At the time, the United States attacked the Japanese city of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Just under a month later, Japan surrendered, bringing the Second World War to an end.
The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima rose as high as 13 kilometres. Between 70,000 and 80,000 people were killed instantly, and roughly the same number of homes – around 80% of the city – were destroyed or damaged. The bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy”, produced a blast unlike anything the world had ever seen. The total number of deaths from the explosions and resulting radiation in both cities is difficult to determine, but estimates suggest the toll exceeds 200,000.
On Wednesday, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were commemorated at the Resistance Memorial in Wiltz. Often referred to as Luxembourg’s “martyred city”, the commemoration in Wiltz held special significance given the town’s own suffering during the war.
Carole Weigel, the Mayor of Wiltz, noted: “The population here in Wiltz, in the north, suffered greatly during the Ardennes Offensive and throughout the war in general. Many buildings were destroyed on a large scale. It’s not comparable to the atomic bombings, of course, but I believe that, because of what the people of Wiltz went through, we can empathise with what happened in Japan at the time.”
In 1989, Wiltz became the first municipality in Luxembourg to join the “Mayors for Peace” initiative, launched in 1982 by the then-mayor of Hiroshima. Today, more than 8,500 towns and cities around the world are part of the network, including 64 of Luxembourg’s 100 municipalities. These communities are also witnessing – through the arrival of refugees, but not only – that war remains a reality, both globally and in Europe.
Emile Eicher, President of Syvicol, noted: “This doesn’t just mean that people have fled here, but also that we, through our partner municipalities – and there are more and more of them in Ukraine – are trying to help. There are a few municipalities here in Luxembourg, I’m thinking for example of Strassen, that are running very active programmes with communities over there, to remind us that after war comes rebuilding, and we need to start planning for that now. We need to allocate resources, make plans, and give people a helping hand so that those who have come here temporarily will have a real chance to return home one day.”
Ahead of the commemoration, children from Wiltz’s three primary schools explored the theme of peace. Yet on a global scale, especially concerning nuclear weapons, the current outlook remains bleak.
Raymond Becker, co-founder of the Peace and Solidarity Platform, expressed concern over the current state of international disarmament efforts: “Today, there are essentially no treaties left that are seriously upheld when it comes to reducing or limiting the dangers related to nuclear weapons. These agreements are no longer respected, they’re being suspended. We urgently need to return to a point where we resume those negotiations. And we do still have options: we can do this through the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which still exists and explicitly states that nuclear weapons must be dismantled, or by joining the United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
As a symbol of hope for a peaceful future, a Japanese ginkgo tree was planted at the Resistance Memorial at the end of the ceremony, in the presence of the Japanese ambassador.
