Covid forces, several events have been cancelled, including the ceremony of the lantern floating, deposited in the dark of the night every August 6, in memory of the victims.
A birthday painful. Japan has commemorated this Thursday, the first nuclear attack in history, occurred 75 years ago on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima, in the particular context of the pandemic of sars coronavirus, which was forced to limit this year’s tributes to the victims.
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survivors of the atomic bomb, of the descendants of the victims, the japanese Prime minister Shinzo Abe and a few representatives foreign officials participated in the main ceremony of remembrance in the early morning in Hiroshima (western Japan), most of them wearing masks.
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The general public, however, had not been invited to the event because of the Covid-19, and had to be content to follow the ceremony online. Other events were completely cancelled, including the ceremony of the lantern floating of Hiroshima, filed in the dark of the night every August 6, in memory of the victims.
A silent prayer was held at 8: 15 stack local time (1: 15 in France), marking the precise moment when the atomic bomb exploded in the sky of Hiroshima, 75 years ago. “We must never allow this painful past repeats itself”, stated in a speech to the mayor of the city, Kazumi Matsui, calling the civil society to reject the “withdrawal” of nationalism. “I am committed to do my best for the advent of a world without nuclear weapons and a lasting peace” has promised his side Shinzo Abe, who is often criticized for its intention to revise the pacifist constitution of japan.
140 000 people died in Hiroshima
The bomb “Little Boy” killed about 140 000 people dead in Hiroshima. Many of the victims were killed on the spot, and there are many others also died of their wounds or of radiation in the weeks and months following. Three days later, a second bomb Was american was dropped on Nagasaki (south-west), causing 74 000 excess deaths.
These two bombs of destructive power unprecedented at the time have completed to bring Japan to its knees : the August 15, 1945, emperor Hirohito announced to his subjects the capitulation to the Allies, signing the end of the Second world War.
to The historians, however, continue to debate the question of whether this double nuclear attack has actually saved more lives by hastening the end of the conflict. Many consider war crimes, the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by the unprecedented extent of their devastation and their large number of civilian casualties.
in Need of “solidarity”
The United States has never officially apologized. But in 2016, Barack Obama became the first us president in office to visit Hiroshima, where he had paid homage to the victims and called for a world without nuclear weapons. Last year, pope Francis also went to Hiroshima as well as Nagasaki, to pound his total rejection of the atomic weapon, which he described as a “crime”, and vilify the doctrine of nuclear deterrence, a “false security” poisoning, on the contrary, the relations between the peoples, according to him.
The secretary-general of the united Nations, Antonio Guterres regretted in a video message released Thursday that the goal of eliminating atomic weapons, has been formulated by the UN from its beginnings, is still unfinished. “Today, a world without nuclear weapons seems more and more distant”, he estimated.
Some of the survivors of the atomic bomb have drawn parallels between their struggle against the nuclear weapon and the current crisis of the sars coronavirus. “Either the coronavirus or the nuclear weapons, how to overcome them (these challenges, editor’s NOTE) is the solidarity between peoples”, was recently declared to the press Keiko Ogura, a survivor of Hiroshima, aged 83 years.
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A japanese court recognizes new victims of the Hiroshima bomb From Japan, pope Francis denounced the atomic bomb, “more than ever a crime” The day on which France has detonated the H-bomb:
Some 136 700 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called “hibakusha” in Japan, still live today. But with a little more than 83 years of average age, their strength decreases and they seek to pass the baton of the witness to the new generations. With the help of other activists against the use of nuclear weapons, the hibakusha have created an archive of their memory, either in the form of recorded testimonies, poems or drawings. In spite of these initiatives, many fear a loss of interest in their heritage when they are not there, and though the nuclear threat was still relevant.
