More than 75 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scholars continue to research aspects of this monumental event in human history. Japanese Ph.D. student Masatoshi Inoue has been at Wilmington College this month delving into the Peace Resource Center Archives in search of a unique slice of information surrounding the early years of the Nuclear Age.
His doctoral research about French nuclear history examines how the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were perceived and interpreted in France and how this perception evolved according to interactions between French and Japanese people from 1945 until the 1960s.
Inoue is a doctoral student of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) in Paris, majoring in history of science and science and technology studies.
He learned about the Peace Resource Center at WC as an important depository of materials involving the atomic bombings from his research at the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima. American peace activist Barbara Reynolds founded the Center after World War II and later served as founding director of the PRC in the mid-1970s.
“I’ve found some interesting and precious pieces on the French social and cultural reactions at the Peace Resource Center. I appreciate the help I’ve received from Tanya (PRC Director Dr. Tanya Maus),” he said noting Maus gathered materials especially pertinent to his research in advance of his arrival. “It’s made my stay more efficient.”
The American military’s use of atomic bombs in Japan three months after victory was achieved in Europe resulted in the deaths of between 129,000 and 226,00 Japanese, mostly civilians. Japan formally surrendered in the days following the August 1945 blasts, ending World War II.
Germany occupied France during much of the war so the newly liberated French people — like much of the world — were “fascinated by this new discovery,” Inoue said. “The use of the atomic bomb was unprecedented — the first time was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I found positive reactions to the bombings in many French newspapers.”
However, like throughout much of the world, the French people’s discussions on nuclear weapons “evolved” over the years. France was the fourth nation to secure nuclear weapons and, in 1960, successfully tested an atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert. Inoue said France was very much involved with the peace movement of the 1960s. In fact, some French scientists took leadership roles in organizing the antinuclear movement. Inoue said that, once the human toll in Japan was realized and placed into context with potential future nuclear catastrophes, many attitudes changed and the thought of nuclear war was unimaginable.
Recently, Inoue published an article in Raison Présente (2023) translated as “Ignoring the Victims? The First Reports on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the French Press: Between Propaganda and Censorship by the United States and Japan.”
Inoue’s time at Wilmington College has produced a bounty of new information for his research, which he expects to complete within the next two years. He said he will fondly remember his time at Wilmington College, where “everyone has been so kind.” The Peace Resource Center is often a destination for persons researching the atomic bombings. The PRC contributed to a recently released podcast on Slate Media titled “One Year: 1955 ‘The Hiroshima Maidens’” in which the Center is cited in the acknowledgments