The First Reformed Church of Secaucus, located at 53 Centre Ave., was slated to become an honorary Peace Site this past Thursday after scheduling a commemoration for the victims of the atomic bomb blast in Nagasaki, Japan 62 years ago.
“It’s one thing to say nuclear weapons cause devastation. It’s still another to hear someone describe it: to hear the bombs, see them and feel them,” said Madeline Hoffman, director of NJ Peace Action.
“Peace Action” is a national group that has created subdivisions in different states across the nation. These states then went on to create “peace sites” within their communities.
Thursday’s dedication was slated to consist of reading letters written by “habakusha,” Japanese atomic bomb survivors, and an update on where the United States, as well as other countries throughout the world, stands on nuclear testing.
The church, which already has already dedicated itself to the efforts of peace, stood ready to accept the dedication as an honor.
Rev. William Henkel, pastor at the Reformed Church, said that the site has already made efforts towards peace in the past and considers it an obligation to the community.
“We’ve done some vigils already here in town,” said Henkel, “one before the Iraq war and one on the fourth anniversary of the war. It’s to call ourselves to accountability by going public.”
Five years ago, the church created a peace garden along with a “peace pole.” the structure has the words “May peace prevail on Earth” written in English, Korean, Spanish, and American Sign Language.
Peace Action
Peace Action was created in 1957 under the title of SANE. The group took its name from a book written by Erich Fromm entitled “The SANE Society.” The book’s focus was on the aftermath of World War II, and on what nations and their people can do to prevent war from breaking out again.
In the early 1990s, the group changed its name to Peace Action after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was then that the group incorporated international peace as one of its highlighted ideals, along with keeping the prevention of nuclear war at the forefront.
Hoffman said that the idea for peace sites came from about in the 1980s.
“There were so many military sites around the country and around the world,” said Hoffman. This realization sparked the idea for peace sites where people could “think about peace, show movies about peace, and organize or discuss ways to achieve peace.”
“We want to do some education events and we want to build up a peace library,” said Henkel.
Habakusha remember
After the United States dropped its two atomic bombs on Japan 62 years ago, an estimated 210,000 people died. The initial blast was catastrophic, as was the radiation in the aftermath.
Those who did not die from the radiation poisoning, but were near enough to the blast to be affected by it, have been given the term habakusha. Roughly translated into English, habakusha means “one who has an inherent handicap.”
Some of these men and women have created detailed their experiences in writings and artwork and have been touring the world to speak out against nuclear war.
Hoffman said that though they usually attend dedications of peace sites, for this particular dedication they were in Washington D.C. for a different dedication.
Hoffman said that hearing the stories of the survivors made her more ardent in her activism.
“Before I was hired to work here, I was against the use of nuclear weapons, but the first time I heard a [survivor’s] story, it changed me completely,” said Hoffman.