80 years since Hiroshima - A commemoration

Eighty years ago today, the first wartime use of a nuclear weapon took place: In the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, ending the lives of hundreds of thousands in the following years. The world commemorates the victims of the bomb every year.

At 8:15 a.m., the Peace Bell in Hiroshima rang once again. At that exact time, the bomb exploded. A moment of silent prayer follows. In the evening, a city-organized lantern festival is scheduled.

Since 1942, the United States had been working—under the name of the Manhattan Project—to build the first atomic bomb in history. J. Robert Oppenheimer and other renowned scientists eventually succeeded in constructing one. After the Battle of the Ardennes in 1944, during which both sides suffered heavy losses, Roosevelt ordered: if the bomb were completed before the end of the war, Germany would be a possible target—but Japan the more likely one. The bomb was successfully tested on July 16 in a desert in New Mexico. After the scientists, acting as a committee, voiced their opinions on the potential effects of the bomb, one thing was certain: the bomb was to be used against Japan as quickly as possible—on a military facility surrounded by workers' homes, and without any prior warning.

On August 6, the time had come: U.S. pilot Paul Tibbets boarded the B-29 bomber “Enola Gay”, named after his mother. From the Tinian base in the South Pacific, he set course for Hiroshima, 2,500 km away. The atomic bomb, named “Little Boy”, detonated with a force of 12,500 tons over the city. In an instant, 90% of the city was destroyed; 90,000 people died immediately. By December 1945, more than 200,000 people had died. The resulting shock wave moved at 440 meters per second with an initial pressure of 35 tons per square meter. Within 500 meters of “Ground Zero,” almost everyone was instantly dead. For one second, the heat reached between 3,000 and 4,000 degrees Celsius.

The detonation of a nuclear weapon was followed by radiation sickness among the survivors. Symptoms included nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. “Hibakusha”—as the survivors of the bomb are called—suffered from constant headaches, hair loss, and infections. Many of those affected did not even know for a long time that it had been an atomic bomb. As a result, there was no awareness of possible radiation exposure. The mayor of Hiroshima, Matsui Kazumi, recounted that for a long time, it was taboo to speak about one’s own experience with the bomb or that of one’s family. People were ashamed due to possible inherited genetic defects or other illnesses, and it carried a strong stigma. Survivors were even discriminated against. “I only found out from my mother when I was 15 that she was one of the survivors,” the mayor says. She died at 48 from the long-term effects of the atomic bomb.

After the end of World War II, Japan adopted a pacifist constitution and became an ally of the United States. In Article 9, Japan renounces “forever” war as a sovereign right and rejects the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. Despite Article 9, Japan now possesses highly modern armed forces.

To this day, Hiroshima remains a symbol of remembrance for the atomic bomb: Just last year, Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Some survivors became anti-nuclear activists. Every year, the mayor of Hiroshima declares: “No more nuclear weapons!”