As the Second World War came to a close, the Allies were faced with a very difficult decision. Having already won the won in Europe, the Allies, but primarily the United States, had to decide whether invade the island of Japan or to end the war quickly with the dropping of an atomic bomb. Neither option seemed to be the clear pick as a land invasion would have caused the American death toll to rise by the hundreds of thousands and an atomic blast would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Ultimately, however, the United States opted for the latter and on August 6, 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Due to the fact that Japan still refused to surrender, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later. In total, approximately 129,000 civilians and military personnel lost their lives and the dropping of the bombs has been a source of debate ever since.
When the smoke cleared there were many who had been badly injured or poisoned with radiation. Some had deformities and were too ashamed to show themselves in public. In his work Reconstructing the Hiroshima Maidens, David Serlin explains that many American surgeons wanted to help those who had severe burns to look normal again. The surgeons saw it as their duty to do so. Serlin implies that the surgeons did this as a type of propaganda for the United States in that if the surgeons could fix the faces of many of the people who had been harmed, then the public would not view the atomic bomb droppings in such a negative light.
Following the atomic blasts, there were approximately 2,000 post-atomic blast deaths. These deaths resulted from a number of things including skin cancer and radiation poisoning. Today the Japanese government recognizes those men and women who were affected by the blasts as hibakusha which in Japanese literally means “explosion-affected people.” In Japan today, however, many people discriminate against the hibakusha because they believe that their deformations and diseases are hereditary and can be passed on to their children. Overall, the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had devastating impacts not only on a physical level, but also an emotional and psychological one as well.
A Japanese citizen who has been deformed due to the atomic blast.
