Peace Declaration (1955)

Today, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the atomic bomb dropping, we mourn with solemnity for the souls of the dead victims, and renew our fervent desire for and commitment to world peace, which have been earnestly expressed to the world on the basis of our tragic experience.

Six thousands of those who are suffering from A-bomb aftereffects are not still entitled to receive a proper medical treatment and are struggling against a hard life. Furthermore, ninety-eight thousands of survivors are incessantly threatened by the anxiety that they might be contracted with the A-bomb disease. We point out with great emphasis that the A-bomb radiation which gradually affects human body bears a danger that could lead the sound human society to the way for ruin.

We are not trembling with a groundless and exaggerated apprehension only because we did experience the atomic bomb explosion. We cannot remain an idle spectator of the status quo that all rest of the world seems as if it neglected that holocaust as a happening that took place at a tiny spot on the earth. We look on it as our great duty to tell this truth to the whole world and convey our appeal of "Never have the tragedy of Hiroshima repeated," until the day when we see the advent of an everlasting world peace in a true sense.

August 6, 1955

Tadao Watanabe
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima