80 years Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb, tests on indigenous land, and a bonsai tree
Hiroshima and Nagasaki serve as reminders of the horrors of war. The first atomic bombs were tested on indigenous land—with devastating consequences for their lives. A bonsai tree has survived the Hiroshima bomb to this day.
The bombings
It was 8:15 in the morning when the bomb exploded over Hiroshima. It was called “Little Boy,” had an explosive power of about 15 kilotons of TNT, and was dropped from a B-29 aircraft named “Enola Gay,” after the pilot's mother. The Boeing aircraft was designed for its high altitude, long range, and ability to carry large bomb loads.
“Little Boy” was dropped from an altitude of about 9,400 meters (31,000 feet) and exploded about 580 meters (1,900 feet) above the city. This altitude was chosen to maximize the force of the explosion, the shock wave, and the heat radiation, in particular to destroy the city's buildings, which were mostly made of wood. The explosion occurred 43 seconds after the bomb was dropped and created a huge fireball. In the detonation zone, the temperature at ground level reached more than 6,000 degrees Celsius. The intense caused severe burns on exposed skin up to 3.5 kilometers (two miles) away and vaporized people and materials within a half-mile radius. It melted bronze statues, fused roof tiles together, and caused asphalt to boil. The gigantic shock wave also destroyed the surrounding region. 70,000 people were killed instantly and 90 percent of the city's infrastructure was destroyed. By the end of 1945, the death toll had risen to 140,000. The survivors, known as “hibakusha,” suffered from long-term effects such as an increased risk of cancer and leukemia.
US President Harry S. Truman ordered the bombing shortly after the Potsdam Conference. The conference, which took place from July 17 to August 2, 1945, was officially known as the Berlin Three-Power Conference. This was because the heads of the three main Allied powers of World War II—the US, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain—met after the end of the war in Europe to discuss how to proceed. Truman justified the planned bombing on the grounds that a show of force would convince Japan to surrender and make a costly invasion unnecessary. He later emphasized to US citizens that this also saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. Hiroshima was chosen as a target because the Japanese army maintained an important command center there. However, the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants were civilians.
Paul Tibbets, the American bomber pilot, was honored with numerous awards and remained in the Air Force until 1966. His supporters revered him as a national hero who had ended the war with Japan, while his critics considered him a war criminal. The US government apologized to Japan in 1976 after Tibbets reenacted the bombing at an air show in Texas.
On Platform X, one user doubts that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was actually an atomic bomb, “because there was zero radiation fallout.. and they rebuilt the same areas no problem. It was napalm and carpet bombing of a mass scale.” What is the truth behind this claim? The explanation given online is that the height of the explosion was decisive: “The atomic bomb exploded roughly 600 meters above the city, causing massive destruction through the shock wave and heat. But most of the radiation was drawn into the atmosphere, leaving only minimal long-term contamination of the ground.”
Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, US President Truman ordered a second bomb to be dropped on Japan on August 9, 1945. The so-called “Fat Man” exploded at an altitude of about 500 meters (1,650 feet) above Nagasaki and hit the city and its inhabitants at 11 a.m. local time. The explosive power was around 22 kilotons of TNT, which is almost more than half the explosive power of the Hiroshima bomb. Approximately 22,000 people died on the day of the attack, and by the end of 1945, according to different sources, the death toll had risen to between 70,000 and 80,000.
Why did fewer people die in Nagasaki than in Hiroshima, even though the second bomb had a much higher explosive power? Online sources say that the reason lies mainly in the different topography and urban structure. “In Hiroshima, the firestorm caused by the bomb was able to rage rapidly across the flat city with its many wooden and clay houses. Nagasaki, on the other hand, is geographically characterized by hills and valleys, which impeded the spread of the shock wave and the firestorm.”
After the bombings
Six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japanese Emperor Hirohito announced the end of the “Greater East Asia War” on August 15, 1945. With Japan's surrender, World War II also ended in Asia on September 2, after it had already been over in Europe since May 8, 1945.
The atomic bombs were developed as part of the Manhattan Project. Physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who was the scientific director of the military research project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and is considered the “father of the atomic bomb,” never publicly regretted his involvement. Instead, he saw it as necessary to preempt the threat of a possible German atomic bomb. However, after seeing the consequences of the bombings, Oppenheimer grappled with his responsibility. Although he spoke out against the further development of nuclear weapons, especially the hydrogen bomb, he emphasized that he did not regret the development of the atomic bomb itself.
To mark the 80th anniversary, Munich's Museum Five Continents is hosting the exhibition From Inferno to Symbol of Peace: 80 Years of Hiroshima and Nagasaki until January 11, 2026. The exhibition focuses on the suffering of individuals and aims to send a message against the use of nuclear weapons. Accompanied by Sunday tours.
The injustice done to indigenous peoples
On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was detonated at the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. It changed not only the history of humanity, but also that of the indigenous peoples who lived in this area. And not only of them: between 1946 and 1958, the US conducted 76 nuclear bomb tests on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, forcibly relocating the entire population. Native Americans on US soil were also ruthlessly sacrificed to national interests: “The nuclear nightmare for indigenous peoples began with uranium mining for military and civilian use - in the southwestern United States, in the Black Hills [South Dakota, note] or in Washington State,” writes the Munich based Indians & Human Rights Action Group on Facebook. "In 1948, the destruction of the Western Shoshone treaty lands began with the Nevada Test Site. Over a thousand nuclear tests contaminated their land – with devastating effects on the health and lives of the indigenous people."
Between 1951 and 1992, the US detonated 928 large-scale nuclear weapons in Nevada. Two films can be seen on YouTube that document the devastating effects of the nuclear bomb tests, not only on indigenous people:
1. Downwind: The Dark Legacy of Nevada’s Bomb Tests (2023)
2. Downwinders and the radioactive West (2021)
However, it was primarily indigenous activists who fought tirelessly against oblivion and shook the public awake, prompting the US government to finally respond. “In 1990, the Radioactive Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted in the US to compensate (primarily indigenous) workers in the uranium mines in the southwestern US, as well as those affected by nuclear testing,” writes Monika Seiller of the Indian & Human Rights Action Group in her latest newsletter. "The downwinders, who were affected by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests, developed cancer - as did many indigenous people who were exposed to radioactivity in the uranium mines. In mid-2024, the RECA expired, and the indigenous people demanded an extension. Surprisingly, in July 2025, the RECA was renewed and even expanded so that those affected by the first test at the Trinity Site can now also be compensated."
Nevertheless, exploitation continues today. (Read guest posts and my own articles in this blog.) In 2024, for example, then-US President Joe Biden signed the ADVANCE ACT, which was intended to give new impetus to nuclear energy and uranium mining. A similar situation can be found in neighboring Canada, writes Monika Seiller: “To this day, uranium is mined in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the land of the Cree and Dene, with German companies among those involved. Canada is the world's second-largest uranium producer, but the impact on indigenous peoples is ignored.”
The Yamaki bonsai
Perhaps a sign for optimism: the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only instances of nuclear weapons being used in warfare to date. Miraculously, a bonsai tree planted in 1625 and belonging to Masaru Yamaki also survived. According to Smithsonian magazine, the bonsai master was at his home in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, when the shock wave from the atomic bomb shattered the windows and glass shards flew past Yamaki. Apart from minor cuts, Yamaki and his family survived the explosion, as did their precious bonsai trees, which were protected by a high wall around the outside nursery. In 1976, Yamaki donated the tree as one of 53 bonsai trees that Japan presented to the United States on the occasion of its bicentennial celebration. Since then, the now 400-year-old tree has lived in the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. - as a symbol of peace between the two countries.
This text was first published on my German website and translate by me.
Late honor for Klee Benally
Indigenous activist Klee Benally is being honored with the Nuclear-Free Future Award for his work against uranium mining in his native Arizona. Posthumously, because Benally joined his ancestors on December 30, 2023. He was 48 years old.
Hiroshima and uranium on indigenous land
On August 6 and 9, 1945, US pilots dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The uranium for the bombs came from indigenous land. Bomb tests were also carried out there. 79 years later, the USA wants to boost its domestic uranium mining – again at the expense of indigenous peoples.
This is quite an incredible writing Rebecca and you are to be commended.One of the worlds greatest tragedies. I learned something new, that the bombs were dropped months after the end of WWII. Who know? I love to hear such insightful perspective from other nationalities, especially since you are German (our former enemies) and I'm about to visit Hiroshima, Japan next month. I think I will cry through the whole tour of the UNESCO bomb site , which is what I did when we toured Auschwitz in 2002. Keep up the good work.