2023 World Conference against A and H Bombs
Ersilia Soudais
Member of French National AssemblyFrance Unbowed
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am moved to be here in Hiroshima today, and even more so to be able to adressyou. I must thank the Organising Committee for giving me this opportunity, andabove all for making this conference possible, which is essential to remember thepast and look to the future.
I would also like to thank the Mayor and City Council of Hiroshima, without
whom, none of this would have been possible. Nor can I forget the JapaneseCommunist Party, in particular Vice-President Ogata, Director General Tagawa
and Mr Yonezawa of the International Affairs Bureau, for their valued assistanceto me.
I have a very special thought for my Japanese teacher. Kyôko-sensei was born inHiroshima. Her parents were victims of the atomic bomb. Her mother was five
years old and her father eleven. He was orphaned that day, along with his younger
sisters and brother, because their home was only 900 metres from the impact.
Although 95% of people died at that distance, he was able to live a long life until
he was 82. What a miracle ! And now, his daughter has been living in France for27 years, she has two beautiful children and she's my Japanese teacher. Life goeson, but the past MUST NOT be forgotten.
I remember how shocked I was as a child, when I learned about the bombings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki. As the teacher told us about this double tragedy, I washorrified by the frightening image of people literally reduced to dust by thecombined effect of the shock wave, the firestorm and the gamma rays.
And yet, at the time, Western public opinion did not take the measure of thesituation. On August, 8th 1945, « Le Monde » even ran the headline : "A scientificrevolution. The Americans drop the first atomic bomb on Japan". Only few people
were lucid about that. Among the few people who were aware of the situation,
was Albert Camus, the novelist and philosopher dear to my heart, who wrote in
the newspaper « Combat » on the same day : "Amidst a host of enthusiastic
comments, we are told that any medium-sized city can be completely wiped out
by a bomb the size of a soccer ball. [...] One might think that there is someindecency in celebrating a discovery that is first and foremost at the service of themost formidable rage for destruction that man has shown in centuries".
1Albert Camus was absolutely right that, in addition to the appalling number ofpeople who died immediately from the two atomic bombs, there were also thevictims who died, years later, as a result of their burns or irradiation. Generally
speaking, for the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, their ordeal had only justbegun, with their suffering ostracised and denied.
Ever since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki disasters, the world has been gripped bya terrible fear that nuclear conflict could degenerate into the total destruction ofhumanity, and as international tensions mount on all sides, this fear is being
reinforced. Not that we should simply blame Russia, North Korea, China and Iran.
To set a path towards a "world without nuclear weapons", a wish expressed hereby the G7, the West too must questionning itself. In this respect, I regret that todate the United States has still not apologised. A great country celebrates itsvictories, but it also has a duty not to turn its back on the darker dimensions of its
history, and to face up to the consequences. No power can escape this when it
comes to the butchery that was the Second World War.
Kenzaburô Ôe said that Hiroshima is a 'file' with which to sharpen our thinking
and reflect on the present times. I don't think we have yet understood Hiroshimaand Nagasaki.

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