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Describing her passion for education, A-bombing memoir of severely wounded teacher to be used as peace-education material

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

With hope that children never experience suffering of war, Honkawa Elementary School decides to first share memoir with teachers

A memoir written by Shizuko Ogata five years after the atomic bombing has been donated to Honkawa Elementary School, located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward. After the war, Ms. Ogata, who died at the age of 44 in 1971, worked as a teacher at a number of schools including Honkawa Elementary School. She wrote, “I hate the A-bomb.” Based on her vivid memories of the early days after the atomic bombing and through her experience of suffering deep physical and psychological scars, she continued to urge that war never be repeated. Her valuable memoir will be used as peace-education study material at Honkawa Elementary and other schools.

Seventy-five years ago, Ms. Ogata, at that time an 18-year-old teacher, experienced the atomic bombing at Hirose National School (now Hirose Elementary School), about 1.1 kilometers from the hypocenter, where she worked. Her memoir, titled Genbaku no Omoide (Memories of the A-bombing), is 27 pages in length. The memoir begins with her memories of the day she left to work night duty at the school on August 5 and continues on into the following morning.

She wrote, “The radio started to say something, but I couldn’t quite catch it. Just then, there were a blast and an extremely strong shock … I could not see anything. I couldn’t move at all.” She had been trapped under the school building with blood running down her cheeks. She suffered injuries over her entire body, starting with her face.

She was found by her father the next day, but her mother, who was at the city center, died in the bombing. Each time pus was removed with gauze from the wounds covering her body, glass fragments would fall from her injuries. The wounds on her face did not return to normal even after surgeries. Ms. Ogata wrote, “I thought more than once that I wanted to visit my deceased mother as soon as possible.”

On the other hand, she also wrote about her determination to look forward despite the wounds on her face that made her feel so inferior to others. She wrote, “Even though I am laughed at and mocked by strangers, I can spend each day together with 70 children who will lead the next generation, because I am a teacher.” She added, “I can only sincerely hope these children will never experience the suffering of war.”

Ms. Ogata joined the Hiroshima Prefecture Hibakusha Teachers’ Association, which was founded in 1969, with the aim of keeping alive memories of the atomic bombing. Nevertheless, she developed cancer and died at a young age. The former principal of Honkawa Elementary School was entrusted with her memoir by the family of an acquaintance of his. He delivered the memoir to the school in June this year.

Yuka Okada, current principal of the school, said, “I was moved by Ms. Ogata’s ideas and how happy she was fostering the development of children, even though she was weary of life due to the wounds on her face. First, I plan to share her memoir with the schoolteachers and staff, and then speak about her experiences to children.” She also spoke with Hirose Elementary School teachers about Ms. Ogata’s memoir and met that school’s principal in the middle of August to discuss how to use the memoir.

In 1950, when Ms. Ogata wrote her memoir, the Hiroshima City government solicited its first collection of A-bombing accounts titled “Genbaku Taikenki” (Experiences of the Atomic Bombing). She sent to the city her manuscript, which is still kept at the Hiroshima Municipal Archives, located in Naka Ward. Ms. Ogata’s memoir delivered this time to Honkawa Elementary School contains additional pages and more detailed information. The original copy of her memoir will be stored at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, in the city’s Naka Ward, while duplicate copies will be kept at schools.

(Originally published on August 28, 2020)

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