“I smelled burning bodies.”
“People’s skin had melted. They didn’t even look human.”
This is what the atomic bomb survivors told us about Hiroshima right after the bombing.
It seemed like they didn’t even want to remember. It seemed like their hearts had been torn apart.
There will never, ever be an end to the pain and suffering of those who were bombed.
We imagine, as if they were our own experiences, the feelings of the Hibukusha (atomic bomb survivors) and what really happened on that day.
The time will soon come when, though we want to ask for more, we will no longer be able to.
In an instant the city was destroyed, people’s dreams and everyday lives were crushed.
August 6, 1945, at 8:15am in the morning is something we want to know more about.
It’s something we want to convey more.
It was the hard work of all who overcame their sorrow and pain that allowed Hiroshima to come back to life as a city of vibrantly coloured flowers and clear, blue skies.
This is the Hiroshima that, year after year, countless people visit from all over the world.
To know what really happened, they explore the Peace Memorial Park, go through the Peace Memorial Museum, listen to atomic bomb survivors, and feel for themselves the terror of the atomic bombing.
Of those who come here, many promise “to convey what happened that day”
Because of them, we feel peace is spreading.
We have a duty to convey the Hibukusha’s words, which have been entrusted to us.
Each of us, in our own, deliberate words,
Will communicate and pass on
To those who do not know war, to members of the next generation, and to people around the world,
The treasure of life and the desire for peace.
August 6, 2016
Children’s Representatives:
Tariho Nakaoku (6th Grade, Hiroshima City Takeya Elementary School)
Yuta Aoki (6th Grade, Hiroshima City Kameyama Elementary School).
SOURCES:
- Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
