"7,000 bodies were incinerated in the Altmarkt - one pyre a day, 500 corpses to a pyre. Experts from Treblinka were brought in to carry out the tasks."
I like these individual stories. They remind me that Germans weren't all alike and probably very few in Dresden deserved the fate they suffered.
Sometimes I can see the attraction of Christianity: the idea that at least someone up there is aware of precisely who was to blame and who wasn't, even if the bombs couldn't distinguish them.
I'm not qualified to say whether this was justified or not. What seems strange is that a lot of people who say it was a bad idea are (often without knowing it) influenced by figures from David Irving - who was NOT a reliable source.
that is the subject for the final bit. remember being surprised to read Slaughter house Five and mentioning Irving. By that stage he was a somewhat discredited figure!
"7,000 bodies were incinerated in the Altmarkt - one pyre a day, 500 corpses to a pyre. Experts from Treblinka were brought in to carry out the tasks."
Is a line that brought me up short.
yeah me too.
I like these individual stories. They remind me that Germans weren't all alike and probably very few in Dresden deserved the fate they suffered.
Sometimes I can see the attraction of Christianity: the idea that at least someone up there is aware of precisely who was to blame and who wasn't, even if the bombs couldn't distinguish them.
Excellent read, Mr. West.
thank you!
I'm not qualified to say whether this was justified or not. What seems strange is that a lot of people who say it was a bad idea are (often without knowing it) influenced by figures from David Irving - who was NOT a reliable source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destruction_of_Dresden
Including I just learnt Kurt Vonnegut!
that is the subject for the final bit. remember being surprised to read Slaughter house Five and mentioning Irving. By that stage he was a somewhat discredited figure!
Was he discredited in 1969? Read this archive from 1983
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/02/Historian-believes-Hitler-diaries-mostly-genuine/1075420696000/
"Irving, whose interpretation of Nazi history is often challenged by fellow historians but whose research is respected,"
No, I meant when I read it. Late 1990s. That's why it seemed odd.