cover image The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices

The Guilt of Nations: Restitution and Negotiating Historical Injustices

Elazar Barkan. W. W. Norton & Company, $29.95 (414pp) ISBN 978-0-393-04886-5

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--not to say, human nature--changed in March 1997,"" when the Swiss announced they were creating a humanitarian fund for victims of the Holocaust because of profits made from Nazi-looted gold. Indeed, questions of reparations for victims of atrocities erupted all over the globe in the past decade--and Barkan, who teaches history and cultural studies at Claremont Graduate University, takes a chapter-by chapter tour of these questions, covering such topics as Japanese restitution for enslaving Korean ""comfort women"" during WWII, Australian compensation for Aborigines, even the possibility of U.S. reparations for slavery. This work yields comparative nuggets--e.g., that the Japanese, unlike the Germans, do not feel a strong sense of collective guilt--and any reader who wades through this dense work will become educated about the weights and balances involved in restitution issues. The author also shows how restitution can bring two peoples together. In the case of the Germans and the Jews, restitution enabled ""mourning to serve as a way to deal with melancholy, victimization, national repression and self- hate."" Although Barkan favors restitution, because ""alternative potential resolutions are too often frustrating and less effective,"" he covers these topics thoroughly and dispassionately. But the author's strength is also a weakness. His mild stance makes this book feel like a fruit that is difficult to open and, once opened, not as sweet as one would like. (May)