Replica Hiroshima tricycle exhibits at Red Cross Museum

Replica of a tricycle from Hiroshima at the Red Cross Museum in Geneva Keystone-SDA

A bronze replica of a tricycle found in 1945 after the atomic explosion in Hiroshima is on display at the International Red Cross Museum in Geneva.

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The exhibit is a gift from the Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

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The sculpture is a memorial against the use of nuclear weapons. It is a faithful replica of a tricycle that a three-year-old was riding in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, when the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city.

The boy, Shinichi Tetsutani, died a few hours later as a result of his severe burns. His parents buried the child together with his beloved bicycle in the garden. It was not until 40 years later that the family placed the boy’s remains in a family grave and donated the tricycle to the Hiroshima Peace Museum.

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The bronze artwork was created by the Japanese artist Akira Fujimoto and Cannon Hersey. The American is the grandson of John Hersey, who visited survivors of the bombing in Hiroshima in 1946 and published a sensational article about it in the “New Yorker” magazine.

The sculpture was commissioned by the Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

It was donated to the Museum of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, where it is now on display in the foyer. “We hope that children all over the world will be able to play peacefully with their tricycles,” said Hitomi Hasebe, a distant relative of the bomb victim.

The attack on Hiroshima claimed almost 150,000 lives. The survivors, the Hibakusha, are still suffering from the consequences of the explosion.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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