13 February is a busy day in Dresden each year. Local historical groups hold lectures remembering the bombing that occurred on that date in 1945. Conservative and radical right groups hold memorial services. The mayor gives a speech to city officials in an exclusive service. Neo-Nazis gather to remember Germany’s victimhood. At 6.05 pm, people who want to take part in a symbolic protection of the city from neo-Nazis link hands to form a “human circle.” At 9.30 pm, the church bells ring to commemorate the moment the bombs began to fall.
The bombing of Dresden is a complicated event for Germans. The main issue is this: if Germans mourn for their WWII victims, will this lead to minimizing or ignoring the Holocaust or the millions from other countries who died or were displaced in the war?
On one extreme, conservatives and radical right groups emphasize Germany’s victimhood. It was the very end of the war, they argue. Germany couldn’t fight any longer. Our people died for no reason, they say. Churchill is sometimes compared to a mass murderer for “ordering” the bombing (I don’t know enough of the history to know who exactly ordered the bombing). “Churchill is no hero here,” one person told me.
