I've been given a school assignment to find out which country that rarely discusses WWII. I have 3 possible choises: Japan Russia Poland I've tried to look on the Internet without any succes. Do you know the correct answer? If you find it on the Internet please give me a link for my dokumentation. Thank you /Jakob Boysen
I believe Russia doesn't try to shut off the war, calling it the Great Patriotic War I think. No references for you but I think their are a number of musuems at historic sights such as Stalingrad, something which would not happen if the war wasn't a part of the culture. Ali
Originally posted by jakob_boysen@Apr 20 2004, 08:20 AM I've been given a school assignment to find out which country that rarely discusses WWII. I have 3 possible choises: Japan Russia Poland I've tried to look on the Internet without any succes. Do you know the correct answer? If you find it on the Internet please give me a link for my dokumentation. Thank you /Jakob Boysen It is Japan. Loss of war = "loss of face"
For the average 'neophyte' person WWII was Holocaust, Pearl Harbour, D-day, Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the USA being the big hero. Some remember the British and their heroic and decisive victories in the skies of Britain, in the Atlantic and in North Africa. But most of the people forget about the nation that from 1941-1945 fought two thirds of the German armed forces and defeated them, killing 4,5 million of its soldiers. That is the Soviet Union. The eastern front was also the most brutal, bloodiest and most horrible confrontation ever! Few people know that. And of course, the last in the list is Japan, a small nation which conquested half of the world in three months and whose Lightning warfare is ten times more impressive than the German Blitzkrieg. This nation also gave both, the United States and Great Britain the worst military defeats in their entire history. And then, bravely and savagely they fought for its Emperor till the bitter end.
Yep, have to go for Japan due to the culture ethics of 'losing' Russia is well on the remembrance / tourism thing. Check out http://ca.geocities.com/stalingradru/ for example. Poland, well have you seen 'The Pianist', 'And the Violins Stopped Playing' or 'Dark Blue World'...? Ryan
Oops pulled over by the film police OK I'll submit the book For Your Freedom and Ours, ISBN 0434008680 as a good example for the Poles and also the recent Rising '44 - The Battle for Warsaw ISBN 0333905687 Ryan
Originally posted by BeppoSapone+Apr 20 2004, 11:10 AM-->(BeppoSapone @ Apr 20 2004, 11:10 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-jakob_boysen@Apr 20 2004, 08:20 AM I've been given a school assignment to find out which country that rarely discusses WWII. I have 3 possible choises: Japan Russia Poland I've tried to look on the Internet without any succes. Do you know the correct answer? If you find it on the Internet please give me a link for my dokumentation. Thank you /Jakob Boysen It is Japan. Loss of war = "loss of face" [/b]And not only that. I believe that Japans role in WW2 is not taught in their schools. So-called "Comfort Women" fought for years to have their case made known. The last time the Emperor of Japan was in England ex-Far East POWs stood on the route he travelled in London, and turned their backs on him as he drove past.
Originally posted by BeppoSapone@Apr 20 2004, 05:10 PM It is Japan. Loss of war = "loss of face" Yes, I agree. I lived there for a few months in 2002. It is not even called WW2. If referred to, it is called "the Pacific War" and started earlier in the 1930s (I think 1931 or 1937 with Japanese involvement in Manchuria). The war museum in Tokyo gives a different slant on WW2, as does the peace museum in Hiroshima. There is a subtext of American Imperialism in the Pacific, to which Pearl Harbour was the reponse, yet an event such as the Rape of Nanking appeared very much in the 'small print'. The horror of the A-bombs are rightly shown, yet the conext which led to them being used seemed one sided. The fomer museum had something in common with the museum of the Army of East Germany (GDR) which I visited (in Dresden I think) shortly after the Berlin Wall came down. I feel that WW2 is a taboo subject in Japan - the Japanese havent yet come to terms with their role in WW2 in the way that Germany has with the Nazi era. Please note that this should not be construed as criticism of individual Japanese - I have many very good Japanese friends - but is a product of their particular culture and society.
Originally posted by Friedrich H@Apr 20 2004, 06:25 PM But most of the people forget about the nation that from 1941-1945 fought two thirds of the German armed forces and defeated them, killing 4,5 million of its soldiers. That is the Soviet Union. The eastern front was also the most brutal, bloodiest and most horrible confrontation ever! Few people know that. That'd be 12 million, actually. The Red Army lost 2 million soldiers in just the first month of fighting.
Erwin: The figure of 4,5 million soldiers refers to German soldiers. And the cypher of 12 million Soviet soldiers is way too high. The number of Soviet soldiers killed since June 1941 to May 1945 is not bigger than 7 million. Of the almost 30 million Russian people killed in the eastern front, more than 80% were civilians.
Ok, sorry, I didn't know you were referring to German soldiers. And that number 12 is casualties, I believe...I said deaths by default.
Erwin, here are the most accurate cyphers of casualties taken by the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War so far: Red Army Casualties, 1941-1945 Total Armed Forces Losses, June 1941- May 1945 Killed in battle or died during evacuation: 5.187.190 Mortally wounded (and died later): 1,100,327 Died of illness (non-battle): 541.920 Missing in action or captured: 4.455.620 Non-mortal wounds: 15.205.592 Non-mortal illness and frostbite: 3.138.556 Total Armed Forces Casualties: 29.629.205
