Thieves Stole The Bronze Statue Created To Commemorate A 12-Year-Old Japanese Girl Who Died Of Leukemia A Decade After The Atomic Bombing Of Hiroshima
In 1955, a 12-year-old Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki died of leukemia 10 years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II.
A bronze statue called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes was created to honor her memory. However, thieves have stolen the statue, leaving behind nothing but her small, sandaled feet.
The statue was located in Peace Park in Seattle, Washington. It depicts Sasaki with her arm outstretched, holding a paper crane. In the ’50s, she folded hundreds of origami cranes in her hospital room. After her death, her story touched the hearts of people around the world.
Floyd Schmoe, a Quaker activist who funded the construction of the park, commissioned artist Daryl Smith to create the statue. It was unveiled in 1990. Ever since then, visitors have positioned colorful origami cranes on and around the statue.
During the months after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, between 150,000 and 246,000 people died, according to the Center for Nuclear Studies at Columbia University. The extreme heat and impact of the explosions killed many of these victims.
Others died from acute radiation exposure. The Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima commemorates the thousands of children who were killed, as well as Sasaki and her cranes.
The statue of Sasaki disappeared by the morning of July 12. Not many other details of the theft are known. The Seattle Police Department is currently investigating the crime. The motive behind the theft is unclear, but some suspect the statue was stolen due to the value of its metal.
It wouldn’t even be the first time such an incident has occurred. For instance, a statue of Jackie Robinson in Wichita, Kansas, was stolen for scrap metal earlier this year. Additionally, parts of a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. in Denver were discovered at a scrap metal business around the same time.
The act of stealing statues is often politically motivated and is performed as a form of protest. Sasaki’s statue was most likely stolen for its bronze. The statue was beloved by the Seattle community, so many individuals were greatly upset to hear about its disappearance.
4kclips – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
“I wanted to cry,” said Colleen Kimseylove, an office manager for University Friends Meeting, a local Quaker group. “[It makes] me feel like Floyd’s dream of peace in Seattle is a little further away than it was.”
It is hoped that the statue can be recovered, but it seems unlikely. In the event that the statue is not returned or cannot be located, the community is planning what their next steps should be.
“I don’t know how optimistic I am that she comes back,” Nora Percival, another member of University Friends Meeting, said.
“I think our fallback position will be to raise the money to have a new statue cast to replace it because I, for one, want to make sure that Sadako stays in the neighborhood.”
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