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Human chain in Dresden on the 78th anniversary of the destruction
Photo: JENS SCHLUETER / AFP
On February 13, 1945 and in the days that followed, British and US fighter jets bombed downtown Dresden in the fight against the Nazis.
According to a commission of experts, up to 25,000 people were killed at the time.
Right-wing extremists repeatedly misuse the commemoration of the attack for their own purposes - and with marches want to put Germany's guilt in the Second World War into perspective.
As a sign against extremism, the citizens of Dresden have once again formed their traditional human chain on the 78th anniversary of the destruction of Dresden.
»How nationalism and megalomania end: in ruins«
"Reconciliation forms the foundation of a peace that will last for generations," said Mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP) in front of the Frauenkirche.
"What we can do here on February 13 is to state clearly how nationalism, imperialism and megalomania will end: in ruins."
The fact that Russia has been attacking Ukraine since February 24, 2022 "in violation of international law and brutally affects us and deeply affects us," said Hilbert.
Dresden is an example of how peace and friendship can be re-established, “with respect for the dignity of every human being and by advocating a democratic and pluralistic society”.
In the city, "born and newcomers, young and old, British and Germans, Ukrainians and Russians" stand together in memory of the dead of February 13, 1945 in Dresden - but also of the victims of German bombs in 1940 in Dresden's English partnership, Coventry the millions of dead of the National Socialist tyranny and global crises.
Hilbert recalled that Dresden had found partners again "because those attacked from German soil were open to reconciliation."
Enemies must become friends if one wants to live in peace.
They want to pass on this experience and establish a new partnership with the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, “as a sign of our solidarity and full support”.
»Amalgam of nationalist historical revisionism and conspiracy legends«
There was outrage at the anniversary over statements by the Thuringian AfD boss Björn Höcke.
He had posted a picture of a skeleton on Telegram, with the ruins of a city in the light of a large fire visible in the background.
It reads "Dresden 1945" and "Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it."
The right-wing extremist also described the destruction of the city as "planned destruction".
The director of the Buchenwald memorial, Jens-Christian Wagner, then accused Höcke of historical revisionism.
Höcke deliberately used a term alluding to the Shoah when he used the phrase “planned destruction”.
What is also significant is “the amalgam of nationalist historical revisionism, conspiracy legends, anti-Western or anti-liberal resentment and – without being addressed directly – Putin propaganda,” Wagner wrote on Twitter.
mrc/dpa