Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, 10 medical students from Duesseldorf and Berlin gathered in the Germa capital in order to carry a strong message into the public: "Nuclear weapons are still posing a threat to our health!". After a commemorative service at Berlin's Japanese Peace Bell in the Volkspark Friedrichshain, where paper cranes were symbolically flown to remember the tragic stroy of the child that tried to fight radiation sickness by folding 1.000 of these paper birds, the students set up camp on Berlin's famous Alexanderplatz - once the center of old East Berlin and currently a construction site in the heart of the reunified city. Armed with informative brochures, a map of the city showing the areas that would be destroyed by a nuclear explosion and donning white coats to show the medical aspect of this street action, the students approached passerbys on their way to work, tourists visiting the famous World Clock on Alexanderplatz and youth hanging out on the square. In general, the reception was very good - many people responded with further inquiries, encouraging the student activists and offering concrete ideas how they would be able to carry on with the idea of creating a public debate around the ongoing nuclear threat. Teachers said they would talk about this topic with their students, local politicians agreed to the necessity of strengthening the Mayors for Peace movement and similar institutions, while many young people were apalled to hear that 15 years after the end of the Cold War, Germany was still harboring US nuclear weapons aimed at our Eastern neighbors, while Russia retained its missiles aimed at NATO and Western European countries. Here are some reactions that the students got form the public:

When I look back on Target Berlin, I cannot think of one particular person or one particular discussion that sticks out in my mind. A positive suprrise for me was the interest that young people showed for the topic. I was very relieved to find that not only people who still remember the pictures of Hiroshima and experienced war themselves were moved by our installation. Many young people in Berlin came up to us and wanted to know more about the dangers of nuclear weapons and their effects on health. I am happy to see that even our generation has retained some healthy rage regarding the fact that nuclear weapons are passed on from one generation to the other and that 60 years on, Hiroshima will not fade away from public memory.