This Day in History

All day today there were remarks relating to Dresden, Germany.

I thought I’d explore it this evening before retiring.

In 1941 Charles Portal of the British Air Staff advocated that entire cities and towns should be bombed.

Portal claimed that this would quickly bring about the collapse of civilian morale in Germany.

Air Marshall Arthur Harris agreed and when he became head of RAF Bomber Command in February 1942, he introduced a policy of area bombing (known in Germany as terror bombing) where entire cities and towns were targeted.

One tactic used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force was the creation of firestorms.

This was achieved by dropping incendiary bombs, filled with highly combustible chemicals such as magnesium, phosphorus or petroleum jelly (napalm), in clusters over a specific target.

After the area caught fire, the air above the bombed area, become extremely hot and rose rapidly.

Cold air then rushed in at ground level from the outside and people were sucked into the fire.

In 1945, Arthur Harris decided to create a firestorm in the medieval city of Dresden.

He considered it a good target as it had not been attacked during the war and was virtually undefended by anti-aircraft guns.

The population of the city was now far greater than the normal 650,000 due to the large numbers of refugees fleeing from the advancing Red Army.

On the 13th February 1945, 773 Avro Lancasters bombed Dresden.

During the next two days the USAF sent over 527 heavy bombers to follow up the RAF attack.

Dresden was nearly totally destroyed.

As a result of the firestorm it was afterwards impossible to count the number of victims.

Recent research suggest that 35,000 were killed but some German sources have argued that it was over 100,000.

Rediscovering Dresden

By Rick Steves

Dresden, the capital of Saxony, surprises visitors with fine Baroque architecture and impressive museums.

Halfway between Prague and Berlin, Dresden makes for a fun, intriguing stop rich with history.

At the peak of its power in the 18th century, Dresden's ambitious, macho Augustus the Strong, prince elector of Saxony and king of Poland, imported artists from all over Europe, peppering his city with stunning Baroque buildings.

Sadly, Dresden is best known today for its destruction in World War II.

American and British pilots firebombed the city, killing more than 50,000 people and destroying 85 percent of the historical center.

American Kurt Vonnegut, who was a POW in Dresden during the firebombing, later memorialized the event in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five.

When Germany was divvied up at the end of World War II, Dresden wound up in the Soviet sector.

Forty years of communist rule left the city in an economic hole—even today, Saxony's unemployment rate hovers around 19 percent. Some older Dresdeners feel nostalgia for the Red old days, when "everyone had a job."

But in the two decades since the Berlin Wall fell, Dresden has made real progress in getting back on its feet—and most locals are enjoying capitalism with gusto.

Today's Dresden is a young and vibrant city, crawling with happy-go-lucky students who barely remember communism.

In an afternoon or a couple days, you can sample old and new in this city tucked among rolling hills. Virtually all of its sights are within easy strolling distance along the south bank of the Elbe in the Old Town.

The Zwinger, a fortress in the Middle Ages and a parade ground in Augustus' time, is now a fine courtyard lined with many of the city's best museums.

The Old Masters Gallery features works by Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, and more, including Raphael's masterful Sistine Madonna (featuring a pair of very famous baby angels).

The Royal Armory is especially fun for its children's armor and jousting exhibit.

The Mathematics-Physics Salon is an intriguing collection of globes, lenses, and clocks from the 16th to 19th centuries.

And the Porcelain Collection is a testament to Augustus' obsession with fancy china.

Across the street and through a passageway is the Palace of Culture, a theater built by the communist government in 1969, is still used for concerts today.

Notice the mural depicting communist themes: workers; strong women; care for the elderly; teachers and students; and, of course, the red star and the seal of the former East Germany.

Nearby is the sprawling Royal Palace.

This Renaissance palace was once the residence of the Saxon prince elector.

Formerly one of the finest Renaissance buildings in Germany, it's been rebuilt since its destruction in World War II.

The grand state rooms of Augustus the Strong are closed for the foreseeable future.

For now, the prince's treasures are the big draw here:

The New Green Vault is remarkable enough, but the Historic Green Vault (reservation required) is arguably the most impressive treasury in Europe.

Dresden is also home to two impressive churches.

Augustus ordered up the Lutheran Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in an attempt to match the mighty Catholic domes of Venice and London.

Completed in 1743, this was Germany's biggest Protestant church (310 feet high).

It was destroyed in the 1945 bombings and kept in rubble as a peace monument until 1992, when reconstruction began.

The restorers used as many of the church's original stones as possible, fitting the church together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Augustus' son built the Catholic Hofkirche to please the pope so he could carry on as King of Poland.

It remains the largest church in Saxony—even though just five percent of Saxons are Catholic. Step inside.

The fine Baroque pulpit—hidden by locals in the countryside during World War II—is carved out of linden wood.

The glorious 3,000-pipe organ filling the back of the nave is generally played for the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Memorial Chapel (facing the rear of the church, on the left) is dedicated to those who died in the WWII firebombing and to all victims of violence.

Its evocative pietà altarpiece was made in 1973 of Meissen porcelain. Mary offers the faithful the crown
of thorns, as if to remind us that Jesus—on her lap, head hanging lifeless on the left—died to save humankind.

The altar (freestanding, in front) shows five flaming heads.

It seems to symbolize how Dresdeners suffered...in the presence of their suffering savior.

The dates on the altar (30-1-33 and 13-2-45 ) mark the dark period between the Hitler's rise to power and the night Dresden was destroyed.

Along the Elbe River, the terrace called the Balcony of Europe was once Dresden's defensive rampart. Look ahead along the side of the terrace facing the river to see openings for cannons and other weapons.

The 18th-century apartment buildings here were restored—giving the area a Baroque look instead of the blocky Soviet style predominant on the Old Town side.

And just off the balcony (back toward the Frauenkirche) is Münzgasse, a street that recreates the lively café scene of prewar Dresden.

At the east end of the long terrace is the Albertinum, which houses several of Dresden's best collections: the Sculpture Collection and the New Masters Gallery, which features works by 19th- and 20th-century greats such as Renoir, Rodin, van Gogh, Degas, and Klimt*.

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I visited the estimable Neue Galerie, in New York City, on the occasion of a show celebrating Klimt’s hundred and fiftieth birthday. I especially wanted to see, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (1907). The gold- and silver-encrusted picture, bought by the museum’s co-founder Ronald Lauder for a headline-grabbing hundred and thirty-five million dollars, in 2006. I have a reproduction of Klimpt's masterpiece, cost me about 400 bux.