The Destruction of Dresden

Winston Churchill once commended the RAF pilots for their actions during the Battle of Britain stating "never have been so much owed to so few", yet surprisingly since the conclusion of the war, RAF high commands have come under fire for their actions in the war, especially the bombing of Dresden. Primarily due to the novelized memoir of Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, and the highly sensationalized work by "historian" and Holocaust denier David Irving, "The Destruction of Dresden, the pervading view of Dresden is one of myth and not fact. The bombing of Dresden stands as a highly tragic and sad extension of total war, a true testament to the brutality of modern warfare. However, it should not be looked upon as an indictment against ally morality because the bombing, like many other actions in a war, lies within that omnipresent grey area that looks horrific in retrospect but was justified in its original conception.

Dresden, the Florence on the Elbe, has often been hailed as innocent and undeserving of being bombed by critics of allied bombing and revisionist historians. Indeed, Dresden was a cultural icon and center of German heritage, home to the Zwinger and the Semper, but in the 40s Dresden had taken on a different atmosphere since the days of Goethe and Baroque humanism. The fact is that Dresden was one of the biggest proponents of Adolph Hitler and his policies, even before Hitler ascended to power. Anti-Semitism and anti-Slavic attitudes were always prevalent in Dresden despite its small Jewish population. Local Nazi papers were the highest circulating daily newspapers by early 1933. (Doc 1) By late 1933 the Nazis was the single largest party in the city. Persecution against Jews occurred in Dresden as it did in rest of Germany, first with Kristallnacht then with slave camps in the countryside of the city. 90 percent of Dresden Jews were expulsed from the city to death