Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip from 1989 shows Masako Clarke recounting her experience of seeing the atomic bomb exploding over Hiroshima as she was leaving the city on a train, and returning to the city a week later. As she talks about seeing survivors, the camera switches from her face to show close-up images of flowers, including dahlias and roses. The camera returns to Clarke as she emphasises her opposition to war. She describes the horrific scenes she witnessed, including people injured by the bomb with maggots crawling under their skin. English subtitles are provided.

Educational value points

• The clip graphically conveys the horrific experiences of people who survived the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War. Clarke recalls the human suffering she witnessed. Medical resources were grossly inadequate for assisting the survivors. Eventually, roughly half of the city’s population died or suffered long-term illness and disability from the intense heat of the explosion and the subsequent firestorm and from the radiation.

• Most witnesses experienced the intense blinding white light of the explosion and then felt the heat from it, seconds before a huge wind blast. The heat and light generated by the energy released by the bomb were far stronger than any experience of conventional bombing. Clarke was extremely fortunate to survive the explosion and return to the ruins physically unscathed. However, 45 years afterwards she still has disturbing memories.

• The whole city of Hiroshima, which is located on a river delta, was reduced to a 13-square-km ‘burnt-out plain’ by the atomic bomb. The explosion was so intense that it created storms that caused ‘black rain’ to fall on the burning city. Within 1.5-2 km of ‘ground zero’ every structure except for a few concrete buildings was destroyed. Up to 4 km away, most other buildings that survived the initial blast were subsequently destroyed by a firestorm.

• The US decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 is still a controversial subject. Some believe that although the suffering caused by the bombing was horrific, there would have been an even greater number of casualties on both sides if the War had not been ended by the bombs. The USA had dropped the bombs following the rejection by Japan on 28 July 1945 of the unconditional surrender demanded by the Potsdam Declaration.

• This clip provides graphic firsthand testimony of the horror of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. More than 300,000 civilians were living and working in the city on the morning of 6 August 1945 when the bomb was detonated 1,900 feet (579 m) above them. An air-raid all-clear, recalled by Clarke, sounded, and people returned to the streets. Estimates of the people killed on the day and dying immediately afterwards range upwards from 78,000.

• The film shows images of delicate beauty – dahlias and roses – in counterpoint to the horrifying images of suffering that Clarke’s words create in the mind of the viewer. This strategy focuses attention on her unmediated spoken testimony, but it also allows Clarke some privacy as she recalls the horrific scenes that she experienced in Hiroshima. The camera returns to her face as she speaks with passion of her vehement opposition to war.