Vedo - Day 3

Our Information Table

My third day was different than the two before. I did not go to the UN-Headquarters but was instead in the University of Vienna to be in charge of an information table with my other colleagues.

Our task was to inform the bypassing people on the NPT PrepCom 2012 and on Nuclear Weapons in general. Almost all of the interested people, who took a look at our table (and drank coffee or tea) didn't even know that such a big and important conference is going on at the moment.

We've had a lot of interesting discussions on the topic and a bunch of people that were willing to sign an appeal for a total ban of nuclear weapons, which has beed launched by Gensuikyo. The japanese NGO which was on the ground too facilitated expertise and personal experience to the students passing by as well as to our group.

In the long run one can say that the information table was visited by a lot of people and therefore can be seen as a success in informing the mostly uninformed about the issue. Furthermore, I have heard a lot of new facts and stories from the Japanese delegation and hence learned much myself.

Testimony of the hibakusha

At 4 p.m. I had to attend a lecture in university, which lasted until 5.30 p.m. So I got an hour to brace myself for the testimony of the hibakushas which took place from 6.30 p.m.

Even though I felt really energetic when entering the room, the first few minutes of the movie shown at the beginning of the testimony just blew away all my vigour.

The movie presented stock footage of the first few days after the bomb was dropped and showed the unthinkable that happened in 1945. Humans can't  even in their worst nightmares imagine the whole ferocity shown. Dead babies carried by their delirious mothers, children with half of their mouth blown away, teenagers with a large part of their body burnt, corpses on the street, not looking like humans but like big bricks of charcoal shocked all those present.

The following testimonies of four survivors were touching and conveyed a weird feeling of suffering to me. They spoke about the day the bombing took place, their subsequent search for their family members, the loss of their loved ones and their way back to society. I won't forget this 2,5 hours in my lifetime. Surely I was not the only one leaving the room with a big lump in my throat. But once the lump is gone I will spread their word, just as the hibakushas desire it.

This disaster must never be forgotten! The pictures and stories, even though they are cruel, are more than necessary. They were reality. Reality a happy and safe person could't even imagine. 

Let us stand together as one and hope they will never be reality again!