Edita Morris

Overview

Edita Morris (née Edith Toll) born Örebro, Sweden March 5, 1902 (d. 1988). Swedish-American pacifist author. Founded Hiroshima House of Rest with her husband for survivors of nuclear blast, 1957. Published popular novel The Flowers of Hiroshima, 1959. Published novel Love to Vietnam, chronicling the romance between a hibakusha war photographer and a napalm-burned Vietnamese girl, 1968. Following her death, her estate endowed the Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture, 1989. Opposed nuclear weapons and the Cold War.

Quotations

“Twenty thousand people lie at the bottom of the river. Like Mom, they rushed in flames in the waters. People come today to lay flowers on the surface of the river. It is the only tomb where they can bloom.” (The Flowers of Hiroshima; 1936 portrait by Von Dardel)