401 Views
Inter-area/Border Crossing
Kimberly Cheng
New York University, United States
Elyssa Faison
University of Oklahoma, United States
Kimberly Cheng
New York University, United States
Ran Zwigenberg
Pennsylvania State University, United States
Edward Vickers
Kyushu University
Session Abstract: In recent decades, the Holocaust has occupied an increasingly prominent place in East Asian cultures of memory. Chinese intellectuals have called the Cultural Revolution their "Holocaust,” both China and Japan have found and commemorated their own “Schindlers” (Ho Feng-Shan and Sugihara Chiune), and memory activists have invoked Holocaust analogies in East Asia’s never-ending history wars. Yet the Holocaust’s impact on East Asia was not just cultural. Thousands upon thousands of Jewish refugees fled through East Asia during the war, and many Asians were witnesses to the Holocaust and its aftermath. Examining the myths and historical realities connected to the Holocaust in relation to East Asia, our panel explores Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese involvement in the Holocaust and its memory. We will examine the limits of the term “Holocaust” and its applicability across histories and cultures to account for the multifaceted ways it reverberated beyond Europe.
Paper Presenter: Kimberly Cheng – New York University
Paper Presenter: Ran Zwigenberg – Pennsylvania State University
Paper Presenter: Edward Vickers – Kyushu University