News: LinguaHiroshima

A Newly Released Book

November 25, 2020 by LinguaHiroshima

The German version of a medical book for general readers written by a doctor who has treated hibakushas’ diseases throughout his life.

Kamada, Nanao. Die alte Dame aus Hiroshima ─Friedenserziehung─ Für Schülerinnen und Schüler weiterführender Schulen und Erwachsene.

Übersetzerin, Victoria Kropp (translated from Japanese by Victoria Kropp).

Veröffentlicht von der japanischen Sektion von IPPNW (Internationale Arzte für die Verhütung des Atomkrieges). Hiroshima: JPPNW c/o Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association, 2020.

Following the original Japanese, English, and French versions, the German translation was newly published on October 26, 2020. The author, Dr. Kamada, Nanao is the leading expert on the aftereffects caused by atomic bombing. He has put all his energy into the treatment of hibakushas’ diseases for more than a half century. The aim of this book is for the younger generation and general readers to understand survivors’ long-term struggle against the diseases. The author employs good ways for the readers’ better understanding of hibakushas’ long-term struggles against the diseases.

This book, for example, consists of three sections, Past, Present, and Future, offering ample visual aids such as charts, graphs, and pictures. Furthermore, upon opening the book you will find a dialogue in Hiroshima dialect between an elderly, female hibakusha and elementary and junior high school students on the left page with further details for university students and teachers on the right. The author wrote this book based on his knowledge of medical sciences he has acquired since 1945. However, as far as we know, this is the only book in which the author explains medical effects of the atomic bombing plainly and fully to a wide range of age groups.

Responding to NHK’s interview, Victoria Kropp, the German translator, emphasizes the importance of reading atomic bomb literature in native languages. She says that the story she translated into German brought her father to tears and that he was so moved precisely because he was able to read the account in his native language. Dr. Kamada hopes that this book will be translated into various languages and contribute to the peace activities of many people around the world.