Dresden is about to celebrate the 65th anniversary of its worst nightmare: the 1945 February 13-15th bombings by the Allied Forces. Over the course of 2 days the city (home to countless historic landmarks) was obliterated. First Dresden exploded and then it burned; the fire taking nearly everything.

If you’re interested in an American’s first-hand account of those days, look no further than the amazing Kurt Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse-Five - part fiction, part factual account of his stint as a POW in Dresden during the bombings - probably does more justice to the carnage than anything else I’ve read. When asked about it once, Vonnegut had this to say: “You guys burnt the place down, turned it into a single column of flame. More people died there in the firestorm, in that one big flame, than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.”

Powerful stuff.

We’re talking almost four thousand tons of incendiary devices (in-cen-di-ar-y : Military: a shell, bomb, or grenade containing napalm, thermite, or some other substance that burns with an intense heat.) raining down on Dresden. Roughly thirty-thousand people lost their lives in a raid that swings ominously close to the definition of a war crime.

And do Dresdeners hate the Allied forces.. the Brits & Americans… for what happened back in 1945? Some do I’d imagine. Hell, I get pissed thinking about it and I’m not even German. But Germany is my home now. More specifically, Dresden is my home. I’m immensely proud of that fact… love the city, love its scars and its resiliency and its place in history. I especially love the juxtaposition of rebuilt landmarks and intentionally left bombed out buildings. To me it says: ’see? we rebuilt this… we were down but never out. we’ll also never forget; each time we drive by the remains of this church or that monument, we’ll not only remember, but honor those who died’.

This Saturday marks the 65th anniversary of the bombing and should be a time of peaceful reflection. Unfortunately the past few years it’s also been used as a rally cry for Germany’s neo-nazi fringe faction. Every year supporters of the NPD roll into town and makes as big a spectacle as they possibly can. People are hurt, ambulances are overturned, but what’s worse: the real meaning of the day is overshadowed by all the grandstanding. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Which is why the City of Dresden has organized a Human Chain Campaign:

Why a human chain?

For decades, the bombing of the city has been marked on 13 February in various ways. Over the past years, right-wing extremists from across Europe have chosen Dresden as the destination of a march on that date. It is one of the largest marches organised by the extreme right wing. For this reason, on that day it is no longer enough for us to silently remember the victims of the bombings.

The human chain is to serve as a symbol for our commemoration of Dresden’s destruction, and as a reminder of the dangers of right-wing extremism. It is to protect the Altstadt in Dresden symbolically.

Who is involved?

The Mayor invited a group of institutions and individuals to arrange the events of 13 February together; they came up with the idea of forming a human chain. The human chain is a civil society project which this group is responsible for organising. Those involved include the churches, the Jewish community, sports organisations, unions and democratic parties on the city council.

Where will the chain be?

At this stage of planning, the route is as follows: Altmarkt – Seestraße – Dr.-Külz-Ring – St. Petersburger Straße – Synagogue. The formation of the human chain will follow a speech by the Mayor in front of the city hall at 1 p.m. What happens after that is still being planned and will be announced before the event.

Roughly 6,500 neo-nazis are expected in Dresden for the march this Saturday.

Will I be there to protest them? Yes. And so should you if you’re in the area, nearby, or so inclined. Is it safe? Probably not the safest, I certainly will keep my mouth shut (tough though it will be…) and do my best not to advertise the fact that I’m American. But demonstrations are never really about safety, are they? They’re about standing up for something… think Tiananmen Square, Vietnam, Myanmar.

Honoring the dead and standing up for democracy in one fell swoop is a hell of a way to spend a Saturday if you ask me…

Posted in deep thoughts, dresden, re-expat, the write stuff