Setsuko Thurlow

Overview

Setsuko Thurlow born Hiroshima, Japan January 3, 1932. Social worker; speaker. Canadian hibakusha survivor of Hiroshima bombing, 1945. Made several world voyages on Peace Boat. Awarded the Order of Merit, Canada's highest honor, for her peace work, 2007.

Quotations

"[S]urvivors. . . became aware that the main motive for the atomic bombings was political to impress the Soviet Union and to force Japan to surrender before the Soviet Union could enter the war against Japan so that the US need not share the victory over Japan with the USSR. They did not see it as a military necessity as the American government claimed. The survivors saw themselves as pawns in the opening moves in the Cold War rather than as sacrifices on the altar of peace. Some survivors became able to conceptualize and articulate the meaning of nuclear weapons as a threat to planetary survival. This ability enabled them to transcend their own personal tragedies and empowered them to become committed to the mission of warning the world of the dangers of the nuclear age. . .
On the cenotaph in the Peace Park in Hiroshima is an inscription which reads, 'Rest in peace; the mistake will not be repeated.' This has become the prayer and vow of many survivors, who are determined to make sure that the deaths of loved ones has not been in vain and that no human being will ever have to repeat their fate. I am committed to share the warning of Hiroshima until my last breath." (Toronto, 2003)

“How much longer can we allow the Nuclear Weapon States to continue threatening all life on earth?”(Vienna, Dec. 8, 2014; photo Nuclear Abolitionist)