On February 13-14 in 1945, an overnight bombing raid almost completely destroyed the city of Dresden. An estimated 25,000 people died that night and the city was flattened from the Hauptbahnhof to the Elbe. Dresden lay in ruins as people tried to recover until the end of the Second World War. After the war, Dresden was one of the major cities in the new country of East Germany. The Soviet-style buildings that rebuilt Dresden still dominate the Dresden landscape today. Almost all of Dresden had to be rebuilt. The apartment building I am living in right now is one of those new apartments that was built right after World War II. During the time of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR, (German Democratic Republic), the Frauenkirche (The Church of our Lady) was left in ruins for 30 years. This church was an icon of the city and was finally rebuilt in 2005. You can see the signs of the War still lingering on the historic buildings. The historic buildings are built out of sandstone. You can easily spot the original sandstone, darkened by the firebombs and age, from the new, lighter sandstone blocks. Another remnant of the DDR are the beloved Ampelmännchen (crossing men), which can only be found in the former East German states.
Dresden lies in the river basin of the Elbe, which provides water for crops and easy transportation. As Dresden grew into a larger city, the surrounding hills added natural protection that made Dresden easy to defend from invasion. It also has an ideal location between major cities such as Berlin, Leipzig and Prague, making it an ideal route for trade.
