Manchester will pay tribute to the lives lost and the lasting impact the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 76 years on.
Manchester remembers the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 76 years on
To commemorate the dropping of the atomic bombs, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Manchester will pay tribute to the lives lost and the lasting impact it has had. It will also remember all civilians killed in war or violent attacks around the world today.
On 6 August at 08:15am Manchester encourages all to hold a minute of silent reflection to all those who were killed in the bomb attacks.
In-person event
We are working with Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester, to hold a small, socially distanced outdoor event in the Old Quadrangle at Manchester University on 6 August 2021 at 10am. More information about this event is available at the bottom of this webpage.
Why are we commemorating?
Engagement Manager, Anna, from the Manchester Museum, introduces why we are here today.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Genbaku Dome tribute by mamaykun
"Let there be Peace’’, by Lemn Sissay MBE
Manchester and Mayors for Peace joint working
Manchester has had a long relationship with Mayors for Peace, which began with our famous ‘nuclear-weapons-free city’ declaration over 40 years ago on 5 November 1980.
Our declaration inspired cities across the world to work together for nuclear disarmament. In 1982, the Mayor of Hiroshima invited all Mayors to join with him to work for a more peaceful world free of nuclear weapons, and Mayors for Peace was created. Manchester was one of the first members and we’ve attended almost every conference. In the late 1990s, we were asked to become a Vice President of Mayors for Peace and joined the Executive Board.
Since then, Manchester has played a lead role in the organisation and in 2013 accepted a further invitation from Hiroshima to become a Lead City of Mayors for Peace, founding a UK and Ireland Chapter of the organisation.
Members of Mayors for Peace last year came together, virtually, to record a special message to spread public awareness throughout the world toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. Manchester appears at 4:14 minutes.
Affirmation adapted from the declaration delivered outside the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament, 1982 (the conference from which the Mayors for Peace organisation was formed)
We today declare our hope in the future.
From the diversity of our cultural and religious traditions,
We have come to renew our belief in the wholeness of the earth and the sanctity of all life.
We declare we are at peace with all people of good will.
We need no leader to define for us any enemy,
Nor to tell us what we need security for and defence against.
Instead, we affirm that our earth’s security rests not in the continuing production of
armaments, but:
In the justice of adequate housing and food,
In the justice of meaningful education and work,
In the justice of an economic order that gives everyone access to our earth’s abundance,
In the justice of human relationships, nourished by co-operation,
In the justice of safe, clean and renewable energy.
We affirm people over property, community over individualism,
Respect for others in all their diversity.
We choose struggle rather than indifference.
We choose to be friends of the earth and of one another, rather than exploiters.
We choose to be citizens rather than subjects.
We choose a nuclear weapons free future,
And we will settle for nothing less.
Before us today are set life and death.
We choose life that we, and those that come after us, may live.
Let it be so.
Press release issued on Thursday 5 August 2021
Manchester remembers the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 76 years on
To commemorate the dropping of the atomic bombs, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Manchester will pay tribute to the lives lost and the lasting impact it has had. It will also remember all civilians killed in war or violent attacks around the world today.
The total loss of life of the two bombings is estimated to be up to 135,000, though the effects would be felt for generations to come.
On 6 August at 08:15am Manchester encourages all to hold a minute of silent reflection to all those who were killed in the bomb attacks.
Manchester City Council is cooperating with Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester, to hold a small, socially distanced outdoor event in the Old Quadrangle at Manchester University on 6 August 2021 at 10am – 11am. The Lord Mayor of Manchester will lay a white flowered wreath to remember those killed in the attacks and all civilians killed in war up to the present day. Senior university, Manchester Museum, councillors, faith and peace group representatives will also be in attendance and read out poems, declarations and hold a minutes silence.
Due to the ongoing challenge raised by the Covid-19 pandemic an additional online page of readings will also be placed on the City Council’s website and social media.
Manchester City Council is a founding member and the host of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA). It is also a Vice President of the Hiroshima-led Mayors for Peace and a Vice Chair of the Mayors for Peace European Chapter. Both organisations have been working for over four decades to promote multilateral nuclear disarmament.
The Lord Mayor of Manchester and Vice President of Mayors for Peace, Councillor Tommy Judge, said: “I am delighted that Manchester City Council will be able to formally commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic weapon attacks through a live event as well as an extensive web-based series of readings and resources. I will be honoured to lay a wreath on behalf of those who died on all sides in the Second World War and all innocent civilians who have died in civil wars and terrorist attacks up to the present day.!
“The Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks remind us of the destructive power of the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. The response of the survivors of this terrible event, and of the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to advocate peace and reconciliation, remains a beacon of hope for all of us who wish to see a more peaceful world.
“Manchester will continue to work with them for the promotion of peace and nuclear disarmament through the large Mayors for Peace movement. I encourage the people of Manchester and around the world to read the profound material in our 76th anniversary webpage and work together with us for peace.”
of the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to advocate peace and reconciliation, remains a beacon of hope for all of us who wish to see a more peaceful world.
“Manchester will continue to work with them for the promotion of peace and nuclear disarmament through the large Mayors for Peace movement. I encourage the people of Manchester and around the world to read the profound material in our 76th anniversary webpage and work together with us for peace.”