Holocaust Memory And American Foreign Policy

Those norms and emotions based on memories help groups to define their own identities and interests, to shape their will to participate in social-political movements, and to provide them instruments of framing and mobilization. Therefore, collective memories could have strategic values in politics. In a world of globalization and democratization, they could be involved in the contests of soft power. Moreover, politicians and activists frequently use and even abuse them to advance their agendas.In terms of memorizing the evil of the Nazi and magnifying the superiority of American creed, Holocaust memory, which arisen in American culture since the 1960s, has become an important propaganda instrument to express America's self-superiority, and also an important way to shape and express their American identity for the Jews in American and even more general American society. On the one hand, the Holocaust memory helps to construct the hegemonic rhetoric that Jewish people suffered'unprecedented'and'particular'tragedy, and to concede them the most suffered in the human history. It is this feeling of ever suffering that made American Jews greatly strengthen their Jewish identity and build a new kind of "Civil Judaism" with collective survival as its core creed. On the other hand, the Holocaust memory makes clear different historical responsibilities and rights of different groups in the Holocaust:Christians should assume some of the related guilt and responsibility because of the "the teaching of contempt" to Jewish people in the long history and many of its members'collaboration (with Nazi) in the Holocaust; American government should be morally accused as "indifferent bystander" because of its indifference during the suffering of Jewish people.The Holocaust and its memory has fundamentally changed the way of mutual intercourse and the distribution of moral capital between Christians and Jews. Mainstream society of America have been filled with so much regret and empathy to Jewish people that they have decided to break from the past and start with a clean slate, that they have lost certain moral courage to criticize Jews. While Jewish people, who now have become more powerful, are calling for compensation for the historical injustice, fear and resent in their mind, and prepared to react fiercely and decidedly to dangers from anywhere. Thus, the Holocaust memory helps to construct powerful, cohesive pro-Israeli political interest groups in U.S., which have also gained empathy and support from many Christians. The Holocaust memory has provided pro-Israeli groups not only the instruments and symbols of framing and mobilization, but also a powerful rhetorical weapon to protect Israel from criticizing, that is, the label of 'anti-semitism'. For its character of clear division between good and evil, the Holocaust memory has become an instrument of framing and mobilization for America to promote human rights diplomacy, especially anti-genocide, since the end of 20th century. From the evolvement of the norms and practice of'humanitarian intervention'during 1990s, to emergence of anti-genocide advocacy network and grass-roots movement at the beginning of 21st century, the Holocaust memory has been one of the most important impetuses for America to reshape the world order and international norms.