German Event Marks 80 Years since Truman Ordered A-Bomb Attacks

   Potsdam, Germany, July 25 (Jiji Press)--A memorial ceremony for victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II was held in the eastern German city of Potsdam on Friday, the 80th anniversary of then U.S. President Harry Truman ordering the atomic bomb attacks.
   The ceremony took place in the Hiroshima-Nagasaki square, located in front of the residence where Truman was staying when he issued the order.
   During the ceremony, a thousand paper cranes made by locals were placed at a cenotaph, and participants laid flowers and observed a moment of silence for the victims.
   Uwe Froehlich, 61-year-old head of the ceremony's organizer, said that participants had a firm resolve for nuclear disarmament.
   The ceremony also featured a reading of a German translation of an account of the atomic bomb experience of the late Hideto Sotobayashi, who came to Germany after experiencing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the age of 16 and participated in the construction of the cenotaph.

(2025/07/26-18:00)