In the year of the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 2010, the book "Children of Hiroshima" was published in Moscow.: The Appeal of the boys and girls of Hiroshima" (comp. A. Osada, translated from Japanese by M. A. Kirichenko, author's preface by A. A. Kirichenko, Moscow, Printed Traditions, 2010, 336 p.).

This book, titled "Children of the Atomic Bomb" ("Gambaku no ko"), was first published in Japan in 1951. Since then, it has been translated into many languages around the world (Norwegian, Danish, German, English, Finnish, Chinese, Swedish, Korean, Vietnamese) and published in many countries. Now this heartfelt document about the tragedy experienced by Japanese children who witnessed and were victims of the first atomic bombing in history is available to the Russian reader.

One of the main contributions to the Russian edition of the book was made by two people: Maria Alekseevna Kirichenko, a translator from Japanese into Russian and author of notes, who managed to convey the touching and immediacy of children's stories about the collapsed mountain, who delicately commented on Japanese realities and told about the future fate of the victims of the bombing-the authors of the stories, YVES RAS, a well-known expert on the history of Japan and Russian-Japanese relations, provided the book with a foreword that reveals the background of the US decision to use atomic weapons against the civilian population of Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Arata Osada, who miraculously survived the atomic explosion in Hiroshima, suffered many injuries and was saved by his son Goro Osada, who was then 18 years old.

A. Osada , one of the most prominent representatives of the Japanese intelligentsia, was known as a liberal, democrat and pacifist. He consistently and firmly opposed the war and fascism. Since February 1941, he was a foreign employee of the Swiss State Institute for Research on the History of Education and Upbringing. Pestalozzi. In

In December 1945, Osada was elected director of the lyceum at the Hiroshima Pedagogical Institute, as well as rector of the Hiroshima University of Humanities and Natural Sciences, and remained in this position until June 1949, overcoming radiation sickness, from which he died in 1961.

Professional teacher A. Osada reflected on "the impact of the atomic bomb on the psyche of people, especially children who were then preschoolers or students of elementary and secondary schools or girls ' gymnasiums, with their artlessness, simplicity, sensitivity, pliable soul-what experiences they gained, what they felt then and what they think now" (p. 243)*. He collected the records of boys and girls and systematized them "... as material for studying one of the most important areas of modern world pedagogy - education for peace... " (p. 243).

In total, about 1,500 stories of schoolchildren about their experiences on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima were collected. The book" Children of the Atomic Bomb " included 105 essays by children, starting with fourth-graders of elementary school and ending with university students. The Russian edition includes 44 childhood memories and the 45th memory - Goro Osada about what he experienced on the day of August 6, 1945 and how he saved his father.

Many children refused to describe the horror experienced at the time of the explosion, or, having started the story, were unable to continue it and relive the death of their relatives and friends in their memory. A. Osada, looking through the mountains of drafts, according to him, " ... experienced a shock caused by the extremely acute and tragic reality outlined in them... Even I, who for more than sixty years of my life have endured a lot of grief and suffering, having learned about the frankly terrible reality captured by simple-minded boys and girls, many times I was forced to close my notes and wipe my tears" (p.244).

Kikuko Nagara, a third-grader at a first-grade high school, wrote about her condition: "The further I write, the more clearly those vivid memories come back to me. But each time I get into a state where I feel like I've just had a wound picked up again, and when I was writing just these few lines, I put down my brush a few times, but eventually I was able to put my memories back together. I wrote this as a tribute to my lost father, younger sister, uncle, as well as many comrades and hundreds of thousands of slain souls " (p. 245).

The victims of Hiroshima had to endure a lot of suffering after the bombing. They were shunned by healthy people, for fear of contracting radiation sickness. Etsuko Fujioka recalls that she received a large wound in her back and was "... laughed at and bullied by neighbors, classmates, and even those who were younger than me... " (p. 116). Some children admitted that life had lost its value for them, and deformities due to scars forced them to become outcasts among their peers. Overcoming a heavy emotional mood, the authors of the memoirs conjure that the tragedy of Hiroshima"...never again ... so that the energy of the atom is the energy that gives birth to peace on Earth." "I am sure that humanity does not need such an experience of torment," wrote Atsuko Tsujioka (p.175).

The book "Children of the atomic Bomb" was published in the midst of the Korean War (1950-1953). At that time, in Japan, occupied by the Allied Powers, almost nothing was said or written about the victims of the American atomic bombings. This information was heavily censored. It not only broke the conspiracy of silence, but also contributed to the rise of anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan and the world. The fact that neither in Korea, nor later in Vietnam, the Americans dared to use nuclear weapons (and they planned to drop seven atomic bombs on Korea) can be explained, among other things, by the influence of the book of memories of the children of Hiroshima. The book served as the starting point of the movement to ban the hydrogen bomb in Japan.

The book "Children of the Atomic Bomb" serves the anti-war, anti-nuclear education of new generations, as it was intended by its compiler Arata Osada. It complements the knowledge of the horrors of war experienced by children in whatever country they live. "The Diary of Anne Frank", "The Diary of Tanya Savicheva" - now this series of anti-war literature has been supplemented with a new book for the Russian reader. It will be informative for students and useful for teachers conducting a peace lesson, which traditionally begins the new school year in Russia.

The message of Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, which he addressed to Russian readers of the book, states: "...in order not to repeat the mistake and not to use nuclear weapons again, it is extremely important and necessary for humanity to have a clear memory of the actual state of affairs before and after the atomic bombing and to continue joint efforts for complete destruction nuclear weapons" (p. 312).

Many people made efforts to publish the book in Russia: Goro Osada, Professor Emeritus of Yokohama Municipal University, son of the initiator and compiler of documentary stories for Japanese children, professor and first rector of the Hiroshima University of Humanities and Natural Sciences; Suguru Kawamura, a member of the All-Russian Japanese Cultural Center; Yasuko Miritaki, a Japanese social activist; Toshiko Tanabe, a film director who himself survived the Hiroshima War as a child. the atomic bombing. The Japanese Foundation provided financial assistance in translating and publishing the book.

V. P. NIKOLAEV, Candidate of Historical Sciences

* Here and further cit. by: The Siege of Arata. "Children of Hiroshima", Moscow, Print Traditions, 2010.

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