Stephanie Wolfe, The Politics of Reparations and Apologies

Abstract

Stephanie Wolfe’s book explores how states come to terms with their involvement in past atrocities and how they respond to demands for reparation. The book discusses three particular cases, all dealing with atrocities committed during the Second World War: Germany following the Holocaust; the USA with regard to the internment of Japanese residents; and the question of Japan’s responsibility vis-à-vis comfort women. These case studies reveal attitudes and policies that have evolved from denial to acknowledgement, statements of regret, apologies and the provision of particular remedies to survivors, next of kin or affected communities, more generally. Through these case studies, Wolfe retraces a growing social expectation ‘that governments should admit to prior unjust or discriminatory actions and engage in negotiations with their victims’.1 Accordingly, this trend was initiated by the 1952 Luxembourg Reparations Agreement between West Germany and Israel, and it culminated in 2005, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. Yet, as Wolfe shows through the case study of Japan and comfort women, there remains significant resistance to the implementation of this norm.