Japanese Government Cannot Act On WWII China Apology

To the editors:



Re: “Asian Groups Unite In Debate,” news, Mar.12

In a recent article, The Crimson explored the debate among Harvard students as to whether or not the current Japanese government should apologize to China for crimes committed during World War II (WWII). Those crimes were horrible, and the utterly despicable behavior of all the Axis powers during World War II is something that people in Japan and everywhere must understand and appreciate. Nevertheless, I do not believe it to be the place of the current Japanese government to either grant or withhold apology for events that took place so long ago.

As a professional historian, I always emphasize to my students that we study history in order to understand people–that we may use that understanding to make a better world by repeating courses of action which historically have resulted in good effects, and taking measures to avoid those that have resulted in tragedy. We do not study history in order to blame contemporary people for the actions of others who lived in the past. This not only constitutes an inappropriate and unprofessional use of history as an academic discipline, but furthermore violates the basic precept of human justice that an individual is responsible for his or her own actions solely.

People in Japan and everywhere need to understand what really happened during WWII, that the world may take measures to assure that such events never happen again. As such, Japan (and every other country) needs textbooks that portray the events of the WWII period accurately, as well as a frank and open dialog about the horrors of WWII both among academics, and between academics and the general public. But the current government of Japan represents a constituency in which the majority of individuals were not of adult age during the Second World War. As such, although it is their duty to do everything in their power to ensure that events similar to those of World War II are never held as a model of acceptable behavior for Japan or any other society, it is simply not appropriate for them to take direct action regarding apology for those events. Such apologies as remain to be given must be given by surviving perpetrators of the WWII tragedies directly to the surviving victims. While it is the duty of contemporary people to confront the reality of WWII in order to build a better world for present and future generations, it is neither necessary nor appropriate that they apologize for crimes committed by others.



MARC S. CALLIS

West Palm Beach, Fl.

March 13, 2007