The Most Disturbing Photo From the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
By: Peter Preskar
Tags: War, Asia, Humanity, History, Japan

The Most Disturbing Photo From the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

A human shadow on the steps of a bank in Hiroshima (Image: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

In 1945, the United States of America was planning the invasion of Japan to finish World War II. The Americans estimated that the invasion would cause up to four million American casualties.

2.3 million soldiers defended the Japanese home islands. In addition, Japan mobilized a civilian militia of 28 million women and men. The Japanese decided they’d rather die than surrender.

The Americans considered alternatives such as poisonous gas or biological weapons. In the end, they chose a weapon that had never been used before — an atomic bomb.

Using an atomic bomb in armed conflict forever changed human history.

On the 6th of August 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb with the name ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima. Three days later, on the 9th of August 1945, a second atomic bomb, called ‘Fat Man’, exploded above Nagasaki. On the 15th of August, Japan unconditionally surrendered.

The atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Almost 226,000 people died. Thousands more would die from exposure to heavy radiation in the later years.

The Human Shadow of Death

Photographers took many horrific photos of the aftermath of the atomic bombings. But the most disturbing photo is the photo of the shadow of a person on the steps of the Sumitomo Bank in Hiroshima. The shadow got the name ‘Human Shadow of Death’.

The bank was only 260 meters (850 feet) from the point where the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ collided with the city. The bomb incinerated everything within the blast radius of 1600 meters (one mile). The intense heat reached 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,200 degrees Fahrenheit).

The heatwave literally bleached everything inside of the blast zone. Every object that was in the way of the blast was imprinted as a shadow on the bleached background.

At the time of the explosion, at 8:15 in the morning, a person was sitting on the steps leading to the bank, waiting for the bank to open. The person’s body immediately deteriorated into bones and carbonized organs. However, the body protected a part of the steps and thus created a dark shadow on the otherwise bleached steps.

In the years after the war, the shadow became a famous landmark. The Sumitomo Bank worked hard to protect it from erosion. In 1971, the steps were removed and put on display in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

The identity of the person killed on these steps is unknown. Many Japanese families unsuccessfully claimed the shadow had belonged to their deceased relative.

The atomic bomb created more of such sinister shadows across Hiroshima. For example, a bicycle on the floor, a figure with a walking stick, and an outline of a person holding a ladder.

The Human Shadow of Death is today on a display in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Japan (Image: hpmmuseum.jp)

Conclusion

Today, the Human Shadow of Death serves as an eerie reminder of how much pain and suffering war brings to humanity. Modern science gave us weapons of destruction unheard of before the 20th century. We should be aware of the consequences of using these powerful tools of annihilation. As the popular proverb goes: