Hiroshima: “Trump does not grasp the reality of atomic bombings”

On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing around 140,000 people. Three days later, an identical bomb struck Nagasaki, causing the death of around 74,000 other people. These two strikes, which precipitated the end of the Second World War, are the only occurrences in history where nuclear weapons have been used in wartime.

Representatives of 120 countries and regions, as well as the European Union, must attend the ceremony organized Wednesday in Hiroshima, according to city officials. France will be represented by number two of the embassy for the two ceremonies, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Saturday.

“The existence of (political) leaders who want to strengthen their military power to resolve conflicts, including by having the atomic weapon, makes the establishment of world peace difficult,” said last week, the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui, in reference to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Matsui had also urged Donald Trump last month to go to Hiroshima, while the American president compared the recent air strikes against Iran to the atomic bombings. “It seems to me that he does not fully grasp the reality of atomic bombings, which, if used, cost the life of many innocent citizens, whether friends or enemies, and threaten the survival of humanity,” said the mayor.

Today, Hiroshima is a prosperous metropolis of 1.2 million inhabitants, but the ruins of a building surmounted by the metal skeleton of a dome stand in the city center, recalling the horror of the attack.

“It is important that many people gather in this city struck by the atomic bomb, because the wars continue” around the world, insists Toshiyuki Mimaki, co -president of Nihon Hidankyo, a group of bomb survivors and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2024.

Nihon Hidankyo urges states to act to eliminate nuclear weapons, based on the testimonies of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, called “Hibakusha”. “I hope that foreign representatives visit the Peace Memorial Museum and understand what happened” under the atomic cloud in the form of a fungus, “said Mimaki.

Transmitting the memory of “hibakusha” and the lessons learned from the disaster is an increasing challenge for this organization, the average age of survivors being 86 years.

“I think the global trend in search of a world without nuclear weapons will continue. The young generation works hard to achieve this, “said AFP, Kunihiko Sakuma, 80, however, who was nine months old during the bombing, and was then 3 km from the impact point.

Mr. Sakuma, who is to meet Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, after the ceremony, intends to claim toyo’s membership of the UN Treaty of nuclear weapons signed in 2017. Tokyo refused to sign it, claiming that his objective was not achievable without the help of states with the atomic weapons.

On Saturday, Nagasaki also expects a record number of countries present to its own commemorations, notably with Russia, which must attend for the first time since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.