Hiroshima, Japan
21 June 2014

An arched tomb for the victims of Hiroshima who died, either because of the atomic blast or exposure to the radiation, lists the names of all the victims of the nuclear holocaust.

There is no precise number of people that perished in the bombing of Hiroshima. However, it was estimated that approximately 350,000 persons were in the city when the bomb exploded. These include civilians, military personnel and people from surrounding towns mobilized for demolition work in Hiroshima. On December 1945, when the acute disorders had subsided, the city estimated 140,000 had died.

Since the unveiling of the monument in 1952, a peace memorial ceremony has been conducted in front of it. Names of the victims who died from the nuclear bomb or from the effects of it within the year 1945 are entered into the Register of the A-bomb Victims. During the yearly ceremony, the names are dedicated and the Register returned to the stone coffin in the cenotaph.

In front of the coffin, carved in stone are the words “Let it all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.”

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