Memorial Sites and the Affective Dynamics of Historical Experience in Berlin and Tokyo
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MEMORIAL SITES AND THE AFFECTIVE DYNAMICS OF HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE IN BERLIN AND TOKYO A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Franz D. Hofer August 2012 © 2012 Franz D. Hofer MEMORIAL SITES AND THE AFFECTIVE DYNAMICS OF HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE IN BERLIN AND TOKYO Franz D. Hofer, Ph.D. Cornell University 2012 Despite having undergone similar experiences of warfare and facing similar anxieties about the future, Germany and Japan evolved divergent responses to commemorating the Second World War over the course of the postwar period. This dissertation explores how different cultures and generational cohorts respond to the challenges of commemorating violent and traumatic pasts in response to shifting domestic concerns and to post-Cold War international geopolitical transformations. Four recently completed or revamped memorial sites form the backdrop of the discussion and provide insights into the politics of memory in postwar Germany and Japan: the Topography of Terror (2010) and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (2005) in Berlin; and the Yûshûkan (2002) and the Shôwakan (1999) in Tokyo. Over the course of the ‘memory boom’ of the 1980s and 1990s, debates about both the architectural expression of a museum or monument and the contents to be exhibited within the confines of the museum became lightning rods for public perceptions about the past in the present. As an affectively-charged place within the urban fabric, the memorial site, consisting of its intermingling of image and text installed in a visual narrative unfolding in space, offers a unique perspective from which to explore the performative dimensions of national identity formation. A key question this dissertation seeks to answer is how individuals are affected by their encounters with images, captions, and media that constitute museal representations of past events – in short, how affective dynamics undergird and influence the visitor’s aesthetic experience of memorial sites. Central to this relationship between aesthetics, affect, and experience manifested in museal display is authenticity. Through the lens of comparison, this dissertation contributes an understanding of how the curators, activists, trustees, and politicians involved with the fashioning of memorial sites use (and sometimes abuse) the discourse of authenticity to produce an experience of the past in line with a particular conception of national identity, and how visiting publics respond to these representations of the past. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Franz D. Hofer was born on a cold and clear January afternoon in a suburb of Vancouver called Surrey, B.C. Since Simon Fraser University was located conveniently across the bridge from where he grew up, he enrolled in the History Department, leaving SFU in 1994 with a B.A. in history focusing on Germany. After traveling through Europe, doing volunteer work in Guatemala, the Philippines and Nepal, and teaching English in Sendai, Japan, he buckled down for the graduate school long-haul. With an M.A. in hand from McGill University in Montreal in Japanese history (2002), he settled into life as a graduate student in Cornell’s History Department (2003), completing his Ph.D. in May 2012. When not working, Hofer indulges his passion for all things culinary. He is currently looking forward to taking up a postdoctoral fellowship in Cornell’s History Department beginning in August 2012. iii Dedicated to two who left this world too early in memoriam Ian Dyck mentor Tom Brydon friend iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many a kind person has offered advice, support, and sustenance along the winding path that led to this dissertation. I couldn’t have reached this milestone without the guidance and encouragement of my stellar dissertation committee. Dominick LaCapra has continually extended an intellectual and personal generosity beyond bounds. His respectful approach to critical thinking is, to say the least, exemplary. My intellectual debt to him is obvious in these pages. Back in the autumn of 2000, Vic Koschmann gave a talk at McGill on history, memory, and the atomic bombings, a talk that planted the seeds of what has become a sustained interest in issues surrounding commemoration. Vic remains a model of what it means to balance the demands of scholarship with the even more important commitments to family and friends. Naoki Sakai continually encourages his students to push the boundaries of their thinking. In a way that may not seem readily apparent in this dissertation, his work on translation has influenced my thinking on comparison. Finally, I am deeply grateful to Isabel Hull, whose intellectual curiosity and broadmindedness is truly inspiring, for agreeing to become one of my dissertation advisors later in the game. Equally deserving of thanks are the teachers at other places where I have studied who have been instrumental in shaping my thinking, in particular Rita Smith, Tom Looser, Tom Lamarre, and Yuzo Ota. Special thanks are in order for Martin Kitchen and Ian Dyck, who always took an active interest in their students. Over the course of completing this project, I have benefitted from an incredibly generous intellectual community. Many thanks to the following friends, colleagues, and teachers: Max Ward, Lisa Onaga, Chris Jones, Rich Calichman, Susanne Klien, Yuriko Furuhata, John Kim, Gavin Walker, Franziska Seraphim, Mark Pendleton, Rob Nelson, Brett de Barry, Susan Buck- v Morss, Yoshimi Shunya, Nancy Partner, Catherine Desbarats, Julia Adeney Thomas, Ernesto Traverso, Miriam Kingsberg, John Schneiderwind, Anna Parkinson, Claudine Ang, Peter Lavelle, Takeshi Kimoto, Chris Cantwell, Sarah LeBaron von Baeyer, Paige Holt, Arina Rotaru, Seok-won Lee, Melanie Steiner-Sherwood, and Yuko Shibata. Graduate students at Cornell benefit from several forums in which to present their work and receive incisive feedback in a collegial setting. The participants in the European and Asian History Colloquia pushed me to clarify my thinking by asking probing questions at every turn. Thanks go to all of the organizers and participants over the years, in particular Claudia Verhoeven, David Israelachvili, Duane Corpis, Emma Willoughby, Federico Finchelstein, Holly Case, Jacob Krell, Jeff Dubois, Kate Horning, Marie Muschalek, Pedro Erber, Peter Staudenmaier, Robert Travers, Ryan Plumley, Taran Kang, and Vicki Caron. Several institutions and individuals have been instrumental in supporting my research. I received generous funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Japan Foundation, and the East Asia Program at Cornell’s Einaudi Center (Robert J. Smith and Starr Fellowships). Cornell’s Graduate School filled in with timely short-term travel grants. Sage and Bowmar Fellowships gave me the time necessary to focus on grappling with the demands of a comparative project. Iwasaki Minoru and Tsuboi Hideto provided me with stimulating intellectual homes while in Japan. Staff at several libraries and archives kindly assisted me in tracking down sources for my project. I would like to thank the following institutions and individuals: Bianca Welzing-Bräutigam at the Landesarchiv Berlin; Anne Krause at the German Historical Museum; Kaspar Nürnberg at the Aktives Museum Faschismus und Widerstand Berlin; the Jewish Museum Berlin; the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn; the Peace Museum of Saitama; the Kawasaki Peace Museum; the Japan Textbook Research Center; the vi Women’s Active Museum; the Shôwakan; and the Yûshûkan. Ulrich Baumann and Anja Sauter at the Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas were extremely helpful, and Ulrich Tempel, the archivist for the Stiftung Topographie des Terrors, went above and beyond the call of duty in tracking down sources and putting me in contact with other people who could be of help. Hats off to Barb Donnell, the graduate administrator in Cornell’s History Department, for all of her help. Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to have several friends who have kept me firmly grounded in life outside of the ivory tower. Stefan von Dehn deserves special mention for all the nights out and evenings in over wine. Josh Dorfman has also been along for many a spontaneous adventure. Elena Kaufmann and Cara Siu have made the extra effort on several occasions so that we could meet up in different parts of the world. When it comes to trying restaurants and beer gardens in every conceivable corner of Berlin, there’s no better companion than Mārtiņš Mašulis. Lee Soo, Dusko Cvijic, Danika Rukovina, Martin Forcier, and Tom Brydon warmed the cold winters in Montreal with their cheer. I raise my glass to Bruce Bordner, Chris Murphy, David James, Jerry Parangi, Keiko Arai, Kushida Kiyomi, Ôhashi Makiko, Shauna Hahn, and Tom Dabbs. I would like to mention a special debt of friendship I owe to Jesco Huber, who picked me up on a snowy December afternoon at Tegel after we had lost touch for nearly a decade. Both he and Katharina Bordet welcomed me into their home and helped ease my landing in Berlin. If it weren’t for Marc Steinberg, this dissertation may never have seen the light of day. Thanks to him for all the cajoling, and for many years of much else besides. Chris Ahn graciously read through the penultimate draft of this dissertation, providing many insightful comments and useful suggestions. Ryan Parsons was one of the first people with whom I began vii to explore some of the theoretical issues that have guided my dissertation. His acerbic wit has been a constant source of enjoyment over the years. Peter Staudenmaier, Emma Willoughby, Taran Kang, Kate Horning, and Emma Kuby have been a wonderful little intellectual family within the broader university community. Cheers go to Daegan Miller, with whom I share an interest in photography and zymurgy. Two people deserve special mention: Taran Kang and Pedro Erber. It would have been a much different sojourn in Ithaca without their constant banter, engaging conversations (intellectual and otherwise), meals, walks, and other sundry travels.