Report by Ms. Cristina Arana Bareño, the City of Gernika-Lumo
This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Bombing of Gernika in 1937. On this occasion, from April 4 to May 2, Gernika-Lumo is holding at the House of Culture a special exhibition on Shigeyoshi Kawakatsu. The exhibition consists of Kawakatsu’s six artworks, which show what the survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing saw after the attack.
Shigeyoshi Kawakatsu (1929–) witnessed the Bombing of Tokyo by the United States Army Air Forces in the Pacific campaign of World War II during his childhood and youth. After obtaining a doctoral degree in political science from the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, he served as a member of the Governing Council of the State of Saxony after the unification of Germany and headed different companies in the energy sector in Germany.
Since 2005, he has been publishing books, creating artworks, and giving lectures on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, especially focusing on the horror of war and the suffering that the survivors and their descendants have been experiencing.
The works on display are inspired by the photographs of survivors, who witnessed hell in Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.