Chugoku Shimbun Peace Park- scorched rubble and green

Peace Park- scorched rubble and green

As the Memorial Day approaches, a very valuable set of negative films (63 cuts) to tell the Hiroshima disaster immediately after the bombing were donated to the Hiroshima Peace Museum by a former American officer's son and his wife.

The pictures seem to have been taken in Oct. 1945 and never been introduced to the public. They clearly show the city which experienced the first atomic bomb in human history. They include a picture of the Aioi Bridge which was the target in the bombing and an aerial photograph of the A-bomb dome and its surrounding area.

After 53 years passed, it is impossible to imagine how was the town in the ruins then.

The Peace Park where the memorial ceremony is going to be held on the 6th of August is now filled with lots of green and many buildings in the north area stood close together. On August 6th 1945, the river was filled with people who jumped in to drink some water and escape the fire. Today many pleasure boats are moored at the same place. The citizens appreciate the preciousness of peace.

Although the citizens are living in peace, they can't forget about "that day". There is a tombstone in the temple's grave which is located near the A-bomb dome. The letters written in dark Indian ink on the tombstone read "6 August, Atomic Bomb". The whole family, all of five members died of either the A-bombing or the A-bomb disease.

The total number of the deceased survivors, whose names are registered in the list of names of victims of the A-bomb until the last year, is 202,118. In the memorial ceremony to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the A-bombing, the names of survivors who passed away this year will be added to the list and enshrined in the memorial cenotaph.

"Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil." This is a sentence written on the cenotaph. As a number of survivors are decreasing gradually but surely, Hiroshima's responsibility to find a path to carry on the memories of "that day" to the next generation is demanded.


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