HIROSHIMA — The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hope to mark the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of their cities in World War II by holding an exhibition in Washington, D.C.
If realized, the exhibit will be the first of its kind in 20 years in the U.S. Officials said the cities are considering introducing the voices of atomic bomb survivors and displaying belongings of the victims.
Since 1995, the two cities have cosponsored Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb exhibitions in 15 countries, including such nuclear powers as the United States, Russia and Britain, and other nations that are actively trying to abolish nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are hoping to hold the exhibit sometime between summer and autumn at American University in Washington, D.C., which hosted the 1995 exhibition. The exhibition was to have been held at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum featuring materials related to the atomic bombings. However, the venue was canceled due to strong opposition from U.S. war veterans.
Former Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka, who spoke at the 1995 exhibit, said feelings have changed under President Barack Obama, who has advocated for a world free of nuclear weapons.
“Although the justification of the atomic bombings probably persists in the United States, we have to convey (the survivors’) long-lasting sufferings and criminality of using nuclear weapons,” said Hiraoka, who is now 87 years old.
The U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and on Nagasaki on Aug. 9 in 1945.
