Iri and Toshi Maruki

I've been working my way through the BBC series "How Art Made the World", which for the most part is very enjoyable with great references and visuals. Last night, i watched Hiroshima No Pika/Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima. The DVD was in two parts. The first part was a children's book read by Susan Sarandon called "Hiroshima No Pika" which was about the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 with the story focusing on a mother, father and little girl. The second part of the DVD "Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima" was about the artists who wrote and illustrated "Hiroshima no Pika". That was incredibly fascinating to see how Iri and Toshi Maruki, husband and wife and both artists, worked collaboratively to create murals depicting the bombing of Hiroshima. Their story about how they were affected by the bombing and a little bit about their process is told here. The interviews were inspirational, they continued to work on other books and murals to promote peace. Other murals included the "Rape of Nanking", the "Holocaust", and the "Battle of Okinawa".
Iri Maruki's obituary
I have read and heard repeatedly in art school that art does not change any political outcome. But i can't help but think that having school children exposed to the horrors of war must shape their thinking. It is when we sanitize the war experience even romanticize it that we feel "comfortable" about sending men and women to fight.
My mother would occassionally tell me about her experiences about World War II. She was a teenager in Japan at the time and remembers how terrible it was. She lost an uncle to whom she was very close and suffered from illnesses, starvation, and bombings. She felt that war should be avoided at all costs.