Hiroshima holds exhibition to honor antinuke Austrian writer

Hiroshima, Feb 15 (Kyodo) A Hiroshima museum opened an exhibition on Friday celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Robert Jungk, an Austrian writer known for his efforts to focus international attention on the devastation caused by the 1945 atomic bombing of the city. Through his book published in 1961, Jungk spread the word about the story of Sadako Sasaki, a girl who died from radiation disease at age 12 while striving to make 1,000 origami paper cranes, in the belief that doing so would cure her illness. The exhibition at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, due to run through March 28, displays photo panels chronicling Jungk's activities in Hiroshima as well as his books, including the best-selling "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists. " The writer, who was born in 1913 and died in 1994, visited Hiroshima five times between 1957 and 1980, according to the museum. "We hope to get the public to learn about his achievements, through which he told the world about people suffering from both physical and emotional wounds more than 10 years after the bombing," a museum official said. (Kyodo) GVS 02151603 NNNN