War Memorial Research Articles

Visuals in History Textbooks

Abstract This article is based on a bibliographical data set of over 2,600 history textbooks from the post-1945 Soviet Union and eleven out of its fifteen successor states, including books on international, national, and regional or local history. Among these, it analyzes the illustrations used in 450 books that cover the period of the Second World War. Arguing against a reduction of history-related visuals to a “narrative,” this article seeks to contribute to analyzing the visual grammar of history textbooks. It does so by drawing on notions of familiarity developed in French pragmatic sociology and identifies visual techniques used to make pupils approach war memorials in a mode of familiarity rather than critical analysis. Decontextualized presentations of monuments located outside the former Soviet Union turn them into timeless icons experienced via familiarity-as-recognition; monuments shown with surrounding landscapes or on maps turn them into intimately known markers of a Sovietized local identity.

‘일본군 위안부’, 표상과 기억계승의 불/가능성 －요괴만화가 미즈키 시게루(水木しげる)에 주목하여－

This study focused on the representation of “Japanese Military Sexual Slavery” by Japanese national cartoonist Shigeru Mizuki in his work and examined the possibility of its representation and memory succession. This already presupposes a clear limitation that the person describing and representing wartime sexual violence against women is a former Japanese soldier. However, the reason why “Japanese Military Sexual Slavery” as a war memory was not inherited as a history of “father” in Japanese society after the defeat is not only because the subject of the memory succession is a “daughter” = woman. Gender does intervene in the impossibility of memory succession surrounding the “Japanese Military Sexual Slavery,” but that is not all. The “Japanese Military Sexual Slavery” is a scar = crime left in the history of a proud father who fought the war bravely and sacrificially, with this scar being a factor that can threaten not only the war but also the national identity of the Japanese.

Hunger as a weapon of war: Biafra, social media and the politics of famine remembrance

This article explores the role of social media in the memorialisation of the Biafra famine. It argues that given the absence of Biafra famine narratives in the official post-Civil War memory spaces in Nigeria, social media has emerged as a site where silence and hegemonic discourses around the Biafra famine are disrupted, contested and unmoored. Thus, the study contributes to the contemporary debates on digital media and memorialisation of mass atrocities.

The Memory Wars Then and Now: The Contributions of Scott O. Lilienfeld

In this review, honoring Scott O. Lilienfeld, we reflect on key conflicts, controversies, and flash points in the so-called memory wars that have captured headlines, affected legislative action, and influenced civil suits and criminal trials. We trace the memory wars, beginning in the 1990s to the present. From the outset, the memory wars featured debates regarding repressed memories, recollections of trauma, and the hazards of memory recovery therapy, and these disagreements persist today in controversies concerning dissociative amnesia, beliefs about memory, suggestive psychotherapies, and the genesis of dissociative identity disorder (DID). We acknowledge Lilienfeld’s contributions, particularly to the sociocognitive model of DID, reviewed in the second half of the article, and to a recent transtheoretical framework that contrasts sharply with the posttraumatic view of DID. The memory wars greatly enhanced scientific understanding of memory, trauma, iatrogenic psychotherapies, and dissociative disorders. We conclude with suggestions for future research to deepen understanding of issues stimulated by the memory wars.

The Music and the First World War Project at the Australian War Memorial

The Music and the First World War project was a First World War centenary project at the Australian War Memorial that involved the digitisation of a selection of diaries, letters, concert programs and 100 pieces of sheet music held in the Memorial’s collection. This article examines the process of developing the project, preparing the collections for digitisation and establishing a publishing framework for online release. The article also discusses some of the benefits of the project for telling the stories of each of these songs, their history and the performers involved.

Doing more with less: The use of non-invasive ventilatory support in a resource-limited setting.

Bubble CPAP (bCPAP), a non-invasive ventilation modality, has emerged as an intervention that is able to reduce pneumonia-related mortality in children in low resourced settings. Our study primarily aimed to describe a cohort of children who were started on CPAP in the Medical Emergency Unit (MEU) of Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital 2016-2018. A retrospective review of a randomly selected sample of paper-based folders was conducted. Children started on bCPAP at MEU were eligible for inclusion. Demographic and clinical data, management, and outcomes regarding admission to PICU, need for invasive ventilation and mortality were documented. Descriptive statistical data were generated for all relevant variables. Percentages depicted frequencies of categorical data while medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) were used to summarise continuous data. Of 500 children started on bCPAP, 266 (53%) were male; their median age was 3.7 (IQR 1.7-11.3) months and 169 (34%) were moderately to severely underweight-for-age. There were 12 (2%) HIV-infected children; 403 (81%) had received appropriate immunisations for their age; and 119 (24%) were exposed to tobacco smoke at home. The five most common primary reasons for admission were acute respiratory illness, acute gastroenteritis, congestive cardiac failure, sepsis and seizures. Most children, 409 (82%), had no underlying medical condition. Most children, 411 (82%), were managed in high care areas of the general medical wards while 126 (25%) went to PICU. The median time on CPAP was 1.7 (IQR 0.9-2.8) days. The median hospitalisation time was 6 (IQR 4-9) days. Overall, 38 (8%) children required invasive ventilatory support. Overall, 12 (2%) children with a median age of 7.5 (IQR 0.7-14.5) months died, six of whom had an underlying medical condition. Seventy-five percent of children initiated on bCPAP did not require PICU admission. This form of non-invasive ventilatory support should be considered more widely in the context of limited access to paediatric intensive care units in other African settings.

Surgical management of extrahepatic portal vein obstruction in children: advantages of MesoRex shunt compared with distal splenorenal shunt

PurposeTo review surgical management of extrahepatic portal vein obstruction (EHPVO) at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and compare MesoRex shunt (MRS) with distal splenorenal shunt (DSRS).MethodsThis is a single-centre retrospective review documenting pre- and post-operative data in 21 children. Twenty-two shunts were performed, 15 MRS and 7 DSRS, over an 18-year period. Patients were followed up for a mean of 11 years (range 2–18). Data analysis included demographics, albumin, prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), International normalised ratio (INR), fibrinogen, total bilirubin, liver enzymes and platelets before the operation and 2 years after shunt surgery.ResultsOne MRS thrombosed immediately post-surgery and the child was salvaged with DSRS. Variceal bleeding was controlled in both groups. Significant improvements were seen amongst MRS cohort in serum albumin, PT, PTT, and platelets and there was a mild improvement in serum fibrinogen. The DSRS cohort showed only a significant improvement in the platelet count. Neonatal umbilic vein catheterization (UVC) was a major risk for Rex vein obliteration.ConclusionIn EHPVO, MRS is superior to DSRS and improves liver synthetic function. DSRS does control variceal bleeding but should only be considered when MRS is not technically feasible or as a salvage procedure when MRS fails.

The “medals not to be proud of...”: memory of the Caucasian war in social media

The article examines the memory of the Caucasian War in the space of social media (VKontakte, Telegram, etc.) and the possibilities of its use as a symbolic resource in the process of radicalisation of local Caucasian societies. The total number of subscribers to the communities, channels, and pages studied is around 300,000 people. The conceptual basis of the paper is the relational approach to the concept of radicalisation. In addition, I consider memory as one of the symbolic resources that determine the process of radicalisation of a particular community, and refer to researchers such as L.-E. Cederman, J. Goodwin, and M. Sageman. The article examines not just the memory of the Caucasian War represented in the field of social media, but the several national images of the Caucasian War that have emerged in this field.

Social trauma and specifics of memory

Russian history is overloaded with numerous tragedies and is certainly a traumatic one. The tragedies took place in various historical periods, were caused by very painful processes, and affected special groups of people. The case studies are represented by people forcefully moved to Germany during the Second World War, the deported Kalmyks, and the former inhabitants of the Valaam monastery. A North Caucasian memory of the Caucasian war as well as the Cossack memory are also discussed. The article introduces a special section of the journal’s issue on “Traumatic Memory” with contributions by E.-B.M. Guchinova, E.A. Zakharina and E.F. Krinko, Е.A. Melnikova, V.A. Tanaylova, V.А. Shnirelman.

Cerebrovascular Pressure Reactivity Has a Strong and Independent Association With Outcome in Children With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

To examine cerebrovascular pressure reactivity index (PRx) in a large cohort of children with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) in association with physiologic variables and outcome. Retrospective observational cohort study. Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Pediatric (≤ 14 yr old) sTBI patients with intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring (postresuscitation Glasgow Coma Score [Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)] of ≤ 8). Data were analyzed from ICM+ files sampled at 100Hz. PRx (a mathematical indicator of pressure reactivity) was calculated as a moving correlation coefficient between ICP and mean arterial pressure (MAP) as previously described. Associations between PRx, age, GCS, ICP, MAP, and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) were examined with summary measures and correlation analysis using high-frequency data. Associations between PRx and mortality/outcome were examined with multivariable logistic regression analysis and the prognostic ability of PRx with receiver operating characteristic (ROCs) curves. The dataset included over 1.7 million minutes (28,634 hr) of MAP and ICP data in 196 children. The series mortality was 10.7% (21/196), and unfavorable outcome 29.6% (58/196). PRx had a moderate positive correlation with ICP ( r = 0.44; p < 0.001), a moderate negative correlation with CPP ( r = -0.43; p < 0.001), and a weak negative correlation with MAP ( r = -0.21; p = 0.004). PRx was consistently higher in patients with poor outcome and had a strong, independent association with mortality (ROC area under the curve = 0.91). A PRx threshold of 0.25 showed the best predictive ability for mortality. This is the largest cohort of children with PRx analysis of cerebrovascular reactivity to date. PRx had a strong association with outcome that was independent of ICP, CPP, GCS, and age. The data suggest that impaired autoregulation is an independent factor associated with poor outcome and may be useful in directing clinical care.

Candida bloodstream infection among children hospitalised in three public-sector hospitals in the Metro West region of Cape Town, South Africa

BackgroundCandida bloodstream infection (BSI) causes appreciable mortality in neonates and children. There are few studies describing the epidemiology of Candida BSI in children living in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsA retrospective descriptive study was conducted at three public sector hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa. Demographic and clinical details, antifungal management and patient outcome data were obtained by medical record review. Candida species distribution and antifungal susceptibility testing results were obtained from the National Health Laboratory Service database.ResultsOf the 97 Candida BSI episodes identified during a five-year period, 48/97 (49%) were Candida albicans (C. albicans), and 49/97 (51%) were non-C. albicans species. The overall incidence risk was 0.8 Candida BSI episodes per 1000 admissions at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. Of the 77/97 (79%) Candida BSI episodes with available clinical information, the median age (interquartile range) at the time of BSI was 7 (1–25) months, 36/77 (47%) were associated with moderate or severe underweight-for-age and vasopressor therapy was administered to 22/77 (29%) study participants. Most of the Candida BSI episodes were healthcare-associated infections, 63/77 (82%). Fluconazole resistance was documented among 17%, 0% and 0% of C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis and C. albicans isolates, respectively. All Candida isolates tested were susceptible to amphotericin B and the echinocandins. The mortality rate within 30 days of Candida BSI diagnosis was 13/75 (17%). On multivariable analysis, factors associated with mortality within 30 days of Candida BSI diagnosis included vasopressor therapy requirement during Candida BSI, adjusted Odds ratio (aOR) 53 (95% confidence interval 2–1029); hepatic dysfunction, aOR 13 (95% CI 1–146); and concomitant bacterial BSI, aOR 10 (95% CI 2–60).ConclusionThe study adds to the limited number of studies describing paediatric Candida BSI in sub-Saharan Africa. Non-C. Albicans BSI episodes occurred more frequently than C. albicans episodes, and vasopressor therapy requirement, hepatic dysfunction and concomitant bacterial BSI were associated with an increase in 30-day mortality.

Toni Morrison's Home: an Ecolingustic Analysis

Since the publication of Arran Stibbe's critically acclaimed book Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology, and the Stories We Live By (2015), a new approach to ecolinguistics has emerged, one that focuses on how much ecologically constructive or destructive views are included in the discourses contained in the "stories" that people "live by" every day. Toni Morrison, expanding the possibilities of African American ecological writing, explores the healing impact of nature that is reflected in the "stories" the characters "live by" in her novels. Her writings build a narrative frame in which nature is the benefactor and healer. On the one hand the narratives poignantly and painfully expose the psychological or emotional wounds suffered by the African- Americans and on the other depict nature as a healer of these wounds. Our concern in this paper is Morrison’s novel Home (2012). It is a story of a veteran soldier, Frank Money who returns home, with traumatic war memories deeply entrenched into his mind, to rescue his sister Cee from the clutches of a doctor who was abusing her body. The siblings are ultimately healed by associating themselves with and communicating with other members of their community and nature. This paper will apply Stibbe’s theory of ecolinguistics and look at the stories and narrative discourses in Morrison’s Home to see how the ecology of language in the narrative posits that living in harmony with nature produces a healing effect.

SG-APSIC1157: The attributable mortality and excess length of stay associated with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales bloodstream infections—A prospective cohort study in Suva, Fiji

Objectives: Although antimicrobial resistance (AMR) disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), primary clinical data on AMR burden from LMICs are lacking, particularly from the Pacific Islands. We adapted recent World Health Organization methodology to measure the impact of third-generation cephalosporin (3GC) resistance on mortality and excess length of hospital stay among inpatients with Enterobacterales bloodstream infection (BSI) in Fiji. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of inpatients with Enterobacterales BSIs at Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva. We collected demographic, clinical, and microbiological data, and we stored bacterial isolates for confirmatory testing and molecular genomics in Melbourne, Australia. We employed cause-specific Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the effect of 3GC-resistance on hazard of in-hospital mortality and discharge alive (competing outcomes), and we used multistate modelling to estimate the excess length of hospital stay associated with 3GCR. Results: From July 2020 to February 2021, we identified 162 consecutive Enterobacterales BSIs, and 66 (40.7%) were 3GC resistant. The crude mortality rates for patients with 3GC-susecptible and 3GC-resistant BSIs were 16.7% (16 of 96) and 30.3% (20 of 66), respectively. Also, 3GC resistance was not associated with either in-hospital mortality (aHR, 1.67; 95% CI, 0.80–3.49) or discharge alive (aHR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.50–1.12). However, patient comorbidities and acuity of illness were associated with in-hospital mortality. Furthermore, 3GC-resistance was associated with an increased length of stay of 2.6 days (95% CI, 2.5–2.8). Overall, 3GC-resistance was more common among patients with hospital-associated than community-acquired infection, but genomics did not identify clonal transmission. Conclusions: Among patients with Enterobacterales BSIs, mortality was relatively high, and 3GC resistance was common. Also, 3GC resistance was associated with increased hospital length of stay but not with in-hospital mortality after adjusting for potential confounders. Accurate estimates of the burden of AMR are important, especially from LMICs. Such knowledge can inform policy decisions, guide allocation of limited resources, and assist the evaluation of future interventions to address AMR.

HISTORICAL MEMORY FORMATION ABOUT CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN WORLD WAR II TIMES AS AN ASPECT OF INFORMATIONAL CONFRONTATION

The article reveals the peculiarities of Soviet propaganda’s use of the topic of mass executions of the civilian population to form an official model of collective memory of crimes against humanity during the Second World War. In the course of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that the official model of the collective historical memory of the Second World War in the USSR did not foresee responsibility for the ruling regime for crimes against humanity or war crimes. It also made it impossible to criticize the use of the civilian population of Ukraine by the Stalinist regime as an mobilization resource, capable of carrying out combat tasks and receiving enemy fire even without being in the ranks of the armed forces.

Ten years' experience with bone conduction hearing aids in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Untreated conductive and mixed hearing losses as a result of middle ear pathology or congenital ear malformations can lead to poor speech, language and academic outcomes in children. Lack of access to centralised hearing healthcare in resource-constrained environments limits opportunities for children with hearing loss. Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital (RCWMCH) is one of only two dedicated paediatric hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2016 and 2021, 29 children received implanted bone conduction hearing devices, and 104 children were fitted with bone conduction devices on softbands. The authors' experience at RCWMCH suggests that bone-anchored hearing devices, either fitted on softbands or on implanted abutments, can provide solutions in settings where patients have limited access to hearing healthcare and optimal classroom environments. Hearing healthcare should be accessible and delivered at the appropriate level of care to mitigate the adverse effects of hearing loss in children.Contribution:This article describes strategies employed at RCWMCH such as fitting bone conduction hearing devices on a softband immediately after hearing loss diagnosis and conducting follow-up via remote technology to make hearing healthcare more accessible to vulnerable populations.

Student Learning Circuits, War Memorials and Anzac

Student Learning Circuits, War Memorials and Anzac

The everyday art of resistance: Interpreting "resistancescapes" against urban violence in Palestine

In 2002, the Israeli military performed one of its most extensive operations on occupied Palestine. One outcome of this war was the enforcement of an Israeli Segregation Wall that severs the sensitive Palestinian urban fabric and secludes Palestinians in isolated enclaves. Consequentially, the eight-meter-high wall stands as a physical reminder of the spatial violence behind its existence, which targets the normality of Palestinian everyday life by restricting mobility and confirming invisibility. The imposed hegemonic wall became part of the public realm, converting the latter into a traumascape where memories of war are continuously emitted to the public. Since then, eager international and Palestinian artists have been utilizing the concrete panels as a medium for art expression. On the Segregation Wall, graffiti expresses the historic and ongoing struggle that embodies Palestinians' collective memory and national identity. Through graffiti, Palestinians find moments to grieve losses and cognitively imagine a liberated future for their cities. This paper offers an in-depth reflection on the Palestinian graffiti on the Segregation Wall. Through ethnographic research, the study explores the role of Palestinian graffiti in transforming the Israeli-imposed traumascape into what we term a resistancescape. By provoking urban dialogues around trauma sites, Palestinian graffiti offers an example of creative everyday resistance, empowering Palestinians to claim their right to the city. Challenging the oppressor's hegemony by spreading graffiti on the imposed Segregation Wall helps Palestinians negotiate everyday life, keep their Sumud, and demand spatial justice.

(Un)spoken Histories: The Second World War and Yugoslav Jewish Women

Abstract The article discusses the experiences of Yugoslav Jewish women during the Second World War and the Holocaust. It presents little known texts (fictional, paraliterary and documentary works) written by Jewish women (Hilda Dajč, Elvira Kohn, Lea Abinun, Ženi Lebl, and Gina Camhy), one non-Jewish woman (Milojka Mezorana), and one Jewish man (Đorđe Lebović), during or after the Second World War. The main aim of the analysis is to draw attention to the specificity of Jewish women’s narratives in the (post-)Yugoslav cultural space, the contextual framework in which they function, and the risk of their mis- or overinterpretation. The analysis presents also the spectrum of possible readings of texts created during or thematizing the Second World War which are either written by or refer to Jewish women—a group which remained unduly marginalized in the official memory of the Second World War and its aftermath.

No safe place for war survivors: War memory, event exposure, and migrants' psychological trauma.

The present study explores the concept of reenactment of known and unknown war trauma that may be unfamiliar to the readers while also opening up new discourses of understanding and empathy through the lens of Cathy Caruth's trauma theory by focusing on the novel A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi. War fiction, such as Abawi's novel, highlights the concept of psychological trauma as a double wound (known as "outsiders" and unknown as "insiders") through the textual analysis and characterization of characters by presenting their haunting pasts, present lives, and losses concerning traumatic events. The present study also recounts what the trauma of the unknown means to war-torn survivors by focusing on "trauma as double wounds" from three aspects: cause, effects, and recuperation. Finally, the study concludes with a new paradigm in which trauma is portrayed as a healer rather than a wound.

Western tourism at Cu Chi and the memory of war in Vietnam: Dialogical effects of the carnivalesque

In this article we analyze the social memories of the Vietnam War afforded by tourism at the Cu Chi battlefield. Specifically, we explore the experiences of tourists at the site in order to address the under-theorized relationship between carnivalesque and dialogical discourses. Drawing on field interviews and ethnographic engagement with young adult Western tourists who took tours led by Vietnamese guides, we document how the tourists’ playful engagement with the past at Cu Chi facilitates the development of new dialogical memories of the war. Our interviews reveal a strong concern with the suffering of both occupying forces and the Vietnamese communist forces, a finding that points to the need for scholars to better appreciate the multiplicity of ways that social performances function in shaping social memory. Ultimately, we challenge social performance theories whose explanations reduce shifts in social memory to audience interpretations of authenticity.