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As Japan marks 75 years since the devastating attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the last generation of nuclear bomb survivors are working to ensure their message lives on after them. Terumi Tanaka, 88, was 13 when the bomb hit his hometown of Nagasaki. (Photo: Behrouz/Mehri/AFP via Getty Images)
Jiro Hamasumi's mother was pregnant with him when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing tens of thousands instantly.
Today, at 74, Hamasumi is one of the remaining survivors of the attack pleading with world leaders to abolish nuclear arms.
"Hibakusha want the United States to apologize to us," Hamasumi toldAgence France-Press this week. "But the proof of the apology is nuclear abolition, we're not after vengeance."
AFPestimates there are about 136,700 living survivors of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended the second World War in 1945.
For decades anti-nuclear activists have pointed to the destruction, devastation, and deadly consequences of the attacks as reason to rid the world of nuclear weapons. World leaders have continued to develop the technology, however, in spite of those pleas.
"A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
--Lee Jong-keun, 92, Hiroshima survivor
"We must work harder to get our voices heard, not just mine but those of many other survivors," Lee Jong-keun, a 92-year-old hibakusha, who after decades of hiding his past as a Hiroshima survivor has, since 2012, joined others in telling his story and appealing for abolition of nuclear arms, said in an interview with the Associated Press this week. "A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
In 2019, Pope Francis, speaking at Hiroshima Peace Park, a memorial to the events located in Japan, called nuclear weapons "a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home."
"How," the pope asked, "can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?"
\u201cThe youngest survivors of nuclear war are 75 years old. We don\u2019t have much time left with them.\n\nMake sure you follow @nuclearban for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki to hear from survivors and learn from their stories.\u201d— Beatrice Fihn (@Beatrice Fihn) 1596562912
President Donald Trump has instead forged ahead with plans for nuclear testing, even as Democratic lawmakers push for legislation that would prevent the Trump administration from restarting nuclear weapons testing.
But remaining survivors, whose numbers dwindle as they age, and activists continue their fight for a world free of nuclear weapons.
\u201cJustice means ensuring what happened 75 years ago to #Hiroshima & #Nagasaki never happens again. We\u2019re #StillHere and we're still loud, thanks to #75YearsOf resilience from survivors. Join us for virtual events to commemorate the anniversary: https://t.co/b5hfoC9Evy\u201d— Global Zero Action (@Global Zero Action) 1596632400
"I haven't been to Hell," Hiroshima survivor Teruko Ueno told BBC. "So I don't know what it's like, but Hell is probably like what we went through. It must never be allowed to happen again."
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Jiro Hamasumi's mother was pregnant with him when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing tens of thousands instantly.
Today, at 74, Hamasumi is one of the remaining survivors of the attack pleading with world leaders to abolish nuclear arms.
"Hibakusha want the United States to apologize to us," Hamasumi toldAgence France-Press this week. "But the proof of the apology is nuclear abolition, we're not after vengeance."
AFPestimates there are about 136,700 living survivors of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended the second World War in 1945.
For decades anti-nuclear activists have pointed to the destruction, devastation, and deadly consequences of the attacks as reason to rid the world of nuclear weapons. World leaders have continued to develop the technology, however, in spite of those pleas.
"A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
--Lee Jong-keun, 92, Hiroshima survivor
"We must work harder to get our voices heard, not just mine but those of many other survivors," Lee Jong-keun, a 92-year-old hibakusha, who after decades of hiding his past as a Hiroshima survivor has, since 2012, joined others in telling his story and appealing for abolition of nuclear arms, said in an interview with the Associated Press this week. "A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
In 2019, Pope Francis, speaking at Hiroshima Peace Park, a memorial to the events located in Japan, called nuclear weapons "a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home."
"How," the pope asked, "can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?"
\u201cThe youngest survivors of nuclear war are 75 years old. We don\u2019t have much time left with them.\n\nMake sure you follow @nuclearban for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki to hear from survivors and learn from their stories.\u201d— Beatrice Fihn (@Beatrice Fihn) 1596562912
President Donald Trump has instead forged ahead with plans for nuclear testing, even as Democratic lawmakers push for legislation that would prevent the Trump administration from restarting nuclear weapons testing.
But remaining survivors, whose numbers dwindle as they age, and activists continue their fight for a world free of nuclear weapons.
\u201cJustice means ensuring what happened 75 years ago to #Hiroshima & #Nagasaki never happens again. We\u2019re #StillHere and we're still loud, thanks to #75YearsOf resilience from survivors. Join us for virtual events to commemorate the anniversary: https://t.co/b5hfoC9Evy\u201d— Global Zero Action (@Global Zero Action) 1596632400
"I haven't been to Hell," Hiroshima survivor Teruko Ueno told BBC. "So I don't know what it's like, but Hell is probably like what we went through. It must never be allowed to happen again."
Jiro Hamasumi's mother was pregnant with him when the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing tens of thousands instantly.
Today, at 74, Hamasumi is one of the remaining survivors of the attack pleading with world leaders to abolish nuclear arms.
"Hibakusha want the United States to apologize to us," Hamasumi toldAgence France-Press this week. "But the proof of the apology is nuclear abolition, we're not after vengeance."
AFPestimates there are about 136,700 living survivors of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended the second World War in 1945.
For decades anti-nuclear activists have pointed to the destruction, devastation, and deadly consequences of the attacks as reason to rid the world of nuclear weapons. World leaders have continued to develop the technology, however, in spite of those pleas.
"A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
--Lee Jong-keun, 92, Hiroshima survivor
"We must work harder to get our voices heard, not just mine but those of many other survivors," Lee Jong-keun, a 92-year-old hibakusha, who after decades of hiding his past as a Hiroshima survivor has, since 2012, joined others in telling his story and appealing for abolition of nuclear arms, said in an interview with the Associated Press this week. "A nuclear weapons ban is the starting point for peace."
In 2019, Pope Francis, speaking at Hiroshima Peace Park, a memorial to the events located in Japan, called nuclear weapons "a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home."
"How," the pope asked, "can we speak of peace even as we build terrifying new weapons of war?"
\u201cThe youngest survivors of nuclear war are 75 years old. We don\u2019t have much time left with them.\n\nMake sure you follow @nuclearban for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of #Hiroshima and #Nagasaki to hear from survivors and learn from their stories.\u201d— Beatrice Fihn (@Beatrice Fihn) 1596562912
President Donald Trump has instead forged ahead with plans for nuclear testing, even as Democratic lawmakers push for legislation that would prevent the Trump administration from restarting nuclear weapons testing.
But remaining survivors, whose numbers dwindle as they age, and activists continue their fight for a world free of nuclear weapons.
\u201cJustice means ensuring what happened 75 years ago to #Hiroshima & #Nagasaki never happens again. We\u2019re #StillHere and we're still loud, thanks to #75YearsOf resilience from survivors. Join us for virtual events to commemorate the anniversary: https://t.co/b5hfoC9Evy\u201d— Global Zero Action (@Global Zero Action) 1596632400
"I haven't been to Hell," Hiroshima survivor Teruko Ueno told BBC. "So I don't know what it's like, but Hell is probably like what we went through. It must never be allowed to happen again."