Garrett Coppler Journal 7

     Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge the German priest has been the most interesting character in the book to me. The meeting up with his fellow priest and how they dealt with it as a group was something that kept me reading. In the following days of the bombing, he constantly helped others, and the only times he didn't was when he knew he was unable to. We can tell from these constant acts that he was compassionate and really wanted to help others. He even stopped to save Mr. Fukai. "Father Kleinsorge went into the room and took Mr. Fukai by the collar of his coat and said, 'Come with me or you'll die.'... Father Kleinsorge began to shove and haul Mr. Fukai..." Even though he was ready to die, he tried to save this man.


     In previous studies about WWII and the bomb dropping on Hiroshima a teacher mentioned that the U.S. had warned the Japanese about the atomic bomb by dropping pamphlets. I hadn't heard that anywhere before so I decided to research this. What I found was that the U.S. decided both against a demonstration and special leaflets that would say that they have a bomb that would be way stronger than the ones dropped before. The reasoning behind this was that they were uncertain that the bomb would actually work. Although leaflets were dropped on Hiroshima and the other air raid targets, none warned of the destructive power of "Little Boy". If they would have warned the people in the city of the destructive power, to me it would have been more moral. I see the bombing as necessary, but a demonstration or a warning before the bombing would have been a perfectly moral substitute. The reasoning of the bomb might not work is not a good enough to sacrifice a city and it's people.
    The U.S. did drop leaflets about the atomic bomb warning that another was going to be dropped on one of the listed cities. The leaflets urged multiple times in bold that the citizens should evacuate their cities. The pamphlet called for the people to petition the Emperor to end the war to stop the destruction. The U.S. repeats in the leaflets that the bomb will be used to destroy the military and to force the war to an end. I believe that the second bomb was more moral than the first just because of the warning. Although I disagree with the use of them in general, the warning made it more acceptable for me.
    One final thing that I found interesting in my research is how the Japanese govt. saw these leaflets. The govt. and the people saw these messages as truthful warnings, but anyone who was caught in possession of them were arrested. I don't see why it required the people to be arrested, but they were still able to get the messages from the leaflets.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Hiroshima
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/truman-leaflets/