I was 6 so I was oblivious to what was transpiring in the mind of then-President Harry Truman. My father, Lt.-Col. Louis Geffen was in a military government unit in Oakland, California. As a judge advocate since January 1941 in the US army, he and others in his field had been sent to the American West Coast in January 1945. There they trained to set up a military government which would be needed after Japan was defeated.
My grandfather, Rav Tuvia Geffen, was working in Atlanta as the spiritual leader of the Shearith Israel congregation, which he had served since 1910. In his diary, Rav Tuvia wrote the following:
August 7 1945
“There was very interesting news in the English newspaper (Atlanta Constitution) today.” Then he wrote as any American citizen that day could have, even though the first bomb on Hiroshima had been dropped.
“It is not war news, but it is news that touches on war. If it is true, the war will end, fine, but if there will be war that means the end of the entire world.” What had transpired secretly (the details of which we are all familiar with today)?
He continued, “They have discovered how to manufacture a certain kind of bomb that has the power to destroy a country with its explosion.”
Then, he wrote describing the bomb as he understood it. “The bomb itself is not large, but its power is not to be seen through its measure or its weight. They (US government) have been working on this bomb for about 10 years here in the United States in great secrecy. A few days ago, a test was made with a very small bomb, and it proved in the test to work. It is called the atomic bomb.”
August 14 1945
“Today was one of the greatest days. Today the Japanese government surrendered to the 4 allies: USA, England, Russia and China. 5 minutes after 6 this evening Atlanta, the radio announced from President Truman that the war with Japan had ended with the victory of the allies. The President announced a two-day holiday for Wednesday and Thursday.”
Rav Tuvia truly felt that great moment. “It immediately became very joyous in all the states and the radio reported from Washington, London and New York. One could hear on the radio the excitement in Washington at the White House and in New York at Times Square.”
What he truly felt, he expressed. “We have to thank Hashem that the war ended and the slaughter is stopped all over the world. We should say Mazel Tov for the whole world and we should see all of our children back home again.”
My father, Louis Geffen, wrote from Oakland tersely. “Anna, it is significant the war has ended, but I board the troop ship tomorrow for an unknown destination.”
He was subsequently in Manila; he prosecuted lower-level Japanese war criminals in Yokahama. By March 1946 he finally returned to the USA. My Dad’s future life was to be very different than his before the war.