Newsletter 'PEACE CULTURE' No.85_01
Newsletter 'PEACE CULTURE' No.85_01

Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims Special Exhibition

Commitment

―The Priests of Hiroshima and the Road to Recovery

Date: March 1, 2021―February 28, 2022
Venue: Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, Special Exhibition Area (Upper Level)

When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, there were four foreign Jesuit priests at the Nobori-cho Catholic Church (1.2 kilometers from the hypocenter). While two suffered grave injuries, they worked together to save the people in the church and their neighbors.
 At the same time, in a suburb of Hiroshima City, nearly 100 survivors of the bombing came to the Nagatsuka Jesuit Novitiate (4.5 kilometers from the hypocenter) in search of aid, and by the afternoon of August 6, the novitiate had become a field hospital. The superior of the Nagatsuka Novitiate, Father Arrupe, had majored in medicine at university, and turned his chamber into an operating room, believing that now was the time to put his medical knowledge to use. Together with the other priests and nuns, he worked to treat the victims day and night without rest.
 This special exhibition traces the recovery of Hiroshima through the testimonies of several priests from overseas who were living in the city.
 
◆ Contents:
(1) Documentary Video
 At the time of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima was the center of Christian Jesuit activities in Japan, with a Catholic church in Nobori-cho in the center of the city and a training institute for novices in Nagatsuka of Gion-cho, the suburb of Hiroshima. The video tells of what happened and what the priests experienced in each location after the atomic bombing, and also introduces the later lives of the characters and the reconstruction of Hiroshima.
 Poet Arthur Binard narrates the story as Father Cieslik.
(2) A-bomb accounts from the priests and nuns
 At the information screens located in the venue, visitors can read A-bomb accounts in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.
(3) Approximately 10 items, including A-bombed equipment used in Catholic rituals, personal accounts of the priest's experiences (handwritten), and other personal belongings of the priests.
 
Contact:
Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims
Phone: +81-82-543-6271
 
Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
1-2 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730-0811 JAPAN
 TEL +81-82-241-5246 
Copyright © Since April 1, 2004, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. All rights reserved.