These days are so packed, so dense; something that happened 48 hours ago, or even 24 hours ago seems like a lifetime away. I begin to panic that I am falling behind until I remember, probably the only one that really cares about that is me.
We have finished the Malaweg, and Dresden does seem like a dream, but a fairly vivid dream. Before going to Dresden the only things that came to mind were Dresden China, and the firebombing of Dresden. Dresden was considered a pearl, if not the pearl, of German culture in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It was the first place in Europe that perfected the art of fine China making, a very fine collection of which we saw in the Zwinger Museum. It was also the city that the allies chose, towards the end of WW2, to make an example of, to finally sap the spirit of the German people, and to destroy what was commonly thought the most beautiful and elegant city in Europe. Debate on whether this was a necessary evil, or a war crime, still rages to this day. One thing is clear, it was an absolute massacre of some 40,000 souls in a most horrifying and dreadful way. Whether it was a necessary massacre I’d probably rather leave to others, but it is known that towards the end of his life Churchill came to regret this. It was actually “Bomber Harris”, the supreme head of Bomber Command, who had engineered and championed the Dresden air raids.
Interestingly it was a catastrophic fire in Wisconsin, in the 1860s that destroyed an entire town killing many of its inhabitants, which informed the thinking behind firebombing techniques. The idea was to create a micro climate storm that feeds off its own ferocity, sucking all the oxygen out of the air and creating tornados of fire. Many, if not most, of the people who died in Dresden, died from suffocation before they burned. The American author Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden during the bombing, he survived by sheltering in an underground meat locker. An experience that led to his break-out novel, “Slaughterhouse Five.”
Much of Dresden has been rebuilt, an astonishing fete in itself. It is again an elegant and thoroughly beautiful European city. We visited the Military Museum (recommended on several sites as a ‘must’), it was incredibly bland and sanitised, focusing almost exclusively on the technology of war. Hitler hardly got a mention and the holocaust was not mentioned, and most surprising of all the destruction of Dresden itself was hardly mentioned, perhaps these things are more western obsessions. The sections covering war up until 1914 were fairly fulsome, until then Germany had been a dominant power, after that exhibits and explanations were thin on the ground. I’m sure that many hours of debate and discussion led up to the current exhibits and approach, there may well be very good reasons for the approach taken, but as there was no English language signage at all it was hard to interpret and understand.
Dresden is a thoroughly German city, unlike Berlin, very little English is spoken. It actually seems to be a very pleasant place, the main difficulty as a traveller is the German reserve. This can be mistaken for aloofness or arrogance, and I’m sure (just like anywhere) it sometimes is, but there is something else at work. It occurs to me that 10-15 years under an oppressive Nazi regime, and then another 45 years behind the iron curtain, under an extremely oppressive regime, may have that effect on a population. You draw inwards, keep your head down, mind your own business, and go into survival mode. Even though the wall came down 30 years ago there are still many in the population who were traumatised by these experiences, people whose ability to trust was damaged and shrivelled, and even their children have grown up surrounded by these attitudes and behaviours – change comes slowly, especially in conservative areas like Saxony.
We did get away from the historic centre, which is where we were staying, and got out into areas where regular people lived, and the tendrils of change were evident, which was great to see. In Berlin the overriding theme was reunification and change, in Dresden it seems to me that it is perhaps focused more on the rather painful transition from a centrally planned economy with a high degree of social control, to a more open free market, service-oriented economy. The service-oriented bit has clearly been difficult for some, with some people and businesses finding the whole “have a nice day” thing and bit of a stretch. I do have some sympathy, unless I’m on the receiving end of a particularly dour “like it or lump it” bit of service, in which case I probably feel aggrieved – such is life!
Three days is a ludicrous amount of time to try and make any assessment of anything, let alone an entire city. But my brief impressionistic view is that, for a city that was flattened in the most horrific way, the people of Dresden have shown amazing resilience and fortitude in their efforts to rebuild their gorgeous city and their rich cultural life.
As ever Mike, a really interesting roundup of a place for those of us who will never get there. Have really enjoyed accompanying you and Marion on your journey and am appreciative of both text and images… thank you.