Sunday, September 3, 2017 a ceremony for the unveiling of the Dr. KOENUMA monument was held in his home town of Hachioji in western Tokyo. The Hachioji Dr. KOENUMA Committee had worked on this particular dedication since 2015 raising awareness and collecting donations. The relationship between the two cities of Hachioji and Wriezen has been continuing since 2009 and this year, 2017, the two officially became sister cities. 

 

The weather was perfect as the marching band from Hachioji High School kicked off the celebration. The traditional red and white cloth used for celebratory events hung behind the stage and speakers.

 

The site of Naka-cho Park was chosen as the permanent location as it is where Dr. KOENUMA’s father’s hospital once stood. The monument is in the center of the city, along an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall You Road with local restaurants and shops, easily accessible from Hachioji Train Station on the Chuo Line. 

 

Members of his extended family, including the niece of Dr. KOENUMA, Natsuko MATSUO, attended the ceremony, organized by the Hachioji Dr. KOENUMA Committee ,Kaiko TSUKAMOTO, Mayor, Takayuki ISHIMORI, and City Council Head, Yuji ITO, and House of Reprensentative Member, Kouichi HAGIUDA. The German Ambassador to Japan, (Dr. Hans Carl von WERTHERN ), sent a letter of congratulations.

The beautiful monument is decorated with his portrait that was taken before Dr. KOENUMA left Tokyo for Berlin. Pink cherry blossoms, Sakura, fall gracefully on the side depicting his last wish to see the blossoms one more time before dying in Wriezen.

 

 

Several members, including Kaiko TSUKAMOTO and Mayor Takayuki ISHIMORI attended the dedication at the grave of Dr. KOENUMA, earlier in Wriezen along with the Japanese Ambassador to Germany, Takeshi YAGI, in July of 2017.

At the Hachioji event, Kouichi ITO recalled in his speech how moved he was when Wriezen Mayor, Uwe SIEBERT said that he would maintain Dr. KOENUMA’s grave for the rest of his life. It is a testimony of the love that the people of Wriezen have for this man who, though he left with different purposes of studying in Berlin, at Humboldt University, ended his life after being given orders by the Soviet military in 1945 to care for the German refugees staying in the Wriezen Town Hall and suffering from Typhus. Dr. KOENUMA refused to take the medicine from patients for himself and thus died at the young age of 37.

 

Since his death in 1946, in Wriezen, in former East Germany, his family in Japan, especially his mother, never knew what had happened to him until a group from Wriezen began to look for his home in Japan once the Berlin Wall came down. It is significant that the monument says, Willkommen zu Hause or Welcome Home and gives him a permanent resting place.

 

This monument is meant to symbolize selfless devotion to helping others with the hope of inspiring the younger generation to put others before themselves.

 

Wriezen and Hachioji have many activities planned to ensure the continued warm relationship between these two sister cities. Wriezen Mayor, Uwe SIEBERT, Town Councilor Wolfgang SKOR and the Japan Commissioner Nils NESTLER will visit Hachioji beginning October 1.