The Reality of Hiroshima
The 80th anniversary of the Japanese city’s destruction is a warning in response to the current global frivolity regarding nuclear threats.
On Aug. 6, the world will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the first targeted atomic bombing in war. The United States deployed the bomb against the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the final days of World War II. Three days later, another atomic bomb hit Nagasaki, 186 miles away. As a result of the attacks, it is estimated that more than 150,000 people lost their lives, both in the explosions and from the effects of radiation and burns. Since then, tens of thousands of nuclear warheads have been manufactured. The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons estimates that more than 12,000 are actively in the hands of nine countries and potentially so in another six. The use of only a part of that arsenal would mean the destruction of human civilization as we know it. It is a shocking and omnipresent risk with which humanity has lived ever since.
Nevertheless, the decades-long initiatives against nuclear confrontation have gradually lost ground, one by one, as tensions between the powers have reignited and more countries have joined the atomic club.
Looking at the war in Ukraine (in which Russia considers itself to be at war with NATO), both Moscow and Washington have reneged on their commitment to refrain from usingtactical weapons in Europe — evidenced by the deployment of Russian bombs in neighboring Belarus and the return of part of the U.S. arsenal to the United Kingdom for the first time since 2008.
All this is wrapped in worrying rhetoric. Because of Russia’s invasion in 2022, Moscow speaks openly of its capacity for atomic destruction to dissuade Kyiv's allies from strengthening their support for the attacked country.
This week, President Donald Trump responded to those statements by announcing the mobilization of two nuclear submarines — a game of threats that was typical during the Cold War.
As if that were not enough, Trump's sudden hostility to the EU has prompted Europe to seek means for autonomous nuclear deterrence, with France and the United Kingdom in the lead. Furthermore, the attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran's atomic facilities has further convinced the Iranian regime of the existential need to equip itself with nuclear weapons to ensure its geopolitical survival.
With this as context, remembering Hiroshima takes on a meaning beyond the commemorative. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, on March 31 of this year there were 99,130 survivors of the bombs. With an average age of 86 years, most of them have no actual memory of the event. However, the fact that it happened serves as a reminder that the nuclear threat is not just a rhetorical tool and that humanity cannot lose sight of freeing itself from it.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognized this when presenting its 2024 award to the victims' association Nihon Hidankyo to "sound the alarm and warn the world that the nuclear taboo is in danger," according to this organization. And 70% of the victims believe that nuclear weapons will be used again.
The images and stories of the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not just part of another historical commemoration: They serve as a constant reminder of the existential damage that humanity can inflict on itself. Preserving the memory is a responsibility, so that it remains alive — even when no one is left who lived it.
On Aug. 6, the world will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the first targeted atomic bombing in war. The United States deployed the bomb against the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the final days of World War II. Three days later, another atomic bomb hit Nagasaki, 186 miles away. As a result of the attacks, it is estimated that more than 150,000 people lost their lives, both in the explosions and from the effects of radiation and burns. Since then, tens of thousands of nuclear warheads have been manufactured. The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons estimates that more than 12,000 are actively in the hands of nine countries and potentially so in another six. The use of only a part of that arsenal would mean the destruction of human civilization as we know it. It is a shocking and omnipresent risk with which humanity has lived ever since.
Nevertheless, the decades-long initiatives against nuclear confrontation have gradually lost ground, one by one, as tensions between the powers have reignited and more countries have joined the atomic club.
Looking at the war in Ukraine (in which Russia considers itself to be at war with NATO), both Moscow and Washington have reneged on their commitment to refrain from usingtactical weapons in Europe — evidenced by the deployment of Russian bombs in neighboring Belarus and the return of part of the U.S. arsenal to the United Kingdom for the first time since 2008.
All this is wrapped in worrying rhetoric. Because of Russia’s invasion in 2022, Moscow speaks openly of its capacity for atomic destruction to dissuade Kyiv's allies from strengthening their support for the attacked country.
This week, President Donald Trump responded to those statements by announcing the mobilization of two nuclear submarines — a game of threats that was typical during the Cold War.
As if that were not enough, Trump's sudden hostility to the EU has prompted Europe to seek means for autonomous nuclear deterrence, with France and the United Kingdom in the lead. Furthermore, the attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran's atomic facilities has further convinced the Iranian regime of the existential need to equip itself with nuclear weapons to ensure its geopolitical survival.
With this as context, remembering Hiroshima takes on a meaning beyond the commemorative. According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, on March 31 of this year there were 99,130 survivors of the bombs. With an average age of 86 years, most of them have no actual memory of the event. However, the fact that it happened serves as a reminder that the nuclear threat is not just a rhetorical tool and that humanity cannot lose sight of freeing itself from it.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognized this when presenting its 2024 award to the victims' association Nihon Hidankyo to "sound the alarm and warn the world that the nuclear taboo is in danger," according to this organization. And 70% of the victims believe that nuclear weapons will be used again.
The images and stories of the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not just part of another historical commemoration: They serve as a constant reminder of the existential damage that humanity can inflict on itself. Preserving the memory is a responsibility, so that it remains alive — even when no one is left who lived it.
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