Remembering Hiroshima

[Nerthus]

Remembering Hiroshima

Hiroshima - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hiroshima on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack with a moment of silence and offerings of flowers and water.
More than 55 000 people joined in the austere ceremony in Peace Memorial Park, a sprawling, tree-covered expanse that for one day each year becomes the spiritual epicentre of the global anti-nuclear movement.
A moment of silence was observed at 08:15, the instant of the blast. Flowers and water - symbolising the suffering of those who died in the atomic inferno - were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the center of the park.
About 140 000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350 000.
Three days later, another United States bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 80 000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15 1945, bringing World War II to a close.



http://www.news24.com/News24/World/N...750170,00.html

[Nerthus]

'People no longer looked human'

05/08/2005 14:35 - (SA)

Shino Yuasa and Philippe Agret

Hiroshima, Japan - A day before the United States dropped the world's first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima, Akie Yoshikawa remembered the sky was full of American B-29 bombers and they were flying like "swallows."
But she was not particularly concerned. There was a war going on and she was more concerned that her brother-in-law was about to go on a suicidal kamikaze mission.
On the fateful morning of August 6, 1945, Yoshikawa, then 21, was walking along with her mother just four kilometres from the centre of the blast.
"It was a very hot day. Just when I was about to open my parasol, I saw a huge flash," Yoshikawa said.
At 8:15 am, the nuclear bomb exploded 580 meters above Hiroshima, killing more than 140 000 people. The surface temperature near the hypocenter reached as high as 4 000 degrees Celsius.
"I immediately called for my mother and then lost consciousness. I woke up only to realise both of us had fallen into irrigation ditches," she said.
As a wartime public worker, Yoshikawa was trained to help the wounded in case of US military attacks and she went straight to a nearby elementary school, which became a makeshift shelter after the bombing.


Victims of the most apocalyptic weapon

It would be years before Hiroshima survivors would learn exactly what had happened - that they were the first victims of the most apocalyptic weapon ever devised.
"I knew something really terrible had happened. But what I saw at the elementary school was just indescribable. I felt like I landed in a living hell," she said.
"People no longer looked like human beings. So much of their skin was dangling and their faces were totally disfigured due to severe burns."
After the initial nuclear blast, the air pressure momentarily dropped so low that human eyeballs and internal organs burst out. The explosion destroyed almost all wooden houses within two kilometres of the hypocenter.
About an hour afterward, the school was full of A-bomb victims who arrived from central Hiroshima on foot to seek refuge from the nuclear carnage.
"I helped them lie on the grass and gave them water but they kept saying 'water, water and water.' Although I had received emergency aid training, there was nothing I could to help them," she said.
Yoshikawa did not lose any family members in the nuclear attack and said she holds no particular grudge against the United States today.

Bitterness towards US still there

But her friend, 85-year-old Fumiko Oki, said 60 years have done nothing to quell her bitterness toward the United States.
"I was walking with my father near central Hiroshima and suddenly the sky flashed above us. I tried to go home but couldn't walk due to the powerful blast," Oki said.
"When I got home, I found my sister beneath fallen pillars. She was already dead," she said in a barely audible voice.
Oki then went out to the flattened city to look for her mother and her banker brother while noticing her hair started falling out, a symptom of the radiation and heat rays.
"I finally found my mother lying at a department store. She was covered with bloody feces and died a few days later. Soon after her death, my father died. My brother remains missing today," Oki said with tears welling up her eyes.
"I was suddenly left alone and cried all the time. I will never forgive America for having ruined my life," she said.
Yoshikawa and Oki said they wanted the world to know how much Hiroshima had suffered in the atomic bombing.
"It was not just a few people. So many people died in agony and pain," Yoshikawa said.
Oki agreed. "This should never happen to anybody. I always pray for lasting peace."
Oki seemed at a loss for words. Yoshikawa reached out and held her friend's hands, saying: "We all have to live on behalf of the dead."



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[Nerthus]

Some pictures:



The plume of smoke from a mushroom cloud billow is seen about one hour after a nuclear bomb was detonated above Hiroshima, Japan on August 6 1945. Two planes participated in this mission; the Enola Gay carried and dropped the weapon, and another was an escort. Estimates vary, but about 140 000 people are believed to have died in the nuclear blast. (US Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, HO, AP)




In this undated picture provided by the US Strategic Bombing Survey, the destroyed city of Hiroshima, Japan is seen from the Red Cross hospital building located about one mile from the epicentre of the nuclear blast from the "Little Boy" atomic bomb which was detonated by the US on August 6 1945. (US Strategic Bombing Survey, AP)



Nuclear bomb victims are sheltered at the Hiroshima Second Military Hospital's tent relief centre at the banks of the Ota River in Hiroshima, Japan, 1 150m from the epicentre on August 7 1945, one day after the world's first nuclear bombing by the United States. (The Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, Yotsugi Kawahara, HO, AP)



A charred tram is seen in the middle of a devastated Hiroshima, Japan, 300m from the epicentre on August 12 1945, six days after the nuclear bombing by the United States. (The Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, Yotsugi Kawahara, HO, AP)



A man stands overlooking the rubble of a residential area in Hiroshima, 1 200m from the epicentre, in mid-August 1945, several days after the bombing by the United States. It was the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare. (The Association of the Photographers of the Atomic (Bomb) Destruction of Hiroshima, Yotsugi Kawahara, HO, AP)



An allied correspondent stands in the rubble of the shell of a building that once was a movie theatre in Hiroshima, Japan, on September 8 1945 after the first nuclear weapon ever used in warfare was dropped by the US on August 6 1945 to hasten Japan's surrender. (Stanley Troutman, AP)



A baby covered with burns receives medical treatment at a hospital in Hiroshima, Japan in this image made from footage shot weeks after the August 6 1945 nuclear bombing by the United States. (Nippon Eiga Shinsha, AP)


More here

[Nerthus]

Memories vivid in Hiroshima park

By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Hiroshima


The elderly prayed quietly or shared memories with younger people

They started to come two hours before the ceremony got under way, streaming over the bridges and into the Peace Park.

It was early morning, before 0600, but already it was hot.

The bright, sunny August morning with barely a cloud in the sky was almost the same conditions as those of that day 60 years before.

Yuri Kitamura, now 79, was just 19 when the bomb exploded above the city, killing tens of thousands of Hiroshima's people.

She has come back to the park to remember.
"It's been many years and months to get to where we are today," she said.
"But it doesn't matter how long it has taken. The memories of the day come back vividly. They still cause me pain."

Promote peace

Alan James and John Larkin, who had come here from Corby in north Lancashire, told me there was a feeling of serenity in the park.
Tom, from Canada, said there was no alternative to world peace. "I want to spread the word back home," he said.


Monks chanted by a mound containing the ashes of the dead

Barra McKenzie, from New Zealand, said it would be so much more impressive if other countries could promote peace in the same way that Japan does.
"It was very moving. It's a hot day and there's not much shade but it really brings it home to you. It's amazing that all these Japanese people are actively promoting peace."
Around the edges of the main ceremony, different rituals and commemorations were taking place.
Shinto priests in their flowing white robes celebrated an elaborate ritual in front of the mound which contains the ashes of 70,000 of those who died.
On the other side of the mound, Buddhist monks were chanting.

Heads bowed

Occasionally, an elderly man or woman would step forward and gently place some flowers on the makeshift shrine.
At 0815 the peace bell rang out across the park and instantly people stopped where they were, some even in the middle of the road, and bowed their heads.



Thousands gathered in the hot sun to remember the bomb victims

On one side of the park, a small group of demonstrators protested against the presence of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi here. Shouting through the silence, they were watched closely by the police.
After the main ceremony finished, many people stayed around, soaking up the atmosphere in the park.
It got hotter and hotter as the morning wore on, but no-one seemed to care.
Many, it seemed, felt like this was the right place to be today. It was almost as if they wanted to stay to share the memories of lost loved ones.
Old men showed children their yellowing photographs. Others just sat quietly under the trees, lost in their own thoughts.
And from time to time, the peace bell rang out still, as people clambered up on to the pedestal to ring it for themselves and signal their desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

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[Nerthus]

Hiroshima mayor slams Bush


06/08/2003 09:01 - (SA)


Hiroshima - Hiroshima's mayor lashed out at the US nuclear weapons policy on Wednesday during ceremonies marking the 58th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, which caused the deaths of more than 230 000 people.
Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said the United States worshipped nuclear weapons as "God" and blamed it for jeopardising the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.
"The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the central international agreement guiding the elimination of nuclear weapons, is on the verge of collapse," Akiba said in an address to about 40 000 people.
"The chief cause is US nuclear policy that, by openly declaring the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear first strike and calling for resumed research into mini-nukes and other so-called 'useable nuclear weapons,' appears to worship nuclear weapons as God," he said.
The mayor also slammed as unjust the US-led war on Iraq, which he blamed for killing innocent civilians. "The weapons of mass destruction that served as the excuse for the war have yet to be found," he said.
Akiba strongly urged US President George W Bush and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il to personally visit Hiroshima and "confront the reality of nuclear war".
As the clock clicked onto 08:15 (00:15 SA time), the exact time the US dropped the bomb on August 6, 1945, those at the ceremony at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park bowed their heads for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the attack.
During the 45-minute ceremony, officials added 5 050 names to the register of victims who died immediately or from the after-effects of radiation exposure in the bombing, bringing the total toll to 231 920, an official said.
The Hiroshima bombing was followed by the dropping of a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, which killed another estimated 74 000 people.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told the service that Japan would stick by its pacifist constitution and its non-nuclear principles because the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki "can never be repeated".
This year's ceremony came ahead of six-nation talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons development programme, which Pyongyang agreed to last week.
Koizumi told reporters after the ceremony that North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals would be a high priority at the talks.
"At the six-nation talks, obviously, nuclear weapons will be the focus, but for Japan, the abduction issue is just as important," he said.
"We will naturally have close cooperation with the United States and South Korea, but we must make efforts to have China and Russia understand our position as well," he said.
Last week, North Korea said it would accept six-way talks to include North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the United States to end the nuclear crisis that began in October last year.
Washington had accused the Stalinist state of reneging on a 1994 bilateral nuclear freeze accord by running a clandestine nuclear programme based on enriched uranium.




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[Nerthus]

US slammed as 'egocentric'


06/08/2004 11:39 - (SA)


Hiroshima - The mayor of Hiroshima slammed the United States for continuing to develop nuclear arms on Friday, the 59th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing which killed tens of thousands of people in this western Japanese city.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meanwhile pledged at a ceremony here to mark the August 6 1945 World War 2 bombing by the US that Japan would stick to its post-1945 war-renouncing constitution.
"The egocentric world view of the US government is reaching extremes," mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said at the ceremony held against the backdrop of the Atomic Bomb Dome, the preserved ruins of one of the few buildings not flattened by the blast.
"Ignoring the United Nations and its foundation of international law, the United States has resumed research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more usable," the mayor told 45 000 people at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
Meanwhile, a chain of violence and retaliation around the world showed no sign of ending, he said.

Cumulative death toll - 237 062

"Reliance on violence-amplifying terror and North Korea, among others, buying into the worthless policy of 'nuclear insurance' are salient symbols of our times," he said.
As the clock clicked onto 8:15, the exact time the United States dropped the bomb code-named "Little Boy", those at the ceremony bowed their heads for a minute's silence in memory of victims of the attack.
Around 140 000 people - almost half the city's population of the time - died immediately or in the months after the dropping of the 20 kiloton atomic bomb, from radiation injuries or horrific burns.
During Friday's ceremony, officials added to the existing toll the names of 5 142 atomic bomb suffers who died or were confirmed dead during the past year.
The additions brought the cumulative death toll associated with the effects of the bombing to 237 062.
The Hiroshima bombing was followed by the dropping of a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9 1945, leaving tens of thousands more dead.
The appalling loss of life among ordinary Japanese was credited with forcing Japan to surrender six days later, ending World War II in the Pacific theatre.
The mayor also declared the period from Friday to August 9, 2005 to be a year of "Remembrance and Action for a Nuclear-Free World", while calling on Americans to act as "a people of conscience."
"We, as the only atomic-bombed nation, will abide by the pacifist constitution under the firm resolve no to repeat the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said.
The head of a group of survivors of the bombs said they were "boiling with anger" over global stockpiles of nuclear weapons and the spreading violence since the September 2001 attacks on the United States.
"We have a grave duty in today's critical situation ...," Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-Bomb Suffers Organisations head Sunao Tsuboi said.



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[Menydh]

I watched a TV documentary the other day. Frightening. A shame without precedents.

[Menydh]

[Prinz Eugen]

Europeans don't forget Dresden too!

[Nerthus]

On Dresden see these threads:

This must be said!

Dresden-Paying our respects

Video of Dresden demonstration 13.02.2005