Dresden recalls destruction of 1945 and issues plea for peace

Dresden, Germany (dpa) – Senior officials and representatives of the German War Graves Commission have commemorated the victims of the World War II bombing raids by the Allies on the city of Dresden who are buried in the city – mainly firefighters, soldiers and policemen.

In addition to Dresden Lord Mayor Dirk Hilbert, representatives of the state of Saxony, of which the city is the capital, remembered the dead in a traditional ceremony on Sunday at Heide cemetery.

“With regard to the destruction of Dresden, we must not only look at 1945, but must broaden our perspective to the time between 1933 and 1945,” Hilbert said in a short speech.

“In remembering, we must face up to the complexity of a simultaneously divisive and unifying history, an infinitely complex one, precisely because of the current political situation in our city, in our country and in Europe.”

The state officials included Vice President of the State Parliament Andrea Dombois, Minister of Culture Barbara Klepsch and Minister of Education Christian Piwarz.

According to the police, the ceremony at the cemetery, where most of the dead of the air raids rest, went off without a hitch.

On the outskirts of Dresden’s Old Town, hundreds of neo-Nazis gathered in the morning for a “commemoration in honour of the Dresden air war dead of February 13, 1945.”

Police estimated the number of participants in the procession at up to 500, which grew to around 750, who walked into the city centre to the sound of Wagner music and loud counter-protests nearby from hundreds of people.

At the Baroque landmark Zwinger palace, hundreds of counter-demonstrators loudly opposed the “silent march,” which was already accompanied by shouts of “Nazis out” at the roadside.

A helicopter circled over the old town, while a water cannon and an evacuation tank stood near the route.

Meanwhile Saxon Premier Michael Kretschmer issued a plea for peace, saying he was “extremely concerned” about the large numbers of Russian soldiers deployed near Ukraine’s border.

“We want everything to be done to prevent a warlike confrontation,” Kretschmer told dpa on Sunday.

“We know here in Dresden how terrible the consequences of such a war are,” he said. War only ever claims victims, Kretschmer added.

He joined a human chain following the memorial service, a symbol of the desire for peace and reconciliation.

Numerous events were staged in Dresden to commemorate the destruction of the city 77 years ago.

After a break due to the coronavirus in 2021, the commemoration resumed this year with a physical presence.

Not only does Dresden want to remember, it is defending itself against a renewed appropriation of the anniversary by right-wing extremists, the city administration said ahead of Sunday’s events.

The programme ranged from silent commemoration at burial sites to the Dresden Peace Walk, a vigil for the Dresden victims of the Holocaust, rallies against right-wing extremism, a walk of remembrance, concerts, church services and a memorial walk.

The bells of all churches in the city centre were to ring as usual to mark the moment of the first attack.

Dresden’s police officers were supported by riot police from other federal states as well as by the federal police.

Barely three months before the end of World War II, Allied bombers reduced parts of Dresden to rubble on February 13, 1945, and in the days that followed.

The exact number of victims could never be determined. According to the findings of a commission of experts, up to 25,000 people lost their lives and an area of 12 square kilometres was destroyed.

For some years now, right-wing extremists have used the anniversary to accuse the Allies of committing a war crime and to argue that Germans also suffered during the war.