アンネ・フランクとハアレツの記事

東京のいくつかの図書館で、『アンネの日記』他、関連の本が、250冊以上も何ものかによって、切り取られてしまうという事件が起こりました。 

これが、単なる愉快犯でないのだとすれば、反ユダヤ、人種差別者の犯行でしょうか。 

まったくバカが増えたものです。

 

さて、アンネ・フランクといえば、以前私は、

 

『アウシュビッツ生還者の手記は日本にあっても日本軍による被害者の手記は日本にはない？』 

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/afternoon-tea-club-2/d/20121025

 のなかで、

 

「プリーモ・レーヴィやヴィクトール・フランクル、アンネ・フランクはじめ「第二次世界大戦時のユダヤ人」の翻訳本は日本に数多く翻訳されているものの、731部隊の生存者、南京大虐殺のときの体験者の中国人、従軍慰安婦にされた人たちの手記の翻訳本、こうしたものを私は見たことがないことに気がつきました。」 

と書きました。

 

そして、 

『原爆の正義(?)を受け入れている被爆国』 

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/afternoon-tea-club-2/d/20130824 

では、

 

「原爆と離れてナチスドイツの話ですが、日本でもよく読まれている『アンネの日記』。 

日本人はこれを読み、他人ごとのようにナチスや協力者を非難する側に身を置きはするけど、「自分の国がこんなナチスドイツと同盟を結んでいたんだ」とまで思いをはせる人は1パーセントもいないでしょう。）」 

と。

 

たまたま、今回の事件についてアメリカ人のティムさんにメールを書こうとして見つけたものに、上の私の意見と同じことを、より厳しく書いている記事がありました。イスラエルの新聞Haaretz(リヴェラルな新聞です)の今年の1月22日の記事です。

 

Haarez (2014.1.22) 

Why are the Japanese so fascinated with Anne Frank? 

For many Europeans, Anne Frank is a potent symbol of the Holocaust and the dangers of racism. But the Japanese people tend to connect to her story for fundamentally different reasons. 

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.569938

 

（前略）

 

Frank’s story is so well known that dozens of nations are represented in the entry line of the museum established at her former hideout on Prinsengracht 263. Every year, more than a million people visit the museum, making it one of the Dutch capital’s most visited tourist destinations.

 

But interest in Anne Frank is particularly intense in Japan, where her story continues to reach new audiences through comic books, cartoons, museum exhibitions and educational initiatives.

 

For some Japanese, this is a source of pride. But researchers who have studied this fascination say it has a dark side, reflecting a tendency to focus on Japan’s victimhood during World War II while ignoring responsibility for atrocities committed by its troops who fought as allies of Nazi Germany.

 

（中略）

 

For many Europeans, Anne Frank is a potent symbol of the Holocaust and the dangers of racism. But the Japanese people tend to connect to her story for fundamentally different reasons, according to Alain Lewkowicz, a French Jewish journalist who wrote an elaborate iPad application,”Anne Frank in the Land of Manga,” about his investigation of the Anne Frank phenomenon in Japan.

 

In January, a version of the work was published by the Franco-German television channel Arte.

 

“She symbolizes the ultimate World War II victim,” said Lewkowicz. “And that’s how most Japanese consider their own country because of the atomic bombs ? a victim, never a perpetrator.”

 

（中略）

 

In his book, Lewkowicz juxtaposes Japan’s Anne Frank fascination with what he and many others consider Japan’s failure to fully acknowledge the actions of Japanese troops in areas they occupied in China and Korea.

 

“The Anne Frank-Japan connection is based on a kinship of victims,” Lewkowicz said. “The Japanese perceive themselves as such because of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They don’t think of the countless Anne Franks their troops created in Korea and China during the same years,”

 

In Korea, Japanese troops organized the rape of thousands of enslaved Korean women who were known as “comfort women.” They also perpetrated mass killings of Chinese civilians.

 

Japan apologized in 1993 to Korea and again in 1995 for having “caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations.” But many consider the apology insufficient and insincere, citing the absence of reference to war crimes and repeated visits by Japanese leaders to shrines honoring some of the worst perpetrators. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit last month to one such shrine sparked strongly worded condemnations from the Chinese government.

 

Otsuka says his museum is limited to the Holocaust and that other war crimes are not part of its scope. But he notes that the institution’s mission statement extended to “deepening the understandings of the period and helping to enhance awareness for world peace among young people.”

 

Despite this, Lewkowicz says that Otsuka is quietly working to raise awareness of the divisive issue of Japan’s wartime record.

 

“Don’t expect Otsuka to advocate adding the issue of Japanese war crimes to the national curriculum,” Lewkowicz said. “Japan is not ready. It may seem from the outside like an ultra-liberal society, but this is a false impression.”

 

Still, he said, “Slowly, bit by bit, Otsuka and other like-minded people are raising questions and telling people, also through the Anne Frank story, that some of what Japan did in those years is pretty much comparable.”

 

（オランダの『アンネの隠れ家』訪問者数では日本人訪問者数は13位をつけるほど、アンネ・フランクの関心は高い。

 

しかし、欧米人がアンネ・フランクをホロコーストと人種差別の被害者のシンボルとして受け止めているのに対し、日本では、アンネ・フランクは、第二次世界大戦の被害者のシンボルとしてとらえている。

 

日本は、第二次世界大戦のときにナチスドイツと同盟を結んでいたし、中国や韓国に対して侵略を行った側であったのだが、（原爆によって）、自分を被害者側におき、それが、自分の加害者面と向き合う障害になっている・・・

等々のことを書き、安倍首相の12月の靖国参拝についても批判。）

 

記事と事件、案外関係しているかもしれませんね。 (※実は昨年5月くらいから被害はあったらしいです。2月27日追記）