Hiroshima-memorial

Rhine promenade Beuel · Rheinaustr. / Corner of Friedrich-Breuer-Str.

The Hiroshima-Memorial was erected in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on the 6th of August 1945. It is located on the bank of the Rhine in Beuel, near the Kennedy Bridge, and was opened in 2011 by the Peace Initiative Beuel along with other groups and individuals. It replaced and upgraded the more inconspicuous memorial stone which stood at the same location from 1985

On the 6^th of August 1945 at 8 a.m., 15 minutes and 17 seconds local time, the first US atomic bomb called “Little Boy” was dropped over Hiroshima from an altitude of 9,467 metres. The bomb exploded 599 metres above the Aioi Bridge in the city centre.

Three days later, on the 9^th of August 1945 at 11 a.m. and 2 minutes local time, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Due to its shape, this bomb was called “Fat Man”.

A total of around 110,000 people died immediately and over 100,000 more died by the end of 1945 as a result of nuclear radiation poisoning. The survivors – known as hibakusha – are still suffering the long-term effects to this day.

These two bombings are the only uses of nuclear weapons in a war to date. All around the world people are committed to ensuring that they remain the last. But even in 2024, there are still around 12,500 nuclear weapons in the world, 3,800 of which are immediately operational. A glimpse of hope on the way to a world free of nuclear weapons is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

This treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017 and came into force on the 22^nd of January 2021. So far 93 states have signed this treaty (as of January 2024). Hibakusha Setsuko Thurlow powerfully voiced the hope for a world without nuclear weapons when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in 2017: “To all in this hall and all listening around the world, I repeat those words that I heard called to me in the ruins of Hiroshima: ‘Don’t give up! Keep pushing! See the light? Crawl towards it’.”

The memorial in Beuel is intended to serve as a constant reminder to the people of Bonn to stand up for the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. Since 1986, every year on the 6^th of August, the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima are remembered.

Additionally, on Hiroshima Remembrance Day in August 2020, the city of Bonn signalled a commitment to peace at Bonn’s Rheinaue near the Japanese garden: The seed of the Muku tree planted there comes from trees from the so-called Hiroshima death zone and was entrusted to Bonn by the Mayors for Peace network (→ Old Town Hall).

“Peace to all peoples. Abolish nuclear weapons worldwide.” – Inscription on the memorial