Confertzel: Identity in the Face of Tragedy

Confertzel

This entry could certainly use more research and reflection, but I feel a slight pressure to post it within a few days (or weeks) of Nanjing marking the anniversary of The Nanjing Massacre--also called The Rape of Nanking.

During The Nanjing Massacre (1937), Japanese troops laid waste to the city while committing atrocities like attempted genocide on innocent civilians and raping uncounted numbers of women. China claims that over 300,000 Nanjingers were murdered, while the United States tends to officially estimate the total somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000.

Understandably, the repercussions from these crimes can be felt today. Nanjing marks the memorial every December 13th by sounding a siren for one minute during the day, when much of the city pauses for reflective silence.

This all echoed of how Jewish people memorialize those who died in the Holocaust. Holocaust remembrance days are held throughout the year, and many congregations will dedicate a segment of Yom Kippur to honoring deceased love ones as well as the victims of the Holocaust. Other Jews light a  yahrzeit candle to "remember" and honor those who died in the Holocaust. In Israel, much of the country will acknowledge a two-minute-long siren on Holocaust Remembrance Day with a moment of silence.

What I find most interesting about the Chinese and Jewish memorials are how "national" identities shifted in response to tragedies. (I am referring to a "nation" as a body of people instead of a "nation" with borders.)

Despite most of a century having passed, there remains a deeply rooted animosity and ire in the Chinese psyche. I have rarely had a conversation with a Chinese person about Japan or about Japanese people that does not result in my acquaintance making a bigoted, ridiculing, or angered remark at the expense of Japan and/or Japanese people. And in the rare conversation that does not yield exposure of such biases, an awkward discomfort lingers while neither party acknowledges the painful topics gone unmentioned. When Japan was reeling from the tsunami and nuclear fall-out of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, I had primary school students making jokes essentially about karmic justice--I heard similar accounts from other teachers at the time.

My very superficial assessment and brief conversations lead me to believe that there are a few factors that continue to contribute to China's resilience to reconciliation. Firstly, I believe that traditional Chinese values of avoiding shame make it difficult for the nation to excuse any historical injustice meted-upon China. Additionally, Japan, according to the official Beijing position, has never technically apologized for The Nanjing Massacre (or the invasion of China in World War II); rather, Japanese leaders who acknowledge the historical travesty use terms that can mean "deep reflection" rather than "apologize." There are even prominent Massacre deniers in Japanese politics. And lastly, censored education systems will inevitably struggle to properly educate about how to reconcile national scars. The tension between China and Japan continues to loom, though modern manifestations are economic and diplomatic as opposed to militaristic.

Certainly, the entire Chinese national identity is not based on antagonism for Japan. Still, the sentiments behind the national competitiveness and defensive national pride fuel awkward moments when "Japan" becomes topic of conversation.

This seems to be a contrast to how Jewish people view Germany and other states that supported Nazism. As a Jew two generations removed from someone who witnessed the rise of Nazism and had to flee Europe, I hold no animosity for Germany, Germans, or the modern manifestations of counties that sanctioned Nazism. My sense is that very few Jews in my generation do or would.

In response to the factors contributing to modern Chinese nationalism against Japan, Jewish people do not have the same value system that governs "saving face." (I think that our culture often thrives on "losing face" with reckless abandon, but this is a topic for another Confertzel.) Furthermore there are innumerable documented apologies and reconciling acts, not the least of which is the existence of Israel. And lastly, as a product of a Jewish education system, I can safely say that no part of my education implicated modern central Europeans in crimes of World War II.

I should add a caveat, though, about Jewish awareness to anti-Semitism. I would venture risking my credibility to acknowledge, while Jewish communities often observe anti-Semitic acts taking place rather consistently throughout the world, that relatively few non-Jewish "average Joe's" pay attention to latent anti-Semitism. My sense of politically aware Jews is that many believe that anti-Semitism lingers below the surface in much political rhetoric throughout The West.

In regards to the discrepancy between anti-Semitism-observed by Jews and by non-Jews, I think the Jewish nation holds some defensive similarities to the Chinese nation. While Chinese people defend their historical and national (borders) honor by antagonizing the Japanese, Jewish people defend their history and culture through acute awareness to anti-Semitism. Throughout Jewish history (biblical through Hitler), Jews have been scapegoated. I do not want to get preachy, but this constant scapegoating quite obviously leads to a defensive national mentality. So whether or not there remains as much anti-Semitism as either Jewish parties or non-Jewish parties observe, a large portion of Jewish national identity originates in the psychological response to persecution.

Herein is a common ground between the Chinese and Jewish nations: National identity has largely been forged as a psychologically defensive reaction to tragedy.

Confertzel says: "Our identity is what we make of it."