Nottuln commemorates Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

On 6 August 2024 the German town of Nottuln held a light ceremony on the Stiftsplatz in front of the town hall to mark the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945). Mayor Dr. Dietmar Thönnes, together with the local peace initiative, invited residents to place candles on the fountain, opened the event with church bells and a guitar‑accompanied song, and delivered a speech as “Major for Peace”.

The ceremony emphasized a call for a world without nuclear weapons. Thönnes read a fictional letter to the victims, while German peace group pax christi referenced Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi, president of Mayors for Peace, urging Germany to end NATO nuclear sharing, withdraw U.S. nuclear weapons from the Büchel site and ratify the UN nuclear‑weapon ban treaty. The remembrance highlighted the estimated 190,000‑230,000 deaths and the ongoing health impacts on about 400,000 survivors of the bombings.