable. In the next phase, the Japanese stepped up. It was Asahi Newspaper journalist Honda Katsuichi who started the ball rolling with his article “Travels in China,” but about the same time Hora Tomio (then a professor at Waseda University) wrote a crude book in defense of the article. Eventually, Hora got together with some friends to form the “Nanking Incident Investigation Committee.” The scope of the “incident” grew with their continued contact with the Chinese, even concealing actual evidence. In the third phase, people living in America and acting as catspaws of the Chinese Communist Party began taking action. After over 10 years of preparation, three books were published in 1997 and 1998. The first was Chang’s book. The second was the so-called Rabe’s Diary, and the third was The Rape of Nanking: An Undeniable History in Photographs by Yin James and Shi Young. “The Rape of Nanking” as presented by all the different countries’ mass media is based on these three books. These three books complement each other, but the foundation is Rabe’s Diary. Rabe was an employee of Siemans Co. and a member of the Nazi Party. At the time, he was the chairman of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone. This committee was on its face responsible for the security of the refugees in Nanking, but in truth they hardly did anything along those lines — instead, they were devoting their time to writing a work of lies. Rabe typed away daily from several months before the fall of Nanking to early February of 1928, knocking out two different works. One was a “Secret Report” for Hitler and the other was his diary. The “Secret Report” intended for Hitler was sent to Berlin via the German ambassador, Oscar Trautman, who had fled to Hankou. The diary Rabe carried home with him. Chang’s Rape of Nanking begins with the bogus story that Chang discovered Rabe’s diary, which was in the possession of Rabe’s relatives. Chang went to Nanking in 1995 to interview residents, but by this time she already knew about Rabe. A year later, however, she set out to find out if his diary still existed. With the help of friends and acquaintances, she says, she got into contact with Rabe’s granddaughter, Ursula Reinhardt. In response to Chang’s persuasion, Reinhardt spent 15 hours photocopying the diary that the family had kept in its possession and took the copy to donate to the Yale Divinity School library. Then, in December, Chang announced at a press conference in New York its “discovery.” The story of Chang discovering the diary, however, is a lie. First, this hadn’t been a press conference called quickly after her “discovery” of the diary. Its planning had been a long time in coming. As evidence of this, the diary, which had been written in German, had to have its contents digested and condensed and an English translation prepared to be distributed to the press corps. The person in charge of the English translation was Jeff Heynen, a journalist with the Asahi Shinbun in Los Angeles. Preparations for the announcement of Rabe’s Diary 3 seem to have been made a year before Chang said she began investigating Rabe’s life in 1996. ┌───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬──────┐ │ │Chinese edition │German edition │ Japanese edition │English edition│ ├───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼──────┤ │Publication date │Aug. 1997 │Oct. 1997 │ Oct. 1997 │ 1998 │ │No. of translators│7 │ │1 │ 1 │ │No. of photos │80 │30 │38 │60 │ └───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴──────┘ Directed by Communist China The Japanese translation of Rabe’s diary was published as The Truth about Nanking. According to the translator, Hirano Kyôko, the start was Courage and Pride, the autobiography written by former Foreign Ministry official turned author Erwin Wickert in the early 1990s. In the book, Wickert touched on Rabe’s activities in Nanking. As a student, Wickert had stayed in Rabe’s home. Around the time of Nanking’s fall, he was working at the consulate in Shanghai, and then he was transferred to the German embassy in Tokyo. After that, he worked in the German embassy in Communist China. After retirement, he took up literary pursuits. Reinhardt, having read Wickert’s autobiography, got in contact with him in 1995. This was the beginning of Rabe’s Diary’s appearance to the world — it was not Chang’s discovery. In fact, Chang even writes (on page 195) that before her New York press conference announcing the “discovery,” a reporter from China’s Renmin Zibao (People’s Daily) had called on Reinhardt. What’s more, it was not actually Chang who planned for the publication of Rabe’s Diary. Under a “comrades’ interests” of the Chinese Communist Party Jiangsu Province Committee and the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government, China’s Jiangsu Provincial People’s Publishing Co. and Jiangsu Provincial Education Publication Co. negotiated to push forward publication of a German-language edition while acquiring rights to publish a Chinese-language edition. That Communist Chinese money was paid out is very clear if one looks at the difference in the times of publication of the other countries’ editions.
Recommended publications
  • The Rape of Nanking: a Historical Analysis of the Aftershocks of Wartime Sexual Violence in International Relations
    FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS HUMANAS Y SOCIALES The Rape of Nanking: a historical analysis of the aftershocks of wartime sexual violence in international relations. Autor: Ester Brito Ruiz Quinto Curso del Doble Grado de ADE y Relaciones Internacionales Director: Jose Manuel Saenz Rotko Madrid Junio 2018 Ester Brito Ruiz international relations. The Rape of Nanking: a historical analysis of the aftershocks of wartime sexual violence in in violence sexual wartime of aftershocks the of analysis historical a Nanking: of Rape The Index 1) Abstract & Key words. 2) Methodology & Research Design. 3) Introduction. 4) Historiography and debates on Nanking. 5) Historical analysis and drivers of the Second Sino-Japanese war and interbellum change in protocols against foreign combatants and civilians. a. Conditioning Japanese political factors. b. Economic drivers. c. The role of the international order. 6) The route to Nanking a. Introduction: planning and intent of Japanese imperial forces when entering Manchuria. b. Road to Nanking: the advance of the imperial army, Loot all, kill all, burn all imperative. c. The entry into the city and mass killings. d. Rape in Nanking and beyond the capital. e. Torture inflicted upon combatants and civilians. f. The weeks following the fall of Nanking. 7) Radicalization of the Japanese imperial army: understanding historical warfare practices and theories of violence. 8) Rape as a weapon of war. 9) Other war crimes and implications of Japanese Imperialism 10) Historical memory of Nanking a. Significance of diverging historical memory in politics b. China: the century of humiliation narrative c. Japan: the historical aggressor-victim dilemma 1 11) Historical impact of Nanking on current international relations.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching About the Nanking Massacre Yale Divinity School Library School Divinity Yale
    Teaching About the Nanking Massacre Yale Divinity School Library School Divinity Yale Also includes— The First War Hawks: The Invasion of Canada in 1812 A National Council for the Social Studies Publication Number 45 September 2012 www.socialstudies.org Middle Level Learning 44 ©2012 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching About the Nanking Massacre to Middle School Students Justin Villet In 1937, the Japanese Empire declared war on China. That • How can instruction be used to avoid creating stereo- December, the Japanese Army invaded and captured the types? Chinese capital of Nanking (also “Nanjing”). In what can only • Would students be able to contextualize these events, be described as one of the most inhumane events in the modern or, to put it bluntly, would they care at all? world, more than 200,000 Chinese were killed and more than 20,000 women were raped in less than a year.1 East Asian scholar Vera Schwarcz, in her contribution American public schools do not seem to devote much time to the book Nanking 1937: Memory and Healing, wrote, to the Nanking Massacre, taking a much more Eurocentric “[O]nly by delving into the crevices of helplessness and dread view of World War II. will [people] be able to pass on the true gift of historical When I was in high school, the Japanese invasion of Nanking consciousness.”2 Historical consciousness, however, should was still a new topic in the curriculum. I recall the eleventh grade be balanced with a realization that subject matter can sometimes English class looking at posters in the library that had been be hurtful to students, that material presented in class should assembled by a civic group that wanted to promote awareness be developmentally appropriate, and that teachers must be about the event.
    [Show full text]
  • War Crimes in the Philippines During WWII Cecilia Gaerlan
    War Crimes in the Philippines during WWII Cecilia Gaerlan When one talks about war crimes in the Pacific, the Rape of Nanking instantly comes to mind.Although Japan signed the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, it did not ratify it, partly due to the political turmoil going on in Japan during that time period.1 The massacre of prisoners-of-war and civilians took place all over countries occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army long before the outbreak of WWII using the same methodology of terror and bestiality. The war crimes during WWII in the Philippines described in this paper include those that occurred during the administration of General Masaharu Homma (December 22, 1941, to August 1942) and General Tomoyuki Yamashita (October 8, 1944, to September 3, 1945). Both commanders were executed in the Philippines in 1946. Origins of Methodology After the inauguration of the state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) on March 9, 1932, steps were made to counter the resistance by the Chinese Volunteer Armies that were active in areas around Mukden, Haisheng, and Yingkow.2 After fighting broke in Mukden on August 8, 1932, Imperial Japanese Army Vice Minister of War General Kumiaki Koiso (later convicted as a war criminal) was appointed Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army (previously Chief of Military Affairs Bureau from January 8, 1930, to February 29, 1932).3 Shortly thereafter, General Koiso issued a directive on the treatment of Chinese troops as well as inhabitants of cities and towns in retaliation for actual or supposed aid rendered to Chinese troops.4 This directive came under the plan for the economic “Co-existence and co-prosperity” of Japan and Manchukuo.5 The two countries would form one economic bloc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pacific War Crimes Trials: the Importance of the "Small Fry" Vs. the "Big Fish"
    Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons History Theses & Dissertations History Summer 2012 The aP cific aW r Crimes Trials: The mpI ortance of the "Small Fry" vs. the "Big Fish" Lisa Kelly Pennington Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/history_etds Part of the Asian History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Pennington, Lisa K.. "The aP cific aW r Crimes Trials: The mporI tance of the "Small Fry" vs. the "Big Fish"" (2012). Master of Arts (MA), thesis, History, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/rree-9829 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/history_etds/11 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the History at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PACIFIC WAR CRIMES TRIALS: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE "SMALL FRY" VS. THE "BIG FISH by Lisa Kelly Pennington B.A. May 2005, Old Dominion University A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS HISTORY OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY August 2012 Approved by: Maura Hametz (Director) Timothy Orr (Member) UMI Number: 1520410 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
    [Show full text]
  • Praca Doktorska.Pdf (7.461MB)
    UNIWERSYTET ŁÓDZKI WYDZIAŁ STUDIÓW MIĘDZYNARODOWYCH I POLITOLOGICZNYCH Izabela Plesiewicz-Świerczyńska WYKŁADNIE IDEOLOGICZNE STOSUNKÓW JAPOŃSKO-AMERYKAŃSKICH W LATACH 1853–1941 ORAZ ICH IMPLEMENTACJA POLITYCZNA Praca doktorska napisana pod kierunkiem dr hab. Jolanty Młodawskiej-Bronowskiej, prof. nadzw. UŁ Łódź 2017 SPIS TREŚCI Nota redakcyjna……………………………………………………………….. .................... 3 WSTĘP………………………………………………………………………… .................... 5 ROZDZIAŁ 1 Inspiracje ideologiczne formuł konceptualnych w sferze międzynarodowych stosunków politycznych między Japonią a USA ................................ 24 1.1 Doktryna izolacjonizmu w okresie sakoku w Japonii od XVII do XIX wieku ............. 24 1.2 Geneza i charakterystyka doktryny izolacjonizmu w Stanach Zjednoczonych po zaistnieniu na forum międzynarodowym w 1776 roku ........................................... 39 1.3 Rozwój japońskiego ekspansjonizmu drogą do dominacji nad krajami Azji Południowo-Wschodniej ............................................................................................... 51 1.4 Argumenty zwolenników rozszerzania wpływów politycznych i ekonomicznych Stanów Zjednoczonych w świecie ................................................................................ 58 1.5 Imperializm japoński jako teoretyczna wykładnia konfliktów i wojen ........................ 68 1.6 Opinie elit politycznych USA na temat ideologii im perialistycznej w praktyce ......... 76 1.7 Filozoficzne zaplecze japońskiego nacjonalizmu ........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Using Primary Sources to Clarify the Nanking Incident
    Using Primary Sources To Clarify the Nanking Incident Tomisawa Shigenobu Former Chairman, Study Group for the Examination of the Nanking Incident Auditor, Committee for the Examination of the Facts about Nanking Preface The Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937. In December of that year, the Japanese were victorious in the Battle of Nanking. The allegation that, when occupying Nanking, Japanese military personnel set upon the civilian residents of the city, raping and killing them, was later leveled against Japan. The accusers further alleged that the Japanese murdered 200,000-300,000 persons, including prisoners of war, in what is commonly known in Japan as the “Nanking Incident,” and in the West as the “Nanking massacre” and the “Rape of Nanking.” It is very likely that their position derives from unguarded acceptance of a book entitled What War Means1 and from judgments handed down at the Tokyo Trials.2 What War Means was published by the Chinese Nationalist government. The book was the product of an intense propaganda campaign launched after the Chinese suffered devastating military defeats and retreated first from Shanghai, and then Nanking as well. The Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) government’s Central Propaganda Department hired H. J. Timperley, a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian to convince readers throughout the world that the Japanese were fighting a war of aggression in which they used abhorrent tactics. All the while, he masqueraded as a neutral foreign journalist.3 When the Pacific War ended, the US Occupation Forces made incapacitating Japan both 1 Timperley, Harold J., ed., What War Means: Japanese Terror in China (London: Victor Golanz Ltd., 1938).
    [Show full text]
  • Barometer of College Spirit THINGS
    ? Q tfyt^tcfetnson Hlumtrus Published Quarterly for the Alumni of Dickinson College and the Dickinson School of Law ...................................... Gilbert M alcolm, ’15, ’17L Associate Editors - Dean M. Hoffman, ’02, Whitfield J. Bell, Jr.,’35 a lu m n i c o u n c il Term s Expire in 1947 ^erm Expires m 1948 « £ T ^ S l ^ ' I S s o ! 6 '18 '33 KVlSJ"' 23 Puller, 39 ° cTaBss o i ? 9 « Class of 1945 Class of 1946 g e n o% 0 AkLS col0lCe g e ION D i S » W ™ r l I w president ......................P -l L. Hutchison . 0 ^ 1 “ ........Joseph P. McKeehan Treasurer V .'..'....................G len n E . Todd * Deceased______________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 To Become Dean of College in J u n e ............................................... 3 174th Commencement Program ......................................................... 5 Eight To Receive Honorary Degrees .......................................... Receives Degree At Special Convocation...................................... 9 10 Life Membership Roll Rises to 678 .................................................. 20 Editorial ................................................................................. 22 Brandeis: The Mind of A Liberal .................................................. Former German Student Now In Japan ...................................... 26 Chinese Editor Enters College After W ar’s D ela y ........................ 27 30 Personals .................................................................... 35 Obituary .....................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Good Man of Nanking the Diaries of John Rabe 1St Edition Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    THE GOOD MAN OF NANKING THE DIARIES OF JOHN RABE 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK John Rabe | 9780375701979 | | | | | The Good Man of Nanking The Diaries of John Rabe 1st edition PDF Book Until the recent emergence of John Rabe's diaries, few people knew abouth the unassuming hero who has been called the Oskar Schindler of China. It is difficult to even imagine that people were capable of such evil, but it good to know so we can learn from it. Used good paperback. Rabe had the opportunity to run as the Imperial Japanese army turned Nanjing into hell on earth, to hunker down in his villa and do nothing as thousands died around him. The book then goes into the diary entries by Rabe, and they are quite interesting, revealing details of what happened from someone who was actually there at the time. Used fine hardcover First. Book Description Vintage, Sort order. Moskau, Columbia Books, Inc. The Owl at the Bridge. Millions of books are added to our site everyday and when we find one that matches your search, we'll send you an e- mail. Used near fine Paperback. Read more Published March 14th by Vintage first published November 3rd He… More. A lesson in fearlessness and conscience. When I show them my party badge, they return the same way. Humankind has grappled for millennia with the fundamental questions of the origin and end of the universe--it was a focus of ancient religions and myths and of the inquiries of Aristotle, Galileo, Cop… More. Shelve Burma Chronicles.
    [Show full text]
  • Minnie Vautrin 1886-1941 USA
    Minnie Vautrin 1886-1941 USA Minnie Vautrin was born in Secor, Illinois on September 27, 1886. She graduated from the Department of Education at University of Illinois with high honours in 1912. She was commissioned by the United Christ Missionary Society as a missionary to China, and moved to Nanking in 1912. She became chair of the education department at Ginling College when it was founded in 1916, the first university granting bachelor’s degrees to female students in China. Vautrin devoted her adult life to the education of Chinese women at Ginling College in Nanking and to helping the poor. When most of the faculty left Nanjing in December 1937, afraid of the invading Japanese forces, Vautrin became acting Dean of Ginling and took charge of the campus for the duration of the Japanese siege and the massacre. There were many teachers, students and thousands of people who could not leave, and she voluntarily stayed for four and a half months. During the massacre, Vautrin turned the College into a sanctuary for 10,000 women and worked tirelessly to help establish the Nanking Safety Zone. Her diary, like that of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone Chair John Rabe’s, is a primary source of information on the Japanese atrocities in Nanking. She kept a 526-page diary covering the period from 1937 to 1941. About one-fourth of her diary documents the period of the Nanking Massacre from December 1937 to March 1938. Weary and stressed from the emotional strain of the massacre, she had a nervous breakdown in May 1940 and had to return to the United States for medical treatment.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nanking Atrocity: an Interpretive Overview
    Volume 5 | Issue 10 | Article ID 2553 | Oct 01, 2007 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus The Nanking Atrocity: An Interpretive Overview Fujiwara Akira The Nanking Atrocity: An Interpretive completed in 2002, seems prescient in the light Overview of subsequent events in violation of Article IX of the postwar Constitution: 1) Japan dispatched Fujiwara Akira armed troops to Iraq in January 2004 and extended their mission in December of 2004 until July 2006. 2) Self-Defense Forces have Translator’s Introduction been providing logistical support to US military forces in the form of fuel supplies despite well- This article is slightly adapted from a chapter founded allegations that these are being by the late Fujiwara Akira, an emeritusredirected to Iraqi battlefields. 3) Earlier this professor at Hitotsubashi University until his year, former Prime Minister Abe sought to death in 2003, which first appeared in Bob “reinterpret” Article IX into non-existence Tadashi Wakabayashi, ed.,The Nanking based on proposals from a panel of advisors Atrocity 1937-38: Complicating the Picture hand-picked for precisely that purpose. (New York and London: Berghahn Books, 2007). Fujiwara wrote one of two introductory One major article of postwar leftist faith is that chapters to this volume about the Nanking Japan must never again become a “normal Massacre, the seventieth anniversary of which nation”-- in the sense of exercising its will be observed in December. sovereign right to wage war-- because imperial armed forces at Nanking and elsewhere proved In this essay, Fujiwara provides a concise that they could not be trusted to behave in a narrative of Japan’s decision to escalate the lawful, humane, and responsible manner.
    [Show full text]
  • Yasukuni Controversy for Japan: Abe’S Visit a Reply to the Chinese Adiz?
    www.capsindia.org IN FOCUS 30 DEC 2013 YASUKUNI CONTROVERSY FOR JAPAN: ABE’S VISIT A REPLY TO THE CHINESE ADIZ? Prerna Gandhi Research Associate, CAPS Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on 26 December 2013, first anniversary of his taking office has infuriated China and South Korea once again. The visit comes on the heels of already strong tensions between China and Japan on the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in East China Sea declared by China on 23 November this year. Adding further unease for the neighbors is Abe’s agenda of revising the Article 8 in the Japanese Constitution. Abe, who had visited previously when he was not prime minister, had expressed extreme regret over his decision not to visit Yasukuni during an earlier one- year term in office in 2006-2007. "I prayed to pay respect for the war dead who sacrificed their precious lives and hoped that they rest in peace," he told waiting reporters immediately afterward his visit. He also said that "unfortunately, a Yasukuni visit has largely turned into a political and diplomatic issue," and further added "I have no intention to neglect the feelings of the people in China and South Korea.i" However China did not delay in denouncing the visit saying it is "absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people". Japan "must bear the consequences arising from this", said Chinese foreign ministry official Luo Zhaohuiii. Previous visit by a large group of Japanese officials comprising of more than 150 members of the Diet during the Annual Autumn Festival (or Shuki Reitaisai) celebrated from 17-20 October at the Yasukuni Shrine had created an international controversy for Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Erwin Wickert Schriftsteller Und Botschafter Ad Im Gespräch
    BR-ONLINE | Das Online-Angebot des Bayerischen Rundfunks http://www.br-online.de/alpha/forum/vor9906/19990610.shtml Sendung vom 10.06.1999, 20.15 Uhr Dr. Erwin Wickert Schriftsteller und Botschafter a.D. im Gespräch mit Dr. Franz Stark Stark: Willkommen, verehrte Zuschauerinnen und Zuschauer, bei Alpha-Forum. Unser Gast ist heute Dr. Erwin Wickert, Ex-Botschafter, Schriftsteller und eine Art Weltreisender – aber darauf werden wir gleich zu sprechen kommen. Willkommen, Herr Wickert, und vielen Dank, daß Sie den Weg zu uns nach München auf sich genommen haben. Wenn man sich Ihr langes Leben ansieht, Sie sind nun 84 Jahre alt, und ein wenig in Ihrer Autobiographie liest, deren ersten Teil Sie ja auch schon geschrieben haben, dann entdeckt man darin eine ganze Menge von interessanten Berufen und Stationen. Vielleicht erzählen Sie einfach einmal schlagwortartig, was Sie alles gemacht haben in Ihren jungen Jahren und wo Sie überall gewesen sind. Wickert: Ich muß sagen, daß ich ein sehr neugieriger Mensch bin. Mein Ideal vom zwölften oder dreizehnten Lebensjahr an bestand darin, ein literarisches Werk etwa vom Umfang und von der Tiefe her ähnlich dem von Karl May zu schreiben. Stark: Karl May war also ein Vorbild. Wickert: Ja, er war ein Vorbild. Er ist ja auch sehr viel herumgekommen in der Welt. Ich habe mich ebenfalls mit Freude in der Welt herumgetrieben, wie ich sagen möchte. Ich bin nach meiner Schulzeit und den ersten beiden Semestern in Berlin als Austauschstudent nach Amerika gegangen. Ich habe dort dann nach meinem Studium der Volkswirtschaft und der politischen Wissenschaft in verschiedenen Berufen gearbeitet – u.
    [Show full text]