Nuclear memories for the future: Gaps and forgetting in European publics’ understandings of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Abstract

Using two novel surveys of representative samples of Europeans in nine countries, we identify two gaps in Europeans’ understandings of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. First, there is a gap in awareness of Hiroshima versus Nagasaki, which obscures the potential significance of the Nagasaki bombing for evaluating the morality and controllability of nuclear explosions. Second, there exists a gap between older and younger generations’ knowledge and perceptions of the bombing. Younger generations perceive the bombings as overall less impactful yet do not have alternative memories of nuclear events. The dominance of Hiroshima over both Nagasaki and other nuclear-historical events is explored in terms of its implications for Europeans’ ability to understand the possibility of future nuclear harms. We put forward global nuclear testing and cases of the lucky avoidance of nuclear explosions as productive ways to supplement currently existing memories and to connect them to the future.