Report by Ms. Evelyn Kamissek, The City of Hannover, Germany
This year marks the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hannover’s twin city Hiroshima on August 6. As a sign of solidarity, the peace bell at Hannover’s Aegidienkirche (Aegidien Church) was struck at 8:15 a.m., the time at which the bomb was dropped and detonated.
Guests from Hannover’s twin city Hiroshima enriched the Day of Remembrance with their own program items. As every year, Hiroyo Nakamoto, tea master and cultural ambassador of the City of Hiroshima, offered a mourning tea ceremony in the Aegidien Church.
Ryutaro Fujie from the Faculty of Arts, Hiroshima City University, led two meditation workshops in the morning. Clear and soothing sounds of a stone chisel and a hammer invited participants to meditative prayer. In the afternoon, he held another workshop, “Creating Peace through Light and Sound in Memory of the Deceased,” at the City Hall.
The German-Japanese Friendship Circle exhibited “Pictures of the Hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki” and screened the film, “A Mother’s Prayer.”
The day ended with a multireligious peace prayer, “DONA NOBIS PACEM,” and setting out paper lanterns on the Mash Pond in the Park of the Twin Cities.
Photo: courtesy of the City of Hannover
Website of Mayors for Peace Germany (in German):
https://www.hannover.de/Service/Presse-Medien/Landeshauptstadt-Hannover/Aktuelle-Meldungen-und-Veranstaltungen/Gedenkveranstaltungen-zum-Atombombenabwurf-auf-Hiroshima