동아시아 전쟁 관련 기념관의 전시 내러티브와 역사교육적 의미

Abstract

The objective of this study is to look into the stories described through the exhibition narratives of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. In an exhibition, historical relics are carefully selected and arranged to deliver the intended messages. Since those selected relics could be understood in various ways according to the context, it is important to analyze the exhibition narratives as those selected relics could be understood in various ways according to the context. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum chose to display the cruelty of the war and the damages caused by the atomic bomb. Thus the display emphasizes the importance of peace while avoiding the responsibility of the outbreak of the war. In historical context, its narrative only indicates how much damage Japan suffered from the atomic explosion in Hiroshima, separating the brutality of the invasion from the damage. On the other hand, Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall proves that the massacre is an indisputable historical fact, to contradict the ‘right󰠏wing organizations’ of Japan who denies the happening of the massacre. Also, it functions as the place to educate the Chinese nationalism. This study tries to extract historical consciousness embedded in the exhibition narratives. Here, four types of Jörn Rüsen’s distinction of historical consciousness; traditional, exemplary, critical, genetic is employed. Neither the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum nor Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall applies merely a single type of historical consciousness Rüsen suggested. The two memorial museums display various ways of historical awareness by using diverse narratives that show the four types of historical consciousness. This is because the views understanding of the past warfare and damages changed over time. History education is not about delivering the facts of the past but guiding the public to have the right view about the past which is based on self󰠏understanding. Because of the experience of the war in the 20th century, the view of self󰠏understanding of each of East Asian countries was altered. As a result, the view of each other also differed, which reflected on the exhibition of memorial museums. As time passes, the concern of improper history awareness is raised due to gradual loss of actual experience and memory. Especially, for three countries in East Asia who suffered extreme conflicts, the memories of the past is still a key factor of the conflicts of today. In the current situation, the responsibility of passing down the memory of the past and raising critical historical consciousness by education is being emphasized. Accordingly, memorial museums should be the means to understand common history and to achieve a future󰠏oriented reconciliation between the related countries. The memorial museums carry war memories that are not restrained to history of a single country. In the light of current international conflicts regarding past memories, it is of great importance to pay attention to the memorial museums that represent the contemporary history of three East Asian countries.