History and historical symbol
"On the evening of February 13 the catastrophe overtook Dresden: the bombs fell, the houses collapsed, the phosphorus flowed, the burning beams crashed onto the heads of Aryans and non-Aryans alike …"
This is how Victor Klemperer described the inferno of 1945 in his diary.
Between 13 and 15 February 1945, Dresden city centre was almost entirely destroyed in four consecutive air raids. Thus, in its sixth year, the Second World War, which Germany had started and which had already caused the deaths of millions, finally reached Dresden.
13 February 1945.
Firestorm over Dresden
(Photo: Hans-Joachim Dietze / archives of "13. Februar 1945 e. V." group)
On the Altmarkt in Dresden, hundreds of bodies were laid out and then burnt (16/2/1945) – view towards Neumarkt.
(Source: Dresden city archives, bequeathed by Hahn/Draber)
Historical symbol
The catastrophe in Dresden became an internationally recognised historical symbol – first for Allied aerial warfare, but soon for the suffering of civilians and for the loss of cultural assets during war in general. Since 1945 this symbol has constantly been reinforced – by state propaganda and historical policy, in the private memories of the generation that went through it, by its reflection in the arts, and in civic work aimed at reconciliation and peace.
13 February 1983. Silent remembering at the Frauenkirche
(Photo: Matthias Neutzner)
A wonderful city; wiped out, spirited away...
In "When I was a Little Boy", Erich Kästner mourns for the Dresden of his childhood:
"Yes, Dresden was a wonderful city, believe you me. And you will just have to believe me! None of you, however rich your father may be, can take a train there to see whether I am right: the city of Dresden no longer exists. Apart from a few remains, it has disappeared from the surface of the Earth. In one single night, and in one single sweep, the Second World War wiped it out. It took centuries for the city to become so incomparably lovely, and just a few hours to spirit it away. It all happened on 13 February 1945. Eight hundred aeroplanes dropped incendiaries and explosives, leaving nothing but a wasteland. With a few huge chunks of ruined building looking like stranded ocean steamers.
Two years later I stood in the middle of that vast wasteland and did not know where I was. Among the broken, dusty bricks there lay a street sign. With difficulty, I made out the words "Prager Strasse". I was on Prager Strasse? On the world-famous Prager Strasse? On the most sumptuous street of my childhood? On the street with the loveliest window displays? On the most marvellous street at Christmas time? I was standing in a void, empty for kilometres in all directions. In a brick wasteland. In nothingness."
1945. Walpurgisstraße
(Photo: Heinz Kröbel / Stadtmuseum Dresden)