- Cultural Calendar
As a haunting reminder of the destructive power of the atomic bomb, August 6 is Hiroshima Day, when the city of Hiroshima holds the Peace Memorial Ceremony to mourn and commemorate the victims of the detonation of the atomic bomb in that city by the United States on August 6, 1945.
The bombing of Hiroshima instantly killed almost 80,000 people and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands more afterward from radiation exposure. While the day is honored annually in Hiroshima itself before the Memorial Cenotaph in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, it has also become an annual day of mourning worldwide, as well as an opportunity to commit to a more peaceful world. Nagasaki Day is also commemorated in similar fashion annually on August 9.
Learn more about this day in history and experience art, photos, and stories of some of the survivors in this archived webinar from the United Nations for last year’s commemoration here.