Documenting Hiroshima 80 years after A-bombing: On August 6, 1955, throngs of people visit Peace Memorial Park
Mar. 17, 2025
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer
On August 6, 1955, 10 years after the atomic bombing, the Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima City’s Peace Memorial Park (in the city’s present-day Naka Ward). Hiroshima City Mayor Tadao Watanabe, who took office in May of that year, read out the Peace Declaration. He spoke of the hardships facing A-bomb survivors as well as their concerns about health, saying, “A-bomb radiation threatens to destroy the health of human society.”
On the north side of Peace Park, the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, established in an effort led by the Hiroshima City government to replace an earlier monument erected in 1946, had been completed the day before. Dirt and earth had been heaped into a circular-shaped mound, and many unclaimed remains were placed in the ossuary inside. On August 6, the Hiroshima Society for Praying for the War Victims held a memorial service in front of the mound. It was also the opening day of the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, held at the Hiroshima City Conference Center. That day, many people from all over the country paid a visit to the park, which had been built on the ruins of the city destroyed in the atomic bombing.
(Originally published on March 17, 2025)
On August 6, 1955, 10 years after the atomic bombing, the Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima City’s Peace Memorial Park (in the city’s present-day Naka Ward). Hiroshima City Mayor Tadao Watanabe, who took office in May of that year, read out the Peace Declaration. He spoke of the hardships facing A-bomb survivors as well as their concerns about health, saying, “A-bomb radiation threatens to destroy the health of human society.”
On the north side of Peace Park, the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, established in an effort led by the Hiroshima City government to replace an earlier monument erected in 1946, had been completed the day before. Dirt and earth had been heaped into a circular-shaped mound, and many unclaimed remains were placed in the ossuary inside. On August 6, the Hiroshima Society for Praying for the War Victims held a memorial service in front of the mound. It was also the opening day of the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, held at the Hiroshima City Conference Center. That day, many people from all over the country paid a visit to the park, which had been built on the ruins of the city destroyed in the atomic bombing.
(Originally published on March 17, 2025)
