Atomic Bombing Exhibition Opens in Belgian Battle City

November 10, 2018

Ypres, Belgium--An exhibition themed on the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki began on Friday in Ypres, western Belgium, a site of gas warfare during World War I.

The exhibition, which opened ahead of the centennial on Sunday of the end of the war, is designed to communicate to the world the inhumanity of weapons of mass destruction and call for their elimination.

In Ypres, modern chemical weapons were used on a large scale for the first time.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Kenji Shiga, director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in western Japan, highlighted the significance of the event being held in Ypres.

"I believe visitors will understand that the evolution in the application of science and technology in warfare is rapid and that they should never be used easily," Shiga said.

On exhibit are 30 photography panels depicting the damage of the atomic bombings and personal effects of students mobilized as servicemen. Atomic bombing survivors plan to share their experiences with visitors.

The efforts to abolish nuclear arms have been clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration of an intention to pull his country out of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia.

Jan Durnez, mayor of Ypres, said in the opening ceremony that Ypres, as a city of peace, plans to cooperate with Hiroshima and Nagasaki and work on nuclear disarmament.

The exhibition of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings is the 57th of its kind held outside Japan. It has been organized in 49 cities in 19 nations, including the latest one.

In the closing days of World War II, Hiroshima was flattened by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. The southwestern Japan city of Nagasaki suffered the same fate three days later. Jiji Press