Ost-West-Review 2014

This joint paper will deal with the changing historiographies of World War II in Europe and East Asia. It will also argue that the memory of warfare in the 1930s and 1940s has, paradoxically, be-come stronger rather than weaker as we move further away from the events themselves. It also suggests that memory has become and re-mains a crucial part of the construction of societies both in Europe and Asia during this period. Further it will also suggest that their legacy is ambivalent and that the politics of memory can lead to rec-onciliation, but also social conflicts.
The key to the paper will be the linking of experience of warti-me and its memory and legacy in the years that followed. We will examine how far reconciliation became a reality between former enemy nations. We will seek to integrate previously separate histori-ographies of Europe and East Asia as part of our proceedings.