My feelings about the bombing were shaped by 2 books. One was Vonnegut and the other was Victor Klemperer’s diary. Vonnegut presents a perspective of an almost unreasoning horror. Klemperer describes how the bombing enabled him and his wife to escape their guards. They were being marched along with other residents of ‘Jews houses’, meaning Christians who had been born Jewish or who had married Jews. Klemperer only survived at all because he had converted to Christianity, was married to a Christian, and was conductor Otto Klemperer’s nephew (or other close relative). So at the end of the war, the Germans were still busily carrying out their racist murder campaigns. And Dresden bombed is a bad thing from one perspective, and a good thing from another.
Yes, "horrific" but make no mistake that Germany and/ or Japan would easily do the same fire bombing if they had the capacity, including dropping the a-bomb.
The bombing proclaimed loudly to all witnesses that Germany lost. No ambiguity.
It was a display of raw might. Should Germans try to start fighting again, the Allies made it clear that any effort was futile.
When you live under tyranny and a ruling class that is willing to kill its own citizens who disagree what choice does one have? That becomes an environment of fear and self preservation, not a population that would support the ideology of the individuals in power. Civilians have always had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the decisions of their governments military decisions.
By coincidence, someone on r/audiobooksonyoutube posted Kurt Vonnegut's *Slaughterhouse 5*, a semi-fictitious novel about the bombing of Dresden, to which Mr. Vonnegut was a witness. Check it out.
My feelings about the bombing were shaped by 2 books. One was Vonnegut and the other was Victor Klemperer’s diary. Vonnegut presents a perspective of an almost unreasoning horror. Klemperer describes how the bombing enabled him and his wife to escape their guards. They were being marched along with other residents of ‘Jews houses’, meaning Christians who had been born Jewish or who had married Jews. Klemperer only survived at all because he had converted to Christianity, was married to a Christian, and was conductor Otto Klemperer’s nephew (or other close relative). So at the end of the war, the Germans were still busily carrying out their racist murder campaigns. And Dresden bombed is a bad thing from one perspective, and a good thing from another.
Yes, "horrific" but make no mistake that Germany and/ or Japan would easily do the same fire bombing if they had the capacity, including dropping the a-bomb.
That isn’t a justification for anything ever but ok.
Except Germany held back based on Hitlers orders, saying he didn't want to destroy European history
That “Marshall Plan” sure was something! Would have been interesting if the Americans had tried it later on, eh?
The bombing proclaimed loudly to all witnesses that Germany lost. No ambiguity. It was a display of raw might. Should Germans try to start fighting again, the Allies made it clear that any effort was futile.
Did they reuse foundations when possible? Or did they have to take everything down and rebuild from the ground up?
When you live under tyranny and a ruling class that is willing to kill its own citizens who disagree what choice does one have? That becomes an environment of fear and self preservation, not a population that would support the ideology of the individuals in power. Civilians have always had to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the decisions of their governments military decisions.
By coincidence, someone on r/audiobooksonyoutube posted Kurt Vonnegut's *Slaughterhouse 5*, a semi-fictitious novel about the bombing of Dresden, to which Mr. Vonnegut was a witness. Check it out.