Traveling
through what was East Germany is insightful. The towns of eastern Germany have
largely been depopulated over the last couple of decades. The train ride from
Berlin to Dresden takes one through some sparsely populated territory. The
train, however, does bypass a few small towns with abandoned buildings and
rundown train stations. There are several stories that describe the exodus of
young people from the region to find work and opportunities in the western
parts of the country.
The
one city doing well in southeast Germany is the cultural city of Dresden. The
city is, of course, famous for the bombing it experienced in the final months
of the Second World War. On the nights of 13 and 14 February 1945, British and
American airplanes dropped 600,000 incendiary bombs and created massive fires
in the city that was known as the “Florence of the Elbe.” The fires soon
engulfed Dresden in a firestorm, destroying the city and killing approximately
25,000. Before the bombing, the city had been virtually untouched and was a
destination for refugees fleeing conflict and devastation.
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| Frauenkirche at night |
My
introduction to the firebombing of Dresden came in high school when I devoured
the books of Kurt Vonnegut. In Slaughterhouse-Five,
Vonnegut builds a fictional story around his real-life experience as a prisoner
of war interred in Dresden. His description of the removal of bodies and
cleaning up the debris in the days following the attack are harrowing. It as a
significant and insightful introduction into the effects of war. As a teenager,
Dresden seemed unreal and exotic – I could not have imagined ever visiting. The
bombing occurred a long time ago, in a place far away. As a teenager, I could
not imagine a city being rebuilt. But Vonnegut’s staccato words, describing his
outrage of what happened, haunted me. Years later, the chance to exit a train
and find myself in a city that still bore the scars of the firestorm was important
to me.
In
the intervening years much of the city has been rebuilt. It is difficult to
tell that the Frauenkirche, which was originally completed in 1743, is actually
an excellent reconstruction of the church completed in 2005. Only the darker
stones in the building indicate which where original; lighted colored stones
are ones used in the reconstruction. I read an account about the church that
said as the firestorm grew in intensity, the temperature inside the church grew
to 1800°F. The sandstone columns began glowing red and eventually exploded
sending the dome crashing through the floor of the church. A small section of
the original dome sits outside the church to demonstrate the amount of weight
that was supported by those columns.
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| The Zwinger |
Similarly,
the Zwinger, royal palace built in the early eighteenth century, is beautifully
restored. But it is more difficult to identify which parts survived and which
are reconstructions. Like the Frauenkirche, the Zwinger was been heavily
damaged, but was rebuilt much earlier and completed in the early 1960s. Not all
buildings are exact reproductions of the pre-war design. The synagogue of
Dresden is built on the same land as the synagogue that was destroyed during
Kristallnacht 1938. Yet, the new synagogue is modern building that does incorporate
the only surviving element from the original nineteenth century building, a
golden Star of David.
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| Bad Schandau from the train |
Every
year I travel the train route from Dresden to the Czech border I promise myself
that I will return and stop off at some of the little German villages that line
the Elbe River. The most tempting, and easily accessible, is Bad Schandau. The
sereneness of the river, combined with interesting rock formations and the
occasional castle that line the dramatic ridges, beckons me to visit. Perhaps I
have over-idealized such a trip after several viewings from a train seat.
Nevertheless, I look forward to that journey.
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