Forte Family of Raleigh: A Visit to Dresden, Germany

During the beginning of November I visited Dresden, Germany, located about 4 hours south of Berlin along the Czech border. Based on its location on the map I figured that Hiram and I actually traveled thru Dresden in route from Prague to Berlin back in 1998. I’m sorry to say that I hadn’t even considered visiting Dresden. But after this recent visit I feel obliged to tell everyone about it not only for the beauty and culture of the city, but also to understand the city’s past.

Dresden, considered to have been the “Florence on the Elbe (river that is)” to many Europeans, was about 85% destroyed by two full days of fire bombing by the US and British Air Forces during the World War II on February 13 and 15, 1945, just a few months before the end of the way.

Here you’ll see a post-bombing map of the damage. If you enlarge it you’ll see that the black portion of the city was totally destroyed and the checkered portion was partially damaged.

The fire-bombing consisted of by-then standard methods; dropping large amounts of high-explosive to blow off the roofs to expose the timbers within buildings, followed by incendiary devices (fire-sticks) to ignite them and then more high-explosives to hamper the efforts of the fire services. This eventually created a self-sustaining firestorm with temperatures peaking at over 2700 °F. After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area became extremely hot and rose rapidly. Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire. Just a horrible thing to think about.

Out of 28,410 houses in the city center, 24,866 were destroyed. An area of 30 square miles was totally destroyed, among that: 14,000 homes, 72 schools, 22 hospitals, 19 churches, 5 theatres, 50 bank and insurance companies, 31 department stores, 31 large hotels, 62 administration buildings. In total there were 222,000 apartments in the city of which 75,000 of them were totally destroyed. It is estimated that 35,000 people died as a result of the bombing.

Believe me, I know this is all part of war and it’s all just a tragedy, but Dresden seemed to be somewhat of an exception. Many viewed the bombing as a war crime, or excessive at minimum. The case rests first on the cultural significance of the city. Dresden was known as “Florence on the Elbe”, regarded as a beautiful city and a cultural centre, with noted architecture in the Zwinger Palace, the Dresden State Opera House, and the Dresden Frauenkirche, its historic cathedral.

Before the war, the city's main industries had been china production, cups and saucers, and cigarettes. To top it off, at the time of the attacks there were up to 300,000 refugees in the city escaping from the fighting further east. The absence of direct military presence in the center of the city, and the devastation created by firebombing, both helped shape the perception of the bombing of Dresden as a shameless attack simply meant to kill German civilians.

Again, it’s a shame. I have not studied enough on this topic to have an educated opinion about whether or not the bombing was in fact a qualified war crime. So, all I can do is share these pictures with you—the post war photos and the photos I took while visiting—and urge you to visit Dresden if you’re in Germany. Following the fall of Communism in 1989 the city has been mostly rebuilt and the rebuilding process has been accelerated in recent years as its people prepare to celebrate the city’s 800 anniversary next year. For more info on visiting Dresden, please visit http://www.dresden.de/. ENJOY!