Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen
The Jewish Holocaust

As I mentioned in the earlier post, for whatever reason watching Schindler's List, and even going to Sachsenhausen hasn't really affected me as much as I thought it would. I've been mulling over it for a while and I think I've reached some conclusion.

First, the Second World War has been so much a part of my history that watching or going to another thing about it has almost lost any kind of meaning. Sure, the Jewish holocaust was a lot worse than anything the Japanese did to countries in South East Asia. But at the same time, I grew up with similar stories as a part of the history of MY people. I'm really not sure how much more emotional I can get about the Holocaust. Even if Schindler's List portrayed the events of the Holocaust to be even more graphic than anything I had seen or heard about the Japanese occupation. I'm not sure I can force myself to see the Second World War as anything more than just another piece of history.

Maybe the way I'm responding to this is heartless. But let me tell you a bit more about the side of that Second World War that I learnt in grade school as a part of my history.

Up till the point of the Japanese occupation, Singapore had been a British colony since 1819. But when the Japanese came in, our own colonial masters left us to fend for ourselves. Because of the ongoing conflict the Japanese had with the Chinese, migrants from China throughout Asia became the target. I'm not usually nationalistic, but even though my grandparents didn't make it to Singapore till after the war was over, these are still MY people we're talking about.

MaryAnn then raised the question of how should the Church respond to events like the Second World War, or current issues of injustice like Sudan, Darfur or Rwanda. Maybe it's because I come from the side of the oppressed rather than the "wealthier" side that, while they may not have been involved with the oppression, they have the "wealth" to fight the injustice. To me, the role of the Churches in Asia is to give grace. Grace to the ones who have oppressed us. Yes, I may be two generations separated from the events of the war so I can say well, I forgive you for you know not what you did. But at the same time, MaryAnn reminded me yesterday that parts of Japan have not actually acknowledged what they did. Maybe it's the honour/shame society thing, I don't know.

But what it makes me think of is that Germany has acknowledged what they did. I don't know the full extent of reparations and all that other stuff, but it makes me wonder if it's time we gave them a bit of grace so that their own people will acknowledge those years as a part of their history? Yes, they screwed up royally. How long more do they have to hang their heads in shame and avoid talking about that part of their history? Do we not preach forgiveness and redemption? Do we not talk about the cost of discipleship as learning what it means to both give and receive expensive grace?

I think about Singapore. Really, I'm not a very patriotic or nationalistic person by nature. I'd rather be bound to individual persons than to race, ethnicity, nationality, or any of such labels that society places on us. But now that I no longer live there, the more I think about where we've come from, the more I can't help but brag about it. So indulge me for a few minutes.

Perhaps it's because we're as small as we are, we don't really have a choice when it comes to being nice to our neighbours. Yes, the Japanese may have occupied us for nearly four years, but we learn that we need each other more than we need to let our hatred sit. And again, grace.

If you want to know more about the Second World War and the Asian side of things, there's a book that my history teachers have recommended (which I've sadly not had time to read yet) called "The Rape of Nanking."

My brain is fried and I'm ready for this next week of the Urban Ministry class to be over. On a slightly more personal level, I've been in desperate need of alone space that I haven't really gotten. But that's ok. Once the group leaves on Thursday, I'll meet with Kelley and Rhonda to get a rough idea of what the next two months will look like. And then I'll probably take a day off to roam the streets of Berlin, take more pictures and enjoy a bit of time to myself before starting the rest of the summer.

Hey, if you're reading this, hello to you. If you ever feel like commenting or saying hello, I would love to hear from you. Sometimes it's nice to know I'm not simply feeding words into empty cyberspace.

Love you all.