French writers and philosophers Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir arrived in Hiroshima on October 9, 1966 and looked at intently at everything throughout their visit. Upon arrival the couple said they particularly wanted to see sites related to the atomic bombing and declined sightseeing and a reception. On the morning of October 10, Sartre and Beauvoir embarked on their tour of Hiroshima in which they looked, listened, and observed closely. After seeing the A-bomb Dome, they went to the memorial cenotaph and then to the Peace Memorial Museum where they stood silently before the belongings of mobilized students and scorched tiles. They sometimes bent down close to items on display to have a closer look. Although they were silent, their expressions seemed to inquire as to the meaning of Hiroshima.
Sartre was active in the resistance during World War II, and after the war he advocated existentialism through his book Existentialism is a Humanism and other works. With the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, he criticized Stalin in The Ghost of Stalin, denounced France’s genocide in the war in Algeria and harshly criticized the Vietnam War, which began to escalate with U.S. involvement. The prolongation of the war may have been behind his visit to Hiroshima.
During lunch, the subject of the atomic bomb and human beings came up. Sartre said that prior to his trip to Japan he had read many books on Hiroshima and the atomic bomb. For this reason, at the Atomic Bomb Survivors Hospital he asked Fumio Shigeto, the facility’s director, various questions, such as whether the incidence of leukemia could be expected to decline and whether the atomic bomb had effects on the nervous system. Beauvoir also asked questions about the atomic bomb and cancer. Afterwards the pair visited a community center for the aged where they talked with 20 A-bomb survivors. Sartre asked the survivors whether there was a strong sense of solidarity among them and what sort of aid they were receiving, while Beauvoir asked how they have dealt with the psychological effects of their experiences. The couple listened closely to the survivors as they haltingly described their experiences at the time of the bombing, their current situations, and their feelings. Afterwards Sartre told the survivors that their unhappiness is not theirs alone and that they should remember that many people in other countries are thinking of them. He added that he and Beauvoir must also fight to ensure that the tragedy of Hiroshima is not repeated and said that, in some sense, the suffering of the survivors--suffering as martyrs for peace--is a point of pride.
Upon hearing that the permanent preservation of the A-bomb Dome would be difficult, Sartre said that the ruins of the dome, the only ones of their kind in Japan, are a reminder that we must all live and strive to ensure that there will never again be a loss of human life on such a scale. Beauvoir said that the dome is the symbol of the horror of the war and boosts their resolve to do everything in their power to fight for peace.
With regard to their impressions of Hiroshima, the pair said it was the most moving stop on their visit to Japan. They said they respect the way in which the A-bomb survivors have carried on living their lives courageously and that people must maintain solidarity with those who have suffered in the cause of peace.