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Records of Shanghai: One Man’s Quest to Validate Memories of a Family’s Refugee Past

Eric Kisch is a historian.  Although he does not hold a Ph.D. and made a comfortable living as a market researcher, he is a historian nonetheless.  The signs are all …

From Kristallnacht and Back: Searching for Meaning in the History of the Shanghai Jews

When the Jews sought refuge from the Nazi regime, they were most often met with hatred and indifference. Most of the world closed its doors on the Jews, and, for …

Different Anniversaries, Same Purpose: War Memory and Reconciliation in Central Europe and East Asia (2014-2015)

The Case of Polish-German and Japanese-South Korean Relations Poland and Germany. Japan and South Korea. Countries that experienced the tragedy of war. Countries that are involved in different kinds of …

German-Greek Relations: A Recipe for Reconciliation?

In the March 2017 negotiations over Greece’s bailout review, Germany persisted in its two-pronged approach of rejecting international debt relief and insisting on domestic austerity. This stringent stance in the …

The Limits and Opportunities of Reconciliation with West Germany During the Cold War: A Comparative Analysis of France, Israel, Poland, and Czechoslovakia

The seventieth anniversaries in 2015 of the end of World War II and the Holocaust have generated renewed interest in reconciliation and the question of whether the German and European experience holds lessons for Japan and East Asia. Much of the thinking on comparative lessons, developed in the last fifteen years, has focused on an idealized notion of Germany’s successful international reconciliation.

Lessons from the Past, Visions for the Future: The Speeches of Roman Herzog

On the occasion of the death of Roman Herzog, Germany’s seventh federal president (1994-1999), we are pleased to present this volume of speeches AGI published in 1997 during a visit …

Thinking Through the Future of Memory

Report for the Inaugural Conference of the Memory Studies Association, 3-5 December 2016, Amsterdam As part of AGI’s work on reconciliation, we are pleased to present readers with a report …

October 3, 2016: Remembering and Renewing

In the months and weeks before the Berlin Wall fell twenty-seven years ago, there were moments of fear and anxiety in the streets of East German cities—and there were moments …

A New Kind of Reconciliation in East Asia?

President Obama noted in an interview with the Asahi Shimbun before his visit to Hiroshima that his presence was an example of reconciliation: “I will point out that Prime Minister …

History and Memory in German-Israeli Relations: Varieties of Expression

May and June mark two important anniversaries in Germany’s postwar rebuilding and return to the community of nations: the end of World War II in Europe and the beginning of …

Remembering Japanese Journalist Yoshibumi Wakamiya, An Advocate for Reconciliation in Northeast Asia

Yoshibumi Wakamiya (1948-2016), prize-winning Japanese journalist and author who worked throughout a long and distinguished career to promote reconciliation between Japan and its neighbors, passed away on April 27 in …

From the AGI Bookshelf: Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning

Timothy Snyder’s latest book, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, presents exactly those two narratives. His review of how the Holocaust emerged and evolved has been and remains …