Dresden, Germany

Dresden on the Elbe River

Prior to World War II, Dresden, Germany, the capital of Saxony, was known as the “Florence of the Elbe” because of the multitude of striking Baroque buildings along the beautiful Elbe River.

Dresden became a city in 1206 and celebrated its 800^th birthday in 2006.  It gained this fame during the 18^th century under Augustus the Strong and his son Augustus III.  Their vision produced many of Dresden’s iconic buildings including the Zwinger Palace, the Semper Oper (Opera House), the Lutheran Frauenkirche, and the Catholic Hofkirche.

But on the night of 13 February 1945 as WWII was coming to an end, Allied bombers from Britain and the United States reduced the city to a pile of rubble killing over 25,000 people—although the exact number is unknown. Over 75 percent of the city’s historic center was destroyed.

Although Allied forces claimed the attack on the city was justified because of transportation and local factories serving German needs, the attack has drawn controversy over the years for destroying such a cultural center.

Today most of the city has been restored, although parts are still under reconstruction.  The most well-known of Dresden’s buildings, the Frauenkirche, which was completely destroyed, was restored in 2005 with its donated gold cross from the UK acting as a call to peace to all nations.

One Dresden icon, the 335-foot long outdoor mural entitled the Procession of Princes, depicts a parade of 35 rulers of the House of Wettin since 1127. Today the mural is made entirely of weatherproof ceramic tiles which replaced three earlier paintings which could not withstand the elements. Miraculously, the tiles survived the aerial bombing in 1945.

The Old Town area is one of the most popular tourist spots, but visitors will notice that many of the pre-war buildings still look black and burned—one of the few German cities, other than Berlin, that still shows evidence of WWII.

This site from the Library of Congress, shows numerous vintage photos of pre-war Dresden in all its glory, as well as photos of the devastated city. In particular, see Frauenkirche and New Market Square, 1930 and View of Dresden’s Newmarkt and the Frauenkirche, August 1949. And do look at the photo of the inside of the church. It is absolutely gorgeous!

This video, Beautiful Dresden – Bombed and Rebuilt, does an excellent job of telling Dresden’s story and providing a unique look at the city before and after restoration.

Literary note: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was in Dresden as a POW that fateful day in 1945. He later became a celebrated author writing his novel Slaughterhouse Five in 1969 about his experiences. It was made into a movie in 1972.

A TV movie entitled Dresden (2006) set against the historic bombing features a romance between a British pilot hiding in Germany and a German nurse.