TThe survivors of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki said,Atomic bomb survivorsAtomic People combines interviews with several of them (all of them at least 80 years old, most in their 90s, and a few over 100) with period footage of President Harry Truman praising the achievements of the Manhattan Project, and burnt, blistered bodies lying in the streets of Japanese cities, to create a moving, quietly heartbreaking film.
From the beginning, survivors were told not to talk about their experiences — first by the occupying Allied forces, who came after Japan surrendered in the face of the new weapon and banned reporting on the bomb’s effects, and then, as their survival was stigmatized, by friends, family and the wider culture. Atomic bomb survivorsThe blood of the survivors was considered contaminated. Radiation exposure had a detrimental effect on many of the survivors and their descendants, some of whom were born with disabilities, others miscarried before birth, and no one wanted them to marry into their families.
The most shocking thing about eyewitness testimonies is that the fictionalized versions in movies, TV series, books, etc. are merely recording the truth. There is nothing worse than when imagination becomes reality.
[Shigeakiwhowaseightin1945remembersayoungwomanstaggeringtowardshimcradlingherspilledorgansandasking”Where’sthehospital?”ChiekowhowasfifteenthenremembersstudentsgatheringatschoolwithlongstrandsofwhatlookedlikeseaweedhangingfromtheirwaistsItwastheskinoftheirfeetthathadfallenoff”Theyweredyingoneaftertheother”shesaysChieko’steacherorderedhertohelpdigholestoburythemAnotherrememberspeoplewitheyeballshangingfromtheirfacesandmotherscradlingbabieswhosebackshadmeltedandwere”burnedblackasstone”Hideowhowasthreethenrememberscharredbodiesstillstandingdanglingfromthestrapsofburned-outstreetcars[1945年に8歳だった重明さんは、若い女性がよろよろと歩いてきて、こぼれた臓器を抱きしめながら「病院はどこですか」と尋ねたのを覚えている。当時15歳だった千恵子さんは、腰から長い海藻のようなものを垂らして学校に集まっていた生徒たちを覚えている。それは、剥がれ落ちた足の皮膚だった。「彼らは次々と死んでいったのです」と彼女は言う。千恵子さんの先生は、彼らを埋めるための穴を掘るのを手伝うように彼女に命じた。別の人は、眼球が顔から垂れ下がっている人々や、背中の肉が溶けて「石のように黒く焼けた」赤ん坊を抱きしめる母親を覚えている。当時3歳だった秀雄さんは、焼け落ちた路面電車のつり革からぶら下がった黒焦げの遺体がまだ立っていたのを覚えている。
These stories are given the space they need, but the documentary doesn’t forget other parts of the survivors’ lives. The interviewer asks the subjects to close their eyes and remember what it was like before the bombs fell: “What do you see?” Most of them answer with their eyes still closed, remembering sneaking out to the cinema or spending all summer at the beach “playing all day.”
Memories of B-29s, silver against a clear blue sky, conjure up our memories of 9/11. But the scale of destruction shown in archival footage of bombed cities is unparalleled. Of the hundreds of thousands who died, some left a shadowy mark on the buildings that remained. Most did not. They died without a trace.
In the years following the bombing, stigmas built up. Relationships and marriages were built on lies and half-truths. Atomic bomb survivors The couple ultimately decided that having children was too risky. “But sometimes I think that if I hadn’t thought it through so much, I might have chosen to have children.” Another woman talks about losing her adult son to leukemia, a disease that has claimed so many generations to come. Which suffering would you choose?
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Such an event might seem an unlikely cause for celebration, but President Truman’s address to the nation after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was unmistakably triumphant: “We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history, and we have won…. If we do not now accept our terms, the sky may rain destruction such as the earth has never seen.”
Atomic People doesn’t mark any big anniversary. It’s just that time is running out for survivors who have been silent for so long to tell their stories, to be heard, and to let them serve as a warning from history, as best they can in a war-torn world. It might also offer some comfort to storytellers. “I want to forget the memories inside my body, but they won’t let me,” one says. Hiroshima’s hypocenter is now a memorial park full of oleander trees and cicadas. One survivor says the sounds of the insects always sound like the voices of dying people pleading for help and water.
We don’t know what to make of this pain, this horrible knowledge. In a way, the whole world is living with it. It’s almost unbearable to see that pain etched in the hearts and on the faces of those who were there. But they beg us not to look away. If we did, surely we’d see more of the silver sparkle in the bright blue sky.
