Rebirth in Dresden

It was the most beautiful baroque structure north of the Alps, reduced to rubble on the night of February 13, 1945 in the hellish firebombing of Dresden.  For the next 45 years the mound of rubble was a terrible reminder of the war, but yesterday the magnificent Frauenkirche was reopened in a ceremony that attracted attention from around the world. Yesterday's Boston Globe had excellent coverage:

The reconstruction of Frauenkirche is more than an almost miraculous feat of engineering and architecture. It is also an extraordinary affirmation of the resilience of the human spirit.

''The will to reconstruct the church burned even more fiercely than the firestorm that destroyed it," said Gerhard Glaser, who recently retired as head of the Office for Preservation of Historical Monuments in the German state of Saxony. ''It has been the work of a lifetime for many people. First there was overcoming opposition from those who fought the idea of reconstruction as utterly futile. Then there was the incredible labor of actually rebuilding."

Some of the funding for the reconstruction came from American donors:

The cost: $160 million, including millions raised by the Friends of Dresden, an organization of Americans with ties -- of blood or simple sympathy -- to the city. Among them is Guenther Blobel, a native of the city and professor of cell biology at Rockefeller University who received the 1999 Nobel Prize for medicine and donated his entire $960,000 award to the project. ''It seemed the proper thing to do," he said.

German president Horst Koehler called the rebuilt cathedral a "symbol of reconciliation and a sign that there should never be war again."

The world press has celebrated the beauty and symbolism of the Frauenkirche.  They only sour note was sounded by the neo-fascist weekly Junge Freiheit, which published cynical comments about Germany's "diminished sovereignty" and the "victor's justice" of postwar Germany:

Es lag in der Souveränität der Siegermächte des Zweiten Weltkriegs, seine Geschichte festzuschreiben und zu dekretieren, daß nur Verbrechen verfolgt würden, die Deutsche begangen hatten, aber keine Verbrechen, die an ihnen begangen wurden. Damit war auch ihr Opferstatus aufgehoben. Würde er jetzt vollgültig im religiösen Sinne anerkannt, würde das auf der profanen Ebene Fragen nach der politischen und juristischen Verantwortlichkeit auslösen. Damit wären die Interessen des Souveräns und die politische Statik in Europa tangiert.

Die frevelhafte Geschichts- und Gedenkpolitik einerseits, die Endzeitstimmung, das kollektive Gefühl der Vergeblichkeit und Machtlosigkeit anderseits, sie sind also neurotischer Ausdruck fehlender Souveränität und eines permanenten Ausnahmezustands in Deutschland. Deshalb verdienen die Redner von Dresden schon vorab alle Nachsicht. Der Zwiespalt, dem sie ausgesetzt sind, ist nicht zu überbrücken. Einerseits müssen sie dem Schicksal der Kirche, der Stadt und des Landes ein Mindestmaß an Gerechtigkeit und Empathie zukommen lassen, andererseits dürfen sie die über das Land verhängten Regeln nicht verletzen.

Presumably a "reborn Germany", where "full sovereignty" is restored, could mete out the overdue "justice" against those powers (Siegermächte) who are guilty of the crimes against the German nation.

Comments

[ludwig]

Wow, what a beautiful structure. I was there just a year ago, when it seemed woefully incomplete.

[Peter]

What i think very regrettable, is that neither England nor the USA have the guts to admit the Truth.

There had been a few military Sites in Dresden, which had survided the attack untouched. This is not surprising, when you look at US and RAF docucments: The miliary sites lay far outside the target. The USA and England thought it more useful, to target innocent Children, Mothers, the Wounded and the Elderly. 35 000 Dead were identified, the real number will never be known. At the time of the Bombardment there had been about half a Million refugees in the city, trying to escape the advancing soviet red army. The aim was, to kill as many innocent people as possible.

Many of the guilty people, however, got rewarded by the Allies. Under Chancellor Adenauer, the former Nazis Heinz Globke reached high positions in the german government. Thus, in Postwar-Germany it was possible for somebody who helped creating the "Nürnberger Rassengesetze" to become State Secretary - with full consent of England and the UK.

As long as the whole truth will not be diskussed in the media, this will remain the domain of right-wing extremists, which i consider to be a very dangerous solution.

I am of german-jewish origin myself, thus familiar enough with the matter. To my point of view the non-jewish victims deserve the same attention and respect as the jewish victims. Not every german was a Nazi, and i would like to know how many of those big-mouthed English, American or French "heroes" would have helped my jewish grandmother. How many of you guys would hide a jewish person in their private home, knowing if they get caught they'll be dead the very same day? Not many, i guess. It was also people from an Allied country who betrayed Anne Frank and her Familiy. But as these traitors were not Germans, they were "good" traitors.

British-American hypocrytes make me so sick, i couldn't even eat as much i wanna puke. It is illegal, immoral and simply a disgusting war crime to target a civil population, and to drop bombs on hospitals, red-cross homes and orphan's homes - no matter under which pretexts. Britain has build a monument of honour for those who had done it. It's time for Britain and America to face up to their evil deeds, instead of trying to hide them.

Thank God i am not living in an inhonest nation that hides their evil past. I will support the reconstruction of Dresden with all my strength, as this was the most beautiful city of Arts in Europe - probably in the world - and we shall work to rebuild it again.

[Tessa Borner]

My husband survived the Dresden holocaust. He witnessed that February night when the allies unleashed their fury on innocent civilians. Our newly published book "English Girl, German Boy" - World War 2 From Both Sides" is an account of our personal experiences during WW2 from a British and German perspective. We detail the historic events leading to the Nazi regime and the war, the decisions to bomb, the sacrifices, the carnage. He describes the horrific bombing attacks on Dresden, what life was like in post war East Germany under Soviet domination and how he escaped.
We acknowledge that the Nazi regime (not the German people) shoulders much of the blame for targetting civilians but there is well-documented evidence that the allies were not entirely guilt-free. Coventry, England and Dresden have been twin cities for over 50 years showing us the way to reconciliation.
For more info go to our web site www.mimosa.co.cr or Amazon.com.

Tessa Borner