Taiwan Fiction and Postwar Urban Experience
On Air
Floyd Schmoe is an American Quaker who was a conscientious objector of war during both world wars and pursued peace through humanitarian work. He spoke and wrote about the atrocities of war throughout his long life. He used the Quaker network within the occupation force, including Elizabeth Vining, the then tutor to the Crown Prince. With Vining's advice, Schmoe wrote to the Imperial Household about his desire to help people in Japan rebuild from the ashes of war.
He finally made it to Hiroshima in 1948, and one year later, he revisited there with a team of volunteers of diverse backgrounds. They were welcomed and began building houses for the surviving families. Schmoe's unrelenting efforts to enter Japan show the difficulties in getting access to an occupied country. People called the houses, "Schome House." On the site reads: "To build understanding; by building houses; that there may be peace." Schmoe's team later built houses for the widows with children in Nagasaki.
In the lecture, participants can explore the meaning of peacebuilding, overcoming the calamities of war and seeking reconciliation with people from former enemy countries.
