Status: 09.08.2021 10:24 a.m.
The Japanese city of Nagasaki remembered the victims of the atomic bombing 76 years ago with an appeal for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. Mayor Taue demanded that those responsible should “build trust through dialogue”.
The Japanese city of Nagasaki commemorated its destruction by a US atomic bomb 76 years ago. Survivors and some foreign dignitaries held silent prayer at 11.02 a.m. local time (04.02 a.m. CEST). At this point in time in 1945 the second – and so far last – nuclear weapon had been dropped in wartime.
The US Army dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing around 140,000 people. The attack on Nagasaki followed three days later. At least 74,000 people were killed in the process. On August 15, 1945, the Second World War ended with the surrender of Japan. To this day, thousands of people suffer from the long-term effects of radioactive radiation in both Japanese cities.
Do more for a world free of nuclear weapons
For the second year in a row, the commemoration was smaller than usual because of the corona pandemic. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue called on the international community to dismantle the nuclear arsenals. Those in charge of the world “must commit to reducing nuclear weapons and build trust through dialogue,” said Taue. Civil society must build up the pressure to do this.
Faced with the growing threat of a new nuclear arms race, Taue urged its own government to play a more active role. Japan, so far the only country that fell victim to atomic bombs in the war, must do more for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Japan has not signed the ban treaty
This year’s ceremonies to commemorate the victims in Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the first since the entry into force of an international treaty banning nuclear weapons. Last year 50 countries ratified the prohibition treaty. It prohibits the use, development, production and storage of nuclear weapons and the threat of their use. However, it has not been signed by any country that actually has nuclear weapons. Japan has also refused to sign the treaty, believing that the agreement has no weight without the consent of states in possession of nuclear weapons.