Capitulation, occupation, incarceration, regeneration, education: How Singapore has rediscovered its World War 2 legacy

Abstract

Singapore experienced profound suffering in World War 2: bombing, invasion, occupation, interrogation, mass execution. After the war, accordingly, the public mood was not disposed towards overt reminders of those years. The concentration was on creating economic and social revival – war memorial sites had little part in that. Today, though, a mood of regeneration is apparent; sites of significance in that wartime experience have been refurbished, and are now advertised as places of significance to tourists interested in military history. In unison, they proclaim Santayana’s assertion that ‘those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’ (Santayana, 2018).