設立について About Himeyuri Peace Museum
米軍の沖縄上陸作戦が始まった1945（昭和20）年3月23日深夜、沖縄師範学校女子部・沖縄県立第一高等女学校の生徒222人、教師18人は、那覇市の南東5キロにある南風原の沖縄陸軍病院に配属されました。
3月26日、米軍は慶良間列島に進攻、4月1日には沖縄本島中部西海岸に上陸。米軍の南下に従い日本軍の死傷者が激増し、学徒たちは後送されてくる負傷兵の看護や水汲み、飯上げ、死体埋葬に追われ、仮眠を取る間もなくなっていきます。
5月下旬米軍が迫る中、学徒たちは日本軍とともに陸軍病院を出て、本島南端部に向かいました。移動先の安静もつかの間、激しい砲爆撃の続く中で6月18日を迎えます。学徒たちは突然の「解散命令」に絶望し、米軍が包囲する戦場を逃げ惑い、ある者は砲弾で、ある者はガス弾で、そしてある者は自らの手榴弾で命を失いました
。陸軍病院に動員された教師・学徒240人中136人、在地部隊その他で90人が亡くなりました。
米軍は沖縄戦を日本本土攻略の拠点を確保する最重要作戦と位置づけ、物量のある限りを使い、対する日本軍は米軍の日本本土上陸を一日でも遅らせるために壕に潜んでの防衛・持久作戦をとりました。沖縄を守備するため、軍は県民の根こそぎ動員を企てると同時に、学徒隊を編成して生徒たちの戦場動員を強行しました。持久作戦、根こそぎ動員は、12万人余にのぼる沖縄住民の犠牲をうみました。
あれから40年以上たちましたが、戦場の惨状は、私たちの脳裏を離れません。私たちに何の疑念も抱かせず、むしろ積極的に戦場に向かわせたあの時代の教育の恐ろしさを忘れていません。
戦争を知らない世代が人口の過半数を超え、未だ紛争の絶えない国内・国際情勢を思うにつけ、私たちは一人ひとりの体験した戦争の恐ろしさを語り継いでいく必要があると痛感せざるをえません。
平和であることの大切さを訴え続けることこそ亡くなった学友・教師の鎮魂と信じ、私たちはこの地にひめゆり平和祈念資料館を建設いたしました。当館の設立にあたっては、県内外の多くの方々のご厚意とご協力を賜わりました。深く感謝いたします。
1989年6月23日
戦争体験者が年々少なくなっていく中、若い世代に戦争の実態をより分かりやすく伝えるために、2004(平成16）年4月、全面的な展示改装を行い、さらに平和への思いを未来へつないでいくために「平和の広場」を増築いたしました。
2004年4月13日
財団法人沖縄県女師・一高女ひめゆり同窓会
Late at night on March 23, 1945, 222 students and 18 teachers from the Female Division of the Okinawa Normal School and the Okinawa First Girls' High School were inducted into units at the Okinawa Army Field Hospital in the village of Haebaru about 3 miles southeast of Naha. Army invaded the Kerama Islands on March 26 and made a landing on the west coast of the central part of Okinawa Island by April 1. forces pushed the battlefront southward. Worsening war conditions subjected the mobilized students to hideous working conditions. They took care of the constantly arriving injured, secured water and carried food in for the patients and hospital staff, and buried the dead. These round-the-clock duties didn't allow them even time for a nap. In late May, as U.S. forces approached, the students and Japanese soldiers left the Army Field Hospital and started on their way southward. After a series of bombings, however, on June 18 they were suddenly dismissed. The students had nowhere to go under the U.S. Some were killed in the battle raging around them, while others killed themselves with tear-gas shells or hand grenades. Of 240 students and teachers, 136 who joined the Army Hospital and 90 who joined other corps perished. Army regarded the Battle of Okinawa as a pivotal operation to secure a site for the invasion of mainland Japan and invested their entire military resources. On the other hand, the Japanese forces in caves waged a "war of attrition": trying to drag the battle out for even one day longer and to force the U.S. Army to delay its assault on the mainland. Japanese forces in Okinawa, therefore, decided to enlist the tactic of an all-out mobilization of the Okinawan people including students, who were organized into student corps. The war of attrition and the all-out mobilization claimed the lives of more than 120,000 Okinawans. About 40 years have passed since the Battle of Okinawa, and yet the indescribable tragedy we experienced and witnessed on the battlefield still haunts our memory. We will never forget the horror of the pre-World War II militaristic education, which drove us to the battlefield with no skepticism but rather with a willingness to serve. We strongly feel that we must continue to tell our stories of a war filled with insanity and brutality now that the post-war generations, who have no idea what war is, have formed the majority of our population and that the peace-threatening signs in both domestic and international politics cannot be ignored. Believing an appeal for world peace will be the way to repose the souls of those who perished, we, the Himeyuri Alumnae, founded the Himeyuri Peace Museum on this site. We are most grateful for the sincere encouragement and support that we received from many individuals and organizations in and outside the prefecture in the process of its foundation. Himeyuri Alumnae Incorporated Foundation
June 23, 1989
