Student Resources about the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima/Nagasaki (H/N)
By Dianne Blais for the GREEN PARTY PEACE ACTION COMMITTEE (GPAX)
These Resources include:
Intro – info about the H/N bombings
Aug. 6-9, 2020 EVENTS
Anti-Nuclear Organizations that include H/N bombings remembrance
Webinars about the H/N bombings
Books about the bombings
Articles about the bombings
Films about the bombings
Miscellaneous: Photos, Sample Program to Remember H/N and petition
A good intro to the H/N bombings is “The Untold History of the U.S.”
Oliver Stone’s 2012 12-part series (free on Netflix and supplemented by a 750-page companion book) is a condensed analysis of WWII and the H/N bombings.
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – US section created this online 1945 timeline. https://www.vtwilpfgathering.com/timeline
Website: UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
https://www.un.org/disarmament/education/slideshow/hibakusha/ Links to many resources, including Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs collection of testimonies from Hibakusha
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/un/disarmament/arms/testimony_of_hibakusha/index.html
Hiroshima – “Original Child Bomb” by Thomas Merton (1961 poem has 41 sections) https://inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/hiroshima-original-child-bomb-by-thomas-merton/
FOR AUGUST 6-9, 2020
https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/ more than 160 organizations working together to create 18 hours of video streaming on August 6 and 9
From August 6 at 8:15am, the time that the nuclear bomb was detonated over Hiroshima, until August 9 at 11:02am, the time the nuclear bomb was detonated over Nagasaki, peace activists around the world will undertake individual and/or group actions as part of a ‘Peace Wave’
ReThinkMedia.org is a media company that is a gathering place for organizations to share resources for the 75th Anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
75 Years and Counting: From Hiroshima to Hope – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE6hCc6Mo2Q&feature=youtu.be
film featuring performances and readings, interviews with hibakusha, and traditional koto and shakuhachi flute along with beautiful images of candle-lit lanterns floating on Green Lake (Seattle, Wash).
Groups against nuclear weapons that support remembering the H/N bombings.
Go to these groups’ web-sites for videos, articles, and links to further information.
From Wikipedia: Nuclear disarmament groups include the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Peace Action, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Greenpeace, Soka Gakkai International, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Mayors for Peace, Global Zero, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
U.S. elder statesmen Sam Nunn, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and George Shultz have called upon governments to embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons & have created the Nuclear Security Project to advance this agenda. Organizations such as Global Zero, an international non-partisan group of 300 world leaders dedicated to achieving nuclear disarmament, have also been established.
Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons www.abolition2000.org
PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (PSR) mobilizes physicians and health professionals to advocate for climate solutions and a nuclear weapons-free world. Is local /state/national/international organization.,
The Council for a Livable World promotes policies to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons and to minimize the risk of war through lobbying and by helping elect and support Members of Congress who share our goals.
United for Peace & Justice www.unitedforpeace.org a multi-issue network that takes nuclear weapons dangers seriously
Prevent Nuclear War.org Back from the Brink: The Call to Prevent Nuclear War is a national grassroots campaign seeking to lead us away from the dangerous path we are on – lays out five common-sense steps that the United States should take to reform its nuclear policy.
UNFOLD ZERO is a platform for United Nations (UN) focused initiatives and actions for the achievement of a nuclear weapons free world. UNFOLD ZERO aims to unfold the path to zero nuclear weapons through effective steps and measures facilitated by the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, UN Secretary-General and other UN bodies.
Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) has info & documentary films https://www.nti.org/
The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, The U.S. Peace Council represents its American section.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty.
World BEYOND War is a global nonviolent movement to advance the idea of not just preventing any particular war but abolishing the entire institution (2014).
Mayors for Peace “No more Hiroshima! No more Nagasaki!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03aRCUSsyCg
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
WILPF was founded in 1915 during World War I, with Jane Addams as its first president.
LOCAL GROUPS
Tri-Valley CAREs Communities Against a Radioactive Environment From Hiroshima to a Healthy Tomorrow: Embracing Our Common Humanity —Annual protest and rally held at the gates of Livermore Laboratory,
Since 1982, the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area has been organizing for the abolition of nuclear weapons and power and in support of nuclear victims.
Prevent Nuclear War.org Back from the Brink: The Call to Prevent Nuclear War is a national grassroots campaign seeking to lead us away from the dangerous path we are on – lays out five common-sense steps that the United States should take to reform its nuclear policy.
Hiroshima City University (HCU) contains the affiliated Hiroshima Peace Institute (HPI)
Minneapolis St. Paul Hiroshima Nagasaki Commemoration Committee (HNCC)
No More Bombs based in Washington state
Webinars about the H/N bombings
7/25/2020 – Four historians explained that the US didn’t need to drop the bomb, we’ve been told a myth. https://youtu.be/7hJVHsQ7f0k What Every Global Citizen Needs to Know About the Decision to A-Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Hiroshima Symposium Hibakusha Testimony: Hiroshima 1945 to the U.S. 2020 (March 5, 2020). Recording available to watch online. Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis https://iu.mediaspace.kaltura.com/playlist/details/1_k83bkcoj
IUPUI’s Japanese Studies Program hosted “Hiroshima Nagasaki A-bomb Poster Exhibition,” which includes the testimony of Dr. Hideko Tamura, an A-bomb survivor and Hiroshima Peace Ambassador, followed by a symposium with guests, Dr. Roy Tamashiro, Professor Emeritus from Webster University and specialist in Peace Studies, as well as Ari Beser, the grandson of the only crew member who participated in both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Books about the bombings
One Sunny Day by Atomic bomb survivor Dr. Hideko Tamura Snider (1996)
Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War by Susan Southard (Viking 2015) — tells the story of five survivors, all of whom where teenagers in 1945, and the life of the entire city, over the next 70 years. Documents the enduring impact of nuclear war. www.susansouthard.com
Choosing Life: My father’s journey from Hollywood to Hiroshima by Leslie A. Sussan https://hiroshima-choosinglife.com/ The ripples of one bomb on four generations and two continents seen at a level of human compassion.
African Americans Against the Bomb
Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement
By Vincent Intondi https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23490
The Atomic Bomb on my Back. Hibakusha (atomic bomb sufferer/survivor), Taniguchi, at age 16, was badly burned by the blast, and spent ten years in recovery. This account of his life, during which he lived with “the atomic bomb on his back,” is a moving tale of survival and activism, as he dedicated his life to the abolition of nuclear weapons. https://www.rootstockpublishing.com/rootstock-books/the-atomic-bomb-on-my-back he would often show the photo of his burns to illustrate the intense suffering that resulted from the bombings. He spent a total of more than three-and-a-half years in the hospital after the bombing.
Dr. Joseph Gerson is Executive Director of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Vice-President of the International Peace Bureau. His most recent book is Empire and the Bomb: How the US Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World. His previous books include The Sun Never Sets and With Hiroshima Eyes.
Articles about the bombings
“Intersectionality of the bomb” https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2020-07/features/reflections-injustice-racism-bomb
Films about the bombings
Hibakusha, Our Life to Live and Article 9 Comes to America by David Rothauser
Hibakusha https://youtu.be/goiKsKgsYdM
Article 9 https://youtu.be/yui6xLdX3Aw
The Moment in Time: The Manhattan Project | 2000 | 56min | Directed by John Bass |
This Library of Congress and Los Alamos National Laboratory co-production uses interviews and oral histories with many of the key Manhattan Project scientists who helped build the bomb. The film charts the fear that the Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, and follows its development up to the explosion of the ‘Trinity” bomb on July 16, 1945 with scarce consideration given to the population living in the vicinity.
ICAN Film: The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons http://theendofnuclearweapons.com
This documentary film about the efforts to bring about a nuclear weapon ban treaty into international law and the role of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is told through the voices of leading activists that are part of the coalition of ICAN. This 56 minute documentary is available by contacting the producer through the website listed. It includes a brief history of the bomb and anti-nuclear activism and moves to the historic steps taken since 2010 to turn the treaty from a dream into a reality.
Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475296/
The docudrama recounts the world’s first nuclear attack and examines the repercussions. Covering a three-week period from the Trinity test to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the program chronicles America’s political gamble and the planning for the momentous event. Archival film, dramatizations, and special effects depict what occurred aboard the Enola Gay and inside the nuclear blast.
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0911010/ Using extensive interviews with survivors and archival footage, an examination reveals the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
MISCELLANEOUS: Photos, Sample Program & petition
Photo Essay
https://time.com/after-the-bomb/ Powerful Photos of Survivors paired with their personal stories. A selection of the work of Photographer Haruka Sakaguchi. Suitable for posters, handouts, display and readings.
Sample Program to raise awareness of Hiroshima/Nagasaki w/ Readings, Songs & Film
Hiroshima Day (original by Barbara Taft, Greater Phoenix AZ)
7:00 Program begins with Song – “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
Film Excerpts: “White Light, Black Rain :”
7:20 Slide Show on Hiroshima, until mostly finished, then begin:
Songs: “Song of Peace (Findlandia), “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream”
Poem: “I Come and Stand at Every Door,” by Nazim Hikmet
7:40 Reading of Toyomi Hashimoto from play “Most Dangerous Women” written by Jan Maher
VOICE (Narrator)
August 6, 1945. Hiroshima. Perhaps the darkest day in a dark decade. Three days later the United States drops a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki.
Toyomi Hashimoto remembers that day: Though at each anniversary the skies over our city are blue and peaceful, the memory of that day in 1945 still troubles my body and soul. In spite of the wartime conditions, my husband and our little son and I lived a happy life. On the morning of August 9, 1945, I walked to the gate to see my husband off to work. My three-year-old boy, Takashi, went out to play. I was alone in the house when, in the distance, I heard an approaching airplane. “Japanese?” I wondered. I stepped outside to see my son running to me, calling, “Airplane! Airplane!”
The moment we reentered the house, there was a blinding flash followed by a tremendous explosion. The roof of the house caved in, pinning us under a mountain of debris. Hours passed. I do not know how many.
Then I heard my son crying softly and calling for mother and father. He was alive. I tried to reach for him, but a huge beam immobilized me. I could not break free. Though I screamed for help, no one came.
Soon I heard voices calling names of neighbors. My son was bravely trying to crawl from under a heap of clay that had been one of the walls. When he turned and faced me, I saw that his right eye was obliterated with blood. Once again, I tried to move, but the beam would not budge. I screamed so loud and long that I must have lost my voice. I called to the people I could see scurrying about, but they did not hear me. No one answered until the lady next door finally pulled my son out of the wreckage.
I suddenly became aware of a sharp pain in my breast, left hand, and stomach. As I tried again to crawl out, I saw that a huge nail was stuck in my stomach. “Fire! Fire!” I could hear people shouting around me. It was either break free or burn to death. With a violent wrench, I pulled myself from under the beam. In doing so, I ripped the flesh of my stomach. Blood spurted from an agonizing gash in my body.
I was at last out of the ruined house. Still, my son was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the kind lady next door had led him to safety. I had to search for him, but I could only limp slowly because of the pain in my stomach. As I crept slowly along, people more seriously injured than I clutched at my feet and pleaded for help and water. I heard loud voices shouting, “Leave the old people! Help the children first!” All I could do was promise to come back with water, if it was possible.
“Thank heaven you’re alive!” I heard a familiar voice saying. Turning, with intense happiness, I saw my husband, who was holding our son in his arms. We climbed to the top of a hill together, walking among countless corpses.
On the hilltop, a kind man gave us bed sheets, candles, sugar, and other useful things. At once we began to try to do something for Takashi, who had lost consciousness. After a while, as we dripped sugar water into his mouth, he awakened. He had already lost the sight of his right eye. Myriad slivers of glass were embedded in his head, face, body, arms, and legs. An air-raid alarm, still in effect, prohibited lighting candles. In the pitch darkness, my husband and I picked out as many pieces of glass from his body as we could find. So full of life and energy until that moment! Now blind in one eye and covered with blood and dirt!
Still he bore everything bravely and only asked, “Am I being a good boy?”
SHE stands quietly, head bowed.
Petition: Join the Hibakusha in calling for an end to nuclear weapons by signing their petition here: https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/hibakusha-appeal
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