- Chronicle: Germany's Taboo of Pain
There is something curious in Dresden, 1945. Fire and darkness , Sinclair Mckay's book on the bombing of the German city (edited by Taurus): although it narrates one of the most tragic days of the twentieth century, its reading is full of moments of understanding and compassion for their protagonists, whether German or English, aggressors or assaulted.
An example: "Kurt Vonnegut [the slaughterhouse novelist number five ] was in Dresden in the bombing, he was a prisoner of war forcibly employed in a factory that made the syrup that was prescribed to pregnant women," McKay explains. «As the rations they gave him were scarce, the temptation to try the syrup was enormous, but he was forbidden under threat of execution. One day he could not stand and put his finger in the sugar. He raised his head and saw a German worker looking at him. Vonnegut thought: 'I'm finished . ' But the woman smiled at him and left. There are many such memories in the testimonies of that time: They are not stories of heroism but kindness ».
Other stories are moving: “Dresden had no protection. The anti-aircraft batteries were in the front, 80 kilometers away. There were 10 fighters at the airport that could not cope with the 750 planes that flew from England. The last recruit was from quinceañeros, ”explains the author. “A few weeks later, when the Soviets arrived, they found German soldiers in the attic of a house. They had found some little wooden trains and played with them. What would they do if they were children? ».
A little context: in January 1945, now 75 years ago, Germany had lost the war but the allies were not able to win it . The Red Army was moving at a good pace, but the western front was stuck. The Reich spread the word that he had weapons ready that would change the sign of the war ... And Dresden, the most important city in eastern Germany, was collapsed with thousands of refugees fleeing the Soviets and German soldiers who were going to meet him.
What kind of city was Dresden? A beauty of baroque architecture, famous for its music, for its university and for its refinement. McKay's description reminds Prague more than Munich or Berlin . «The center was a kind of art history manual in Europe, there were all styles. In the center the baroque predominated, but, if we went out to the residential neighborhoods, the architecture resembled that of Paris: that kind of buildings with a patio ... ».
Dresden was a bit like Prague, a little like Paris and a little like Heidelberg , all at once, and that was known by the English who destroyed it. “All middle-class houses in the United Kingdom prized themselves on having Dresden porcelain. The city was also a popular tourist destination. It was sold as a magical place, like a story, suspended in time, ”explains McKay.
And he continues: «It is difficult to know if the atmosphere of the city was very politicized or if the irony had been imposed on the regime. The testimonies are biased, only the voices of critics came to us. But we know, for example, that many people helped [the psychiatrist and writer] Viktor Klemperer when they saw the yellow star . Even the butcher gave him food in secret.
“For some time, there was a theory that Dresden was bombarded for what it meant, to attack German culture. I do not think so. There was a military logic in choosing Dresden, ”explains the author. The city's industries provided war material to the Wehrmacht. Dresden was also the place where the trains leading eastward joined. The military objective was legitimate. But the method and intensity?
Some data: between February 13 and 15, 1945, Dresden received three rounds of bombardments of enormous intensity. The first came after dinner and destroyed the city. The second arrived in the middle of the morning and destroyed the ashes of the razed city . The third (work of the Americans) arrived the next morning and was like a diabolical joke. 25,000 people died. Zoo animals escaped and fled along the banks of the Elbe River.
Dresden, 1945 also speaks of the pilots and gunners who were on the other side of that fire: English boys crammed with amphetamines who felt gods in the sky and, at the same time, were scared to death . The day they bombed Dresden, they flew nine hours in frightening conditions and took to their memory hellish images that tormented them for the rest of their lives.
The commander who directed them, Arthur Harris, is the most contradictory character in this story. «It was hard. He was convinced that the way to win a war was to bomb the cities. If children died, it didn't matter . Throughout the war he fought with his superiors to impose that criterion, to extend the total war.
MacKay's book tells the story of a party among educated people in London discussing the bombing. "A woman said that the allies did well to kill the children of Dresden, because, otherwise, those children would be the Nazis who would attack England again in 20 years, " the author explains.
"The surprising thing is that Arthur Harris had another facet that was seen in his texts. He was an ingenious and intelligent man. He was accessible to his troops. He wrote very well. His descriptions of the air missions are almost poetic ».
Harris was not a madman thirsty for blood and hate, but he brought total war to its most infamous limit. "The bombing of Dresden does not respond to any rational logic, which is the desperate act of some soldiers who did not know how to end the war."
The last pages of Dresden, 1945 speak of the literal reconstruction of the city in the years of the GDR. « I don't like pastiche either . I also doubted when I went up the Frauenkirche, I remembered that everything was a reconstruction ... But the music that sounds is true, the life of the church is true and its beauty too.
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