Hiroshima, August 1945

GOD'S BOMB


  In 1945, while this day was dawning, Hiroshima lost its life.
The atomic bomb's first appearance incinerated this city and its people in an instant.

  The few survivors, mutilated sleepwalkers, wandered among the smoking ruins. The burns on their naked bodies carried the stamp of their clothing they were wearing when the explosion hit. On what remained of the walls, the atom bomb's flash left silhouettes of what had been: a woman with her arms raised, a man, a tethered horse.

  Three days later, President Harry Truman spoke about the bomb over the radio.

  He said: 'We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.'


Eduardo Galeano from 'Children of the Days'