May 2, 1997

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

In the telling book, "The Jewish Paradox," Dr Nahum Goldman, long-time president of the World Jewish Congress, made it quite clear that the Holocaust racketeers knew they first had to criminalize the German nation and its leaders in Nuremberg - and then, with the verdict of "guilty" in their pitiless hands, leverage the subsequent reparations payments out of Konrad Adenaurer. Once Adenauer had admitted guilt and publicly issued an apology, the "Guilty!" verdict was easily concerted into large "guilt reparations" payments. (See Tom Segev's book, "The Seventh Million")

Now look at what's happening elsewhere.

An American who, I believe, teaches school in Japan, intermittently faxes me some intellectual ammunition from that part of our world. These items from across the ocean are most edifying.

The one below is an interview excerpt from the "Asiaweek" magazine, March 14, 1997, entitled: "Let's stop apologizing."

My friend had scribbled in the margins: "Could this professor become an ally if only he knew European history better?"

You betcha!

(To my readers, a note of caution: Please do not confuse my correspondent with Professor Nobukatsu. The two are _different_ people!)

"Fujioka Nobukatsu has two personas. One is mild-mannered professor of education at the prestigious University of Tokyo. The other is angry standard-bearer for the many conservative Japanese who think the country should stop apologizing for its wartime role, both to foreign governments and in local textbooks."

Correspondent Murakami Mutsuko talked to Fujioka, 53, about his provocative views.

Question: What is your problem with current Japanese history textbooks?

Answer: Simply that they are not written with Japanese people in mind. They present a history hostile to Japan; the negative view our own socialists and communists and liberal media -- the major newspapers, notably Asahi Shimbun, and the networks -- have of our country; the U.S. and other Western nations seeing Japan as nothing but an evil aggressor during the war; and the perspective of China and Korea, to whom Japan continually apologizes. The impact on our children is such that they write in their essay classes that Japan is the worst, most immoral country in the world.

Question: But aren't the textbooks simply recording the truth?

Answer: Our textbooks have become a tool of international politics, a card sometimes played in the domestic politics of other countries, or for foreign governments to secure money from Japan. Former prime minister Miyazawa Kiichi set the example of apologizing whenever someone made a fuss.

Question: How do you respond to assertions that the Germans have behaved in a far more responsible manner than the Japanese in terms of owning up to what they did during the war?

Answer: The Germans are apologizing for what the Nazis did -- but Japan is different. They killed 6 million Jews; they tried to eliminate an entire race. Japan never attempted this. Japan has paid for its war crimes -- its seven war criminals were hung, about 1,000 others were punished, and we paid war reparations. In the past 50 years, Japan has not killed a single Asian in a war situation, while China, for example, has killed many Chinese and other Asians, including those in Tibet. Why is Asia still making an issue over what is a thing of the past?

Question: So was the war an act of aggression on the part of Japan or not?

Answer: It was aggression but it was also defensive action. It wasn't a case of just one factor. Japan needed to create its own economic sphere after the West blockaded Japan. The Japanese tend to think that, once you apologize, you are forgiven. But in international politics, once you apologize, it merely confirms in people's minds that you are indeed that bad."

This Japanese professor is absolutely right! That is the voice of modern day Japan for you! And I am sure that I am not the only one who can see parallels to America and Germany primarily - but also to what is happening to very young and vulnerable children elsewhere on the planet.

Ingrid

Two juxtaposed Thoughts for the Day:

Thought Number One: "We must remove the children from the crude influence of their families. We must take them over and, to speak frankly, nationalize them."

(A directive issued at a Congress of Russian Communist Party educators in 1918)

Thought Number Two: "If we want to talk about equality of opportunity for children, then the fact that children are raised in families means there's no equality. . . In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them."

(Dr. Mary Jo Bane, Clinton Administration's Assistant Secretary of Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, 1997)

Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com

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