From the ashes

I read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for the first time a few years ago. Sadly, it prompted my first serious consideration about Allied Firebombing during WWII. Not surprisingly, my encounter with this part of history piqued my interest. So when I had a four day weekend in September, I packed a bag and headed north to Saxony and the former Republic of East Germany.

Buckle up for a little bit of a history lesson. Dresden first shows up as a named location early in the 1200’s as a Slavic village. Its history is one of conflict, devastation in the form of war or fire, and regularly changing leadership (welcome to Europe). Its 20^th century history is no different. Towards the end of WWII, the Allies focused their efforts on strategic bombing attacks to cut Hitler’s war supplies from reaching his troops. They bombed factories, rail lines and depots, and other locations essential to the German war effort. However, some targets made the bombing lists for questionable reasons. One of those cities was Dresden. From February 13, 1945, through April 1945, the Allies bombed the city several times. The bombs they used included incendiary rounds designed to create horrific fires after impact, hence the label firebombing. The civilian death toll numbers, which varied early from 35,000 to over 100,000, are likely somewhere closer to 25,000. The devastation was absolute, particularly in the old town where 90% of the city was destroyed.

: ADN-ZB-Löwe Hen-Schä Dresden after the British-American air raid on 13-14.2.1945 The rebuilt Luther Monument and the ruin of the Frauenkirche, a lasting monument to the senseless destruction of the city. Aufn.Nov.1958

: Dresden, 1945, view from the city hall (Rathaus) over the destroyed city

: Dresden, partial view of the destroyed city center over the Elbe to the Neustadt. In the middle of the picture the Neumarkt and the ruin of the Frauenkirche.

After the war, city planners seriously considered wiping the slate clean and rebuilding the city from scratch. Fortunately, they decided instead to rebuild (predominately the old town) from the ashes, literally. Using many of the original stones, the city rebuilt their palaces, churches, and museums. The Frauenkirche (“Church of Our Lady,” 1726–43), the large Protestant church in the city, was completely destroyed. Until the 1990’s, its site was a memorial to the bombing and those who perished. The rebuilt church was finished in 2005. The city holds yearly memorials to those lost in the bombings. Dresden had no munitions factory, no factories relevant to the war effort, and it wasn’t a major train hub for supplies to either the western or eastern fronts. We simply bombed. Then bombed again. And one more time for good measure. I know that war is hell, but I’m not sure it needed to be the firestorm hell it was for the people of Dresden, many of whom had fled other more viable target areas.

: The Frauenkirche, with the statue of Luther, rebuilding completed in 2005 (the destroyed church above)

: View from the Semperoper

: Across from the Frauenkirche

Many historians and military analysts have spent years evaluating the justifications for attacks on Dresden and cities like it. Most arrive at the same conclusion; there was no justification only bad excuses. It’s not a surprise that many who remember the horror wonder why no one was prosecuted for war crimes.

: A group of British women in resplendent hats attracted the attention of a number of Asian women. The group converged, chatted for a long time animatedly, and then took photos together. Leave it to hats to bring us together.

: From the DDR Museum (East Germany) in the former headquarters of the Stasi secret police.

: A mosaic in town of the rulers of Saxony.

Out of the ashes of their past, the city of Dresden has risen from the dust and rubble. Although the journey has not been easy. Dresden was part of the socialist controlled East Germany from the end of the war until reunification in 1990. The economy of the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) still lags behind western regions. Yet evidence of Dresden’s will to thrive is clearly evident. Once a hub of the arts, the city makes every effort to uphold that old tradition. The Semperoper opera house (named after its architect) again resounds with the sounds of instruments and voices, palaces are now filled with museums and concert venues, and the rebuilt cathedrals give homage to the city’s grand history. I was memorized. The city was filled with tourists from all over the world; their varied languages creating a cacophony sound signifying that the revival was successful, at least from a tourist perspective. I wonder if the residents feel the same. Perhaps I should simply rely on the city’s long past to understand that the people who choose to live here understand what it means to adapt and rebuild.

The Zwinger Palace

After wandering the city and pondering its history, I treated myself to a classical concert in the Zwicker Palace one night and I sat with about 30 other people enraptured by the sounds of Bach in one of the more picturesque locations I’ve been this year. I was, by far, the youngest audience member, but the orchestra was young. They were exuberant and playful. They live in Dresden to make art, to learn to make music dance and capture the imagination of those who hear. This, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of rebuilding. Those musicians do not remember the war, perhaps they do not know the full history of the city in which they perform. Perhaps, like me, they’ve read something about their city’s fiery past and wrestle with the questions that past raises. When these musicians play, they look even further back, to classics, which were often written in times of conflict by those who knew art’s power to lift the human gaze above the fray. Those musicians look towards the future, hoping, as I do, for a continued peace for city no longer in ruins.