Hiroshima was a center of Japanese militarism before and during the war. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum had long displayed artifacts of the atomic bombing. For decades there was almost no reference to the war that preceded August 6th.
The word “Hiroshima” may bring to mind a black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud. It’s easy to forget that it’s an actual city with a million people and a popular baseball team. In 1995, John Biewen visited the city to speak with survivors and to ask: What did the world’s first atomic bombing mean in the place where it happened?
Hearing Hiroshima is a production of Minnesota Public Radio, from American Public Media.
Photo: Selections from the 1995 tapes. Photo by John Biewen.