A minute of silence took place this Wednesday, August 6 in Hiroshima, at the exact moment of the atomic bomb in the city, 80 years ago, during a ceremony that brings together one hundred countries, in a world marked by tensions between Russia and the United States.
On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 am, the United States launched an atomic bomb in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing about 140,000 people. Three days later, an identical bomb hit Nagasaki, causing the death of around 74,000 other people.
These two attacks, which precipitated the end of World War II, are the only occurrences in history where nuclear weapons have been used in times of war.
Before the moment of meditation, many participants deposited crowns in front of the commemorative cenotaph, where a basin is turned on.
The world called to leave the nuclear weapon
On the occasion of the ceremony, Hiroshima again urged world leaders to act to give up atomic weapons.
“The United States and Russia have 90% of global nuclear eyes and, in the context of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the situation in time in the Middle East, there is an accelerated trend in military strengthening worldwide,” said the mayor of the city, Kazumi Matsui on Wednesday.
“Some leaders accept the idea that ‘nuclear weapons are essential for their national defense’, obviously ignoring the lessons that the international community should have extracted from the tragedies of history. They threaten to undermine the frames of construction of peace,” he added.
Kazumi Matsui had also urged Donald Trump last month to go to Hiroshima, while the US president had compared with the atomic bombings of 1945, the recent air attacks against Iran.
Commemorations on Saturday in Nagasaki
The representatives of 120 countries and regions, as well as the European Union, attended the ceremony organized on Wednesday in Hiroshima, according to city officials. France is represented by number two of the embassy for the two ceremonies, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki this Saturday.
However, the main nuclear states such as Russia, China and Pakistan are absent. Iran, accused of trying to acquire the pump, should be represented.
Unlike his habit, Japan has said that he “chose his guests” for these commemorations, but has “notified” all countries and regions of the event. Therefore, Palestine and Taiwan, which Japan does not officially recognize as a country, announced their presence in this event for the first time.
On Saturday, Nagasaki also awaits a record number of countries present for their own commemorations, especially with Russia, which must attend for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“People are still suffering”
Today, Hiroshima is a prosperous metropolis of 1.2 million inhabitants, but the ruins of a building crowned by the metal skeleton of a dome support in the center of the city, remembering the horror of the attack. At dawn on Wednesday, people visited the cenotafio to pray.
Among them, Takako Hirano, 69, who lost his father and mother of the nuclear shot:
“Atomic bombings should never reproduce (…) Hiroshima inhabitants do everything possible to transmit their messages (of peace) and testify about suffering and feelings caused,” he emphasizes.
“My parents and grandparents were victims of the atomic bomb. My grandfather died shortly after, while my father and my mother died both after developing cancer” and 80 years later, “people are still suffering,” said Yoshie Yokoyama, 96, who came in a wheelchair with his grandson Hiroki Yokoyama.
The last comments: “I think of the way I should tell these events to my children (…) I feel the need to listen more and transmit their history to our children.”
Nihon Hidankyo, a group of bomb survivors, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024. The organization urges states to eliminate nuclear weapons, according to the testimonies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, called “Hibakusha”.
Yukiyo Kokufu, 75, who came from Kyoto, trusts that his mother had suffered terrible chéloid burns, while his brother, an 18 -month -old baby at that time, was immediately killed in his mother’s arms.
His father has long suffered the effects of radiation and physically weakened. “I really hope there are ever no new people Hibakusha (…) who talk about nuclear deterrence, but I hope everyone thinks more about achieving peace,” he explains.
Source: BFM TV
