The Six Survivors...
Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge
Father Kleinsorge is a German Jesuit priest stationed at a mission house. He is weakened by diarrhea from the wartime rations.
Before the Bomb
Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge is resting and reading a magazine in his room when the bomb strikes. Because the mission house had been double-braced for earthquakes, it did not topple and Father Kleinsorhe and his fellow priests did recieve any harm.
During the Bomb
Father Kleinsorge is with several other priests when the bomb hits and bits of the house are toppled on top of Father Kleinsorge.
Shortly After the Bomb
Father begins to collect some of his belongings and sees that his papier-mâché suitcase, which contains some of his important papers and money, is completely unscratched and stands upright in the doorway. He then believes that God had saved it from the wreckage. Father Kleinsorge then helps carry another priest, Mr. Fukai, outside, but he stumbles because he is still weak from the diarrhea. After he regains himself he volunteers to put out fires using buckets of water.
Years After the Bomb
Father Kleinsorge becomes a Japanese citizen and takes the name Father Makoto Takakura. He never gets over his radiation sickness and eventually works himself to exhaustion trying to help in Hiroshima. In 1961, he moves to a tiny church in Mukaihara, where he begins a close friendship with his cook and eventual nurse, Satsue Yoshiki. His health continues to fade, and in 1976 he falls on an icy path and fractures vertebrae in his back. He is bedridden from then on and dies in 1977 with Yoshiki-san, also known as Satsue Yoshiki, at his side.
Before the Bomb
Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge is resting and reading a magazine in his room when the bomb strikes. Because the mission house had been double-braced for earthquakes, it did not topple and Father Kleinsorhe and his fellow priests did recieve any harm.
During the Bomb
Father Kleinsorge is with several other priests when the bomb hits and bits of the house are toppled on top of Father Kleinsorge.
Shortly After the Bomb
Father begins to collect some of his belongings and sees that his papier-mâché suitcase, which contains some of his important papers and money, is completely unscratched and stands upright in the doorway. He then believes that God had saved it from the wreckage. Father Kleinsorge then helps carry another priest, Mr. Fukai, outside, but he stumbles because he is still weak from the diarrhea. After he regains himself he volunteers to put out fires using buckets of water.
Years After the Bomb
Father Kleinsorge becomes a Japanese citizen and takes the name Father Makoto Takakura. He never gets over his radiation sickness and eventually works himself to exhaustion trying to help in Hiroshima. In 1961, he moves to a tiny church in Mukaihara, where he begins a close friendship with his cook and eventual nurse, Satsue Yoshiki. His health continues to fade, and in 1976 he falls on an icy path and fractures vertebrae in his back. He is bedridden from then on and dies in 1977 with Yoshiki-san, also known as Satsue Yoshiki, at his side.
