AGI

Memory Politics

Germany’s approach to acknowledging and providing redress for past crimes has offered other nations around the world a guide to reconciliation. While Germany’s efforts resulted from a unique situation and are not considered a blueprint for other nations to emulate, they have nevertheless informed and impacted other countries dealing with the difficult processes of memory, commemoration, and rebuilding bilateral relationships.
Reset

Securing the National Interests: The United States and Japanese-South Korean Reconciliation

The reconciliation process in Northeast Asia, notably between Japan and South Korea (Republic of Korea), is still far from being a success story. The governments of the two states have …

Documenting German and Japanese War Crimes prior to 1945: The UN War Crimes Commission

Dan Plesch’s new book, Human Rights after Hitler: The Lost History of Prosecuting Axis War Crimes, sheds light on the existence of a little-known agency founded amid the atrocities of …

Working for Reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians: The Example of Friendship Across Borders

Working for reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians is arduous but rewarding—it keeps providing glimmers of hope in a situation that often seems beyond hopeless politically, motivating us to persevere. …

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 …

The Implications of a Diplomatic Kerfuffle

At the end of April, Germany’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel traveled to Israel to pay his respects on Holocaust Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum overlooking Jerusalem. Rather …

The Specter of Uncertainty: Policies for Strengthening the Transatlantic Relationship from the Next Generation of Leaders

Policy Report 65 AGI is pleased to present the written results of the first year of its new project “A German-American Dialogue of the Next Generation: Global Responsibility, Joint Engagement.” …

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 …