The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices

Elazar Barkan

JHU Press, Oct 9, 2001 - History - 456 pages

How do nations and aggrieved parties, in the wake of heinous crimes and horrible injustices, make amends in a positive way to acknowledge wrong-doings and redefine future interactions? How does the growing practice of making restitution restore a sense of morality and enhance prospects for world peace? Where has restitution worked and where has it not?

Since the end of World War II, the victims of historical injustices and crimes against humanity have increasingly turned to restitution, financial and otherwise, as a means of remedying past suffering. In The Guilt of Nations, Elazar Barkan offers a sweeping look at the idea of restitution and its impact on the concept of human rights and the practice of both national and international politics. Through in-depth explorations of reparation demands for a wide variety of past wrongs—the Holocaust; Japanese enslavement of "comfort women" in Korea and the Philippines; the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor; German art in Russian museums and Nazi gold in Swiss banks; the oppression of indigenous peoples in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. mainland, and Hawaii; and the enduring legacy of slavery and institutional racism among African Americans—Barkan confronts the difficulties in determining victims and assigning blame in the aftermath of such events, understanding what might justly be restored through restitutions, and assessing how these morally and politically charged acknowledgments of guilt can redefine national histories and identities.

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Review: The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices

User Review  - Prema Filippone - Goodreads

This is not an easy read, but the man is brilliant!!

Review: The Guilt of Nations

User Review  - Cahners Business Information.

The negotiations over Holocaust restitution that have made headlines during the past few years make this philosophical inquiry into the issue a timely monograph. As the author writes, "world morality ...

Contents

• The Faustian German Reparation to Jews: 3
• American Memory Japanese Americans Remember the Camps: 30
• Sex Slaves Comfort Women and Japanese Guilt: 46
• Plunder as Justice Russian Victims and Glorious Museums: 65
• Nazi Gold and Swiss Solidarity A New Mechanism for Rewriting Historical Crimes?: 88
• Restitution in East Central Europe Deserving and Undeserving Victims: 112
• First Nations Renaissance Indigenous Groups and the Pluralistic Model: 159
• Native American Restitution Land Human Remains and Sacred Objects: 169
• Hawaii The Other Native Americans: 216
• Oceanic Models for Indigenous Groups Australian Aborigines: 232
• Once Were Warriors The Limits of Successful Restitution: 262
• Restitution for Slavery Opportunity or Fantasy?: 283
• Toward a Theory of Restitution: 308
• Notes: 351
• Acknowledgments: 389
• Index: 391

About the author

Elazar Barkan is chair of the Cultural Studies Department and associate professor of history at Claremont Graduate University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices; The Guilt of Nations
• Author: Elazar Barkan
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: JHU Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0801868076, 9780801868078
• Length: 456 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Europe / General; History / United States / General; Law / International; Political Science / International Relations / General