Recognition of the photo and video collection is sought for 2025, 80th anniversary of the US attack. If accepted, it will be the first time that documents related to the atomic bomb are added to the UN organisation's Memory of the World Register.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Japanese government has decided to recommend a collection of photos and videos depicting the devastation of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing of August 1945 for recognition as a UNESCO documentary heritage programme for 2025, the 80th anniversary of the US attack.
If accepted, it will be the first time documents related to the atomic bomb are added to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Memory of the World Register.
The collection includes 1,532 photographs and two videos taken between 6 August 1945, when the bomb was dropped, and the end of that year.
They show the mushroom cloud, wounded people, and scenes of destruction near the hypocentre, taken by ordinary citizens and photographers from newspapers and Japan’s old Domei news agency as well as the former Imperial Japanese Army.
Photographer Seiso Yamada, 95, the only surviving former Chugoku Shimbun journalist among those who captured the images at the time, expressed hope that "people would feel the horror (of the atomic bomb) when looking at the photos.”
The collection of images was entered in 2021 but was not selected by UNESCO for listing in 2023.
Calls for nominations for the Memory of the World Register occur every two years, with each country allowed to submit up to two entries each time.