Flag of the Bikini Atoll
The Bikini Atoll flag was introduced in 1987 and is the official symbol of the Bikini Atoll , part of the Marshall Islands .
The resemblance to the flag of the United States is a reminder of the "great debt" of the people and the government of the United States towards the bikinians, because the United States government detonated the H-bomb Bravo in 1954 during Operation Castle on the islands , with the atoll contaminated by fallout .
Structure and meaning
The flag of the Bikini Atoll is mimicked of the Stars and Stripes , the flag of the USA, and also consists of 13 alternating red and white horizontal stripes and a flag field (" Gösch ") at the top left. The 23 white stars on a blue background stand for the 23 islands of Bikini Atoll. The three black stars in the upper right symbolize the three islands, most of which were destroyed on March 1, 1954 during a nuclear test by the 15 megaton Bravo bomb - one of the most powerful nuclear test bombs the United States has ever carried out. The two black stars at the bottom right represent Kili Island , 425 miles south of Bikini Atoll, and Ejit Island in Majuro Atoll , the area where the population now lives. The groups of stars are symbolically far apart and thus represent the distance between the old and new home and the resulting changed quality of life.
The Marshallese words in the lower part of the flag, Men Otemjej Rej Ilo Bein Anij ( German “Everything is in God's hands”) reflect the answer given in 1946 by the bikinian leader Judah to the US commodore Ben Wyatt's question as to whether the bikinians are their islands for the "good of all humanity" ( good of all mankind ) to give up, would allow the United States there its nuclear test can perform.
Web links
- Web presence Bikini Atoll ( memento from June 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) with anthem and flag of Bikini Atoll (English)
- Bikini Atoll Flags of the World via the Bikini Atoll flag