by germany allowing in acknowledging us as citizens this is only going to contribute to have a more fair just and a more diverse. germany in the future almost 3 years since applying again marcella is still waiting for a reply. up next is a documentary about the bombing of dresden jury in the 2nd world war remember you can keep up to date with all the latest news and information around the clock on our website. i'm told me a lot to go on the news continues at the top of the hour thanks for joining us.

from good. watering. good morning to. you good evening to no good job. for mine. dresden for centuries a world renowned center of art and culture destroyed in a single line it was on february the 13th 1945 just 3 months before the end of world war 2 and while every year groups continue to commemorate the event facts surrounding those dark days a still being debated just how many lives were lost that night was at several 1000 the hundreds of thousands to the anglo american allies consider the city a strategically significant target if not what was the purpose of carrying out such a devastating attack.

the city's old town dressed in council the spring a palace the found the church of our lady potential treasures that were reduced to rubble in a matter of hours. this american news reel described one of the 2 british raids on dress and. it ended up one girl march to canada in $55300.00 bombs on transportation in germany's 7th largest city. but the german side reported things differently saying the attack tops a cultural center that had no military value. cupcake his ability to speak with diabolical intent our enemies annihilated just flourishing sitting president has

dead its beautiful rock landmarks beloved by residents and visitors alike has been destroyed. at a common i might have i need to. and several of the british ara tax on germany during the war were carried out exactly as the planners had intended hamburg was one castle was one and also dresden height but such tactical perfection was the exception rather than the rule lynched the bombing of dresden was considered a masterpiece of military planning. perfect or. jewish and just walk. the shock. these are among the very few photographs taken on the night of the attack a silhouette of the tracks addressed and main railway station in the background blurred by the heat of flames. the pictures were taken by 15 year old hans joachim dixon who lived near the station at the time.

plots the train station was on veena plods. across the way on the corner there was an enormous building that housed rather ironically the offices of the local fire insurance company. that was my neighborhood and hog with its fancy shops and leisure establishments. which are in which the wind. and just a few doors down the city's gestapo headquarters which could be considered a legitimate target was also in this district it was from here that the deportation of dresden jews was organized large quantities of military supplies were also sent to the front from the railway station refugees who were fleeing the soviet offensive to the east pass through the station as well. as what happened.

this is through the plains direct hits on some of the buildings behind the train station. those who were trapped for several hours in the basement in one of those buildings surrounded by dead bodies. when feeling toward the more than 600 people were killed only the trying station alone suffocated. vanished the central issue was not the casualty it was the damage to the water mains the gas lines the electrical system and the streets that required an enormous amount of personnel and material to repair. for months and that weaken the military effort and does a lot of fun and military a financial. cost from a tactical standpoint it's much more effective to destroy a city's infrastructure than it is to wipe out of the barracks for example if those they could get up and running again in 36 hours but one entire city is torched

takes time for the survivors to find shelter. so why did the americans and the british launch such a huge air right on dresden what were the specific intended targets. this is the historic new moms district which includes the famous found commission. get how cinnamon was foreseen when the church and his home nearby were destroyed in the attack. as children some of them and some of his friends had carved their nationals into the sandstone edifice of the art academy across the square situation it's hard to see now that's me jeezy but some of the letters have faded but when this is that's one of the contest and off the top no was here. because one of them lived in a house that was hit by a bomb. and then another lived in the winds gust. and neither survived.

yes and you know i was compelled. to get hot cinnamon and his family lived in a building behind this hotel within view of the fountain share. a little hint of that in the 3rd back courtyard there was one corridor and then another the toilets were outside we had to walk a long way to get water. so there was always a bucket of water in the apartment room or it will and there was a space above the hallway where the coal for heating was stored just imagine how well that coal burned in the fire after the bombing according to. this is how the neumark district looked before the attack. behind splendid the rock facades working class families lived in modest quarters. there were no military or

industrial targets here but noirmont was flattened anyway. as 1st as for my looks like only 3 children in my class at school survived. the rest were killed. for us there's no such thing as a class reunion in a pile. of muscle. for decades much of the area lay in ruins but more recently a lot of new construction projects are filling in empty spaces but before these projects are realized archeologists explore the cellars and foundations of the original buildings. suzanna shona is leading an excavation near the foundry or shut in these ruins she often finds relics of life interest and before the bombing.

in a machine we found a sewing machine and a sign saying this facility was authorized to make uniforms for all nazi party organizations so this was likely a tailor's workshop like a game but i'm not swarmed that's what i wanted to hear some shoulder boards from a uniform that was probably made here. order. the artifacts include bottles and other glass objects that would have formed in the high heat generated by the fire as on the night of the attacks. last starts to change its shape at around $600.00 degrees centigrade. sandstone was often used in the construction of these buildings and it too shows traces of the intense heat. building common options in here you can see some of the beautiful original sandstone with that warm yellow color. on you but in high heels it starts turning orange and red doesn't mean it's orders or this

or this sandstone was likely exposed to temperatures up to 1000 degrees and it's very red and some of it has broken away just. thousands of people took ref. huge enticements only to die there the 1st big allied attack on lot seek in nearby industrial sites took place in december $943.00 only after that to do your thought is interest and start taking civil defense missions. of troops because there were no materials available to build a bomb shelters on that scale everything was reserved for the war effort civil defense wasn't a top priority as we can read in official documents from that time. some measures were taken but it was haphazard due to having to deal with the various responsible party and state bureaucracies. put it sorry for along.

with. a campaign of saturation bombing against german cities had been approved by the british government in 1942 the attacks were carried out by the royal air force bomber command headed by air marshal arthur harris. that a lot of people. bombing the level of. well. that never been tried yet. soonish. a cynic might say it wasn't about trying to destroy the weapons factories which were very hard to hit but about killing the people who worked in those factories and destroying a city's infrastructure. which in turn would reduce its importance to the military . and in that regard the plan proved successful schools were often course in. early february the leaders of britain the soviet union and the us met at yalta to

discuss their war strategy. prime minister churchill agreed to support the soviets fans into germany by stepping up rights in cities the idea was to disrupt germany's economy even further and to try to break the morale of the civilian population. churchill unheroic scrap together at the weekend and watch films of the bombing where it. and these attacks turned german cities into a smoldering funeral pyre. at that point bombs were being trapped on german cities almost daily dresden was considered a legitimate target but there were also specific technical reasons for the attack on the night of february the 13th. the weather forecasts call for cloudy skies at the much of eastern germany but some clearing was predicted around leipsic interest

and ideal conditions for a successful air strike. churchill not only wanted to make good on his promise to increase the number of bombing runs he also wanted to demonstrate to stalin the destructive power of the royal air force bomber command. for the letter was finished at it were. clear that the real victor in europe was going to be stalin he had enormous military resources at that time put in syria in the fog didn't get but britain and the united states wanted to prove their own might only they had the power and ability to reduce cities to dust. evos this amounted to a struggle for post-war political power and it is in my opinion the reason behind the attacks on dressed and later hiroshima. the people of dresden were completely unaware of these to teach political considerations when

the 1st and raid sirens went off at $915.00 that night most thought that the attack would target an industrial center nearby as it happens so often in recent months. she hums in its preston had so far been fairly untouched by the war mostly sure there were major bombing raids on leipsic but that didn't really raise fears among the people here neither there were rumors circulating that churchill had an amp living in reston so it would never be attacked the hero and evil of nearby spice year old girl wouldn't. for me have of it in early january or so the woman who owned our apartment house had a new staircase put in and that's something that maoists formation lassen the old sandstone steps were torn out and replaced with tourette's and

a few weeks later it was destroyed. it. credible. kristoff adam was 14 years old in february 945 in his family lived in the district of your hunch that need to europe last far from the city center and the main train station this way it was a popular meeting place for locals february the 13th was a choose day and the day before one ash wednesday the highlight of the carnival season in germany lots of children dressed up in costumes just like everybody else nor along was one of them. from dual plots i remember celebrating with my friends from the area. is being us holland all and i dressed up as a dutch girl because look you had my mother and grandmother made the costume for me complete with a blue and white dress a starched white apron and the traditional hat. romford feel if we hung paper

streamers on the lanterns from the 4th floor window and i joked at the time that i wasn't going to take them down the next day i was just going to set a match to them that would be quicker that will push my short. sighted ego. nor along and her friend anita gone were both 12 years old like christophe adam they and their families lived in your hunch that. when you need to yawn heard the 1st air raid sirens she knew exactly what to do. she grabbed his suitcase and went down into the basement with her parents. and the air raid shelter wasn't really a room more like a corridor but even that was not finished with cement it was constructed out of cobble stones these were old houses. so each was required to have a container of sand and buckets for sand and water down there the whole. it

suddenly i am on service in these were stored in old disused bathtubs or other containers. conversion arms because badness or it was not. here and there is exposed cellars in front of the front you can see some of the city's rudimentary civil defense measures. as the troops must not whenever possible the basements here interest and were connected to each other by a network of makeshift passageways that crossed over property lines. and spaces. that way if people found themselves trapped underground and couldn't get out they could escape by going through another building on the city so it wouldn't look to go. in. just before 10 o'clock on the night of february the 13th the civil air defense office reported that enemy aircraft to be spotted of the town of penne are a few kilometers southeast of dresden and american bombers had struck the city's

railway yards in october 1944 and january 19th $45.00 but those raids were compassion of a small now the aircraft was targeting the city center the 1st british aircraft dropped magnesium parachute flares referred to as christmas trees by the germans to eliminate the target area for your constant view of the sky became as bright as day as the planes drop those christmas tree and. there were cascades of light off. him and. it was an amazing sight to see. city or influence last year of the else that was the 1st time that any of us had seen a bombing raid of such magnitude these all. these reconnaissance photos of dresden were taken by the r.a.f. in may 944. the target area clearly included the neuer markt district and

surrounding streets in this war neither side seems that interested in cultural landmarks or monuments when it came to plane bombing raids. the area warfare began with the german daytime attack on london in september $940.00 the love tough assume switched to night raids and targeted numerous other cities during this phase of the german air campaign which lasted until may 941 an estimated 43000 civilians were killed and more than 1000000 buildings destroyed. on nov 14th $940.00 the germans launched a devastating attack on the industrial city of coventry about a 3rd of the local factories were destroyed but residential areas were also cheat more than $500.00 civilians were killed in this attack. coventry's cathedral was

reduced to rubble. in june 944 germany started firing missiles into it in the v. 2 a targets in britain. friend death of a 2 missile struck a residential street $200.00 people would be killed instantly as in childhood wrenching after stroke took. the last of the 2 to hit britain landed on kent in late march 9455 weeks after the annihilation of tristen. really. do. even though it was clear the law was coming to an end it was difficult for the british government to make a case for stopping the bombing of germany out of concern for civilian casualties when v. 2 rockets were still hitting london. and 4 to being. london

. to the people of britain the men who flew for the royal air force bomber command we hear a casualty rates were high 57000 crewmen were killed during the. total of the entire force. but in the closing months of the conflict german defense systems no longer posed a serious threat craft fuel was in short supply and the anti aircraft guns had been moved east to counter the soviet offensive dresden stood alone against the british bombers. the raid that went horribly right. just got going alice and sent the bomber crews had a clear view of the target area. there were no anti aircraft guns. the city was completely exposed and couldn't defend itself against this attack. so fred tried to

get dressed and with its 3 train stations. and there were several large military barracks in the district all of these were digital targets but none was seriously damaged during the ride. if you do via routes the planners had a specific strategy in mind and that was to disrupt the infrastructure and cause panic in the city center. and in that way that character of the attack on dresden was somewhat unique. similar tactics had been used by bomber command in a joint u.s. and british attack on hunger that began on july the 24th 943 and continued for several days the devastation spread out over an area of more than 30 square kilometers during the course of the riots an estimated 250000 buildings were

destroyed and a total of more than $42000.00 people killed at the time it was the most destructive attack in the history of aerial warfare. on the night of july 27 blazes started by a massive bombing right on hamburg combined with hot dry weather conditions to create a tornado of flames known as a firestorm bomb a command used similar techniques in attacks on darmstadt castle braunschweig and starting on february the 13th $945.00 princeton. $100.00 experimental u.s. military built replicas of german apartment houses in the utah desert and calculated the amount of things like books clothes toys found in a typical german home to determine the optimal lecture of explosives and combustible. goodenough experiment fires in

a german city were burned different for you than those in a japanese city where many of the buildings were made of warden paper and guns are not r.c. borders. are facts recovered interest in the decades after the attack and stored in the saxony state archaeological archives. of thousands of objects that bears silent witness to the devastation of the attack. there are glass bottles warped by the extreme heat coins books i glasses and their instructions. even toy tanks and other military toys evidence of the nazi regime's effort to promote the popularity of the german military among children. christoper adam was often given items like these for christmas. the weird choice. we either start from 0 to push or as

a conduit for example we had toy artillery pieces that used contact fuses. you would load the cannon fire and a stream of flame came out before all of us were in the us or the shell hit a target or it made a loud noise if you will assure her i also have toys soldiers and of course alone hitler figurine with attachable head i had a lot of fun shooting hitler's head off more culpable charges for. several weeks before the attack contrast and hitler had moved into a heavily fortified bunker beneath the chancery in central bell in the residence of dresden on the other hand could only seek shelter in their basements nor along the course the sound of the 1st bombs falling. school does of environ all of

a sudden there was this incredible roar. you can't even imagine the rocket. shock at the i said to myself this is the end of the war and now the tanks will come and roll over us i was just a child i thought it was the end of the world. it's. good our hearts and i thought will no one help us. if. we haven't done anything wrong. this cash register was found in the ruins of a shop interest on. the coins are hardly recognizable. the 1st attack began at 10 13 pm over the next 15 minutes british aircraft dropped a total of $881.00 tons of high explosive bombs and in centuries.

the fires broke out everywhere as bombs lodged roofs and asks furniture balconies household objects everything was in flames in an area of about 2 kilometers long and 3 kilometers wide. a 2nd wave of bombers arrived about 3 hours later the flame started by the 1st attack were visible up to 100 kilometers away the clouds of smoke rose more than 4000 meters into the night sky. both the hotel near the church and the zimmerman family his apartment survived the 1st race nearly unscathed as the climate died down get hot cinnamon decided to leave the cellar. we had not others i was the only boy living in a building i was 14 years old at the time i covered all the windows with cardboard up into can all the difference for evil then i wanted to go to the train station to

help. i was in the hitler youth we all were linked to it fortunately in my big sister came after me and took me back. called the north and then the 2nd wave started it my sister hadn't done that i'd have been at the train station when it was wiped out in the 2nd attack but after for lucia to. nia vina plats 15 year old hans joachim dietz and his family had already moved down to the basement to seek out the 1st attack. dates or brought a camera with him he still had when later he stepped out onto the street and was overwhelmed by the sight of the city engulfed in flames he captured the moment on film. in front of the so i just wanted to take a picture of our apartment building have been so i press the shutter release us to

view that that was the 1st picture and then others followed it oh maybe i was just in shock at suddenly being confronted with the horror of what war was really like. it calling this krieger. this is a function of the building at kristen's technical university dietz a spent 2 hours taking pictures from 11 pm until 1 am when the 2nd attack began air raid wardens knew to round the area with portable sirens and told people to get off the streets. build and use a slice of the sirens made a soft whining sound we thought they can't be bombing us together. fires were like a tornado and that's when we heard the rumbling noise of the planes again troika. more than 500 lancaster aircraft now approach central princeton from the west over

a period of just 24 minutes they dropped more than 1800 tons of bombs. in cologne for primas and fought and on about rushed the 2nd raid caught the people in a cell as completely by surprise it was too old and complicated the destruction of dresden was now complete the firestorm continued to spread there was no way to stop it the fires were raging in so many parts of the city where you can flush inhofe to stop and plant because of its water. this footage was shot by a british air crew entire sections of the city were in flames. the fires tore through older densely built up housing blocks finding a way out was next to impossible. thus is. these are cut those people had one option and that was to find some way to

escape this living hell. a huge notifier had fallen on the city and there was hardly any way for people to get out of it. and its homes you must but suppose you were sick and had asthma or young children with you but as or if you were elderly or disabled. here chances of survival were pretty slim. very unfriendly it. these again had simmons family records. show that he was baptized in the fountain now both the church and his parents' home are fine. there were flames everywhere. and there was so much smoke in the cellar that we could hardly breathe couldn't come lot with windows there was a barrel of water. it had been sitting there since 1939 so you can imagine what

the water was like for us as well the oh whoa whoa. we went our handkerchiefs held them to our mouths and ran out while bombs were still dropping. it wouldn't feel. district where i need to gone. and christoph lived was a residential area far from the city center. these pictures showed the aftermath of the firestone there a few buildings in your head that were left on skates by the 2nd attack. minimal to hide my father and mother thought they could save us my father picked me up and i felt i had the midst of all but the fire storm was just too big too powerful my own fault as of and if it hadn't been for him i wouldn't be here today

. to keep order just to get back get back into the basement. that was our attempt to escape but it didn't work. there was so much wind and fire sparks were flying everywhere i remember that very well and we couldn't get away up to. the intensity of such a breaking fire can be seen in this footage of the humble fire storm it sucks up all the oxygen making it hard for people to brain and describes how her father tried desperately to save his family. i remembered ferry well i was right in front of my parents. and i fell down and i just said i'm going to lie here. just let's give in the last i heard of my parents is when my father said to my mother anita wants to stay here. my mother replied then we will too and that was that. i need to go on lost consciousness to sever laois she

survives smoke poisoning or. thanks to her when she put her head. in the shelters flames and smoke moved through the labyrinth of rooms at incredible speed survivors of the attack tell heartbreaking stories about some of the things they saw. for us who killed. a young woman and her child were pulled out of the cellar just before us. someone was shouting don't go to the right that is where the fire is. the entire hall of the main train station was on fire the buildings are and framework was glowing red. i will those fire storm was moving in that direction to the right of us for a walk through and i saw how that woman and her child did not crawl to the left

like we did. they ran to the right wings and suddenly the woman and her child would lifted off the ground like angels. and they just floated away from us all we saw was the glow of the flames and they were gone and they quote are. on the morning of february the 14th the city center was blanketed in heavy smoke the van marked barracks had survived the 2 air raids and 2000 soldiers from the facility was sent to help in the rescue and recovery effort it was dangerous work buildings weakened by fire could collapse at any time and unexploded bombs posed a serious threat. and then the residents of tristen once again heard the roar of aircraft engines shortly after noon more than 300 american b. 17 flying fortress a small watched

a 3rd attack. the official target was the rounds yards in the free to each district in the western part of the city. over the next 30 minutes to be 17 strops more than $700.00 tons of bombs including in sentries but they did not hit the main target. like under fire and there were 3 major bombing attacks in less than 24 hours of finding and the people of dresden had no experience with anything like it so they had no idea how to deal with this situation. as skips. there's a limit to how much psychological stress people can handle. and i think that by the afternoon of february the 14th most of the people of dresden were beyond the limit

for the last and drizzly bush would pull. now the main task for the civil defense authorities was to dispose of the dead. prisoners of war and force laborers were brought in to carry out this gruesome task. the corpses were brought out of the rubble and laid out in rows in the streets to be registered 12 year old anita yon who had managed to pull herself out of the rubble now had to identify the bodies of her parents. and all my parents were lying there as though they were asleep they weren't disfigured at all. it's on the hall of on if their hair was a little messy and so were their clothes on jury duty of on but i was able to identify them and that gave me some comfort. and she seemed in principle schtick

they basically suffocated when a man handed me their wedding rings that was the worst experience of my life. because in that moment i knew i was all alone. crews worked quickly to dispose of the corpses not least because of the fear that disease could spread through the city. in early march troops set up huge metal grates in the district up to 500 bodies at a time were piled onto the structures doused with petrol and burned. by mid march a total of 18375 victims have been recovered dressed in police chief reported to officials in berlin that the death toll could rise to 25000 but the propaganda ministry did not publicize these figures the government planned to use the bombing of dresden as part of

a last ditch effort to fuel the moral indignation of the german people. nazi propaganda minister joseph goebbels encouraged the circulation of rumors that as many as 200000 people had lost their lives some foreign newspapers picked up and also reported this wildly exaggerated claim. this was the beginning of the myth of tristen. kind of stuff but diabolical and criminal display of our enemies intend to destroy their city. be happy. early 1945 the propaganda ministry had almost nothing left in its arsenal to rally the german people so the ministry decided to spread fear and hope that this tactic would work until something miraculous could happen. but that was not to be germany surrendered in may 945 during the war as many as

500000 german civilians were killed in allied bombing attacks few of the. these major cities were spared but the destruction of tristen continues to generate controversy to this day. there is any germans believe that there was no reason to attack the city the attack was on a war that they say the dressed in was a cultural center there was no involvement in s.s. war crimes no extermination of jews it had museums full of art by old masters like quite a lot of for example. after the war the myth of dress didn't continue to be propagated on both sides of the iron curtain. the false consciously figures were repeated again and again in the east german government used the anniversary of the bombings to denounce it as a war crime committed by other western allies i'm getting kruk it's of we mourn the

victims and condemn those who carried out this senseless mass murder in those muscles it's. cool and you become a sort of british and american aircraft attacked an open city full of refugees and wounded official reports say 45000 were killed but there were more many more. in 2004 the city of dresden commissioned a group of experts to carry out a systematic an objective study of the casualty figures. the panel released its report in 2010. based on comprehensive research that relied on official documents the experts concluded that the number of people who died in the attacks on christian was between 18025000. by comparison so she 5000 civilians died in the allied air rides on hamburg in july

943. but dresden remains a powerful symbol of the destructive power of modern warfare. behaved kristen's of the city of dresden will always be unique in one regard as the events that took place there in february 1905 have been used to spread propaganda in east germany east west germany elsewhere in europe and around the world and of it out for decades the ruins of the found cash is stored as a reminder of the bombing attacks. it was not until 994 that reconstruction work began in the church which was completed in 2005. few of those who survived the bombing ever thought they would see the church restored to its former glory 'd new york mental kind of get off no one believed it would ever be rebuilt but people got organized i was made to todd and after years of work there or. the thought the

ministry thought that my daughter in law asked me what i thought of the reconstruction and i said it's beautiful. but then it always was on the foil so. i am a business model. i am a brand. cause i. am fully up to.

influence or shameless blowhards. or innovative business people major. impact the economy. the engine. to. enter the conflict zone with tim sebastian. my guest this week here in rome is the jesuit priest the hans solo who is a media eggs but closer to abuse of a mole the kludgy is the boss a girl serious about wheelchair for would continue to provide opportunity as cover for priests who commit these awful awful produce conflict zone. 90 minutes on d. w. . have fun in pyongyang. the capital city of north

korea is reinventing itself. but only a few can enjoy the benefits of those the machine alone. kim jong un has introduced and insidious reward system to coerce allegiance to the regime. those who don't make it into the fun metropolis are often full and tom brady. have fun in pyongyang starts feb 28th on d w. this is news and these are our top stories. turkish president regift erdogan has warned that his military will attack syrian government forces if another of his soldiers is harmed the 2 sides have clashed repeatedly in the past 10 days as the syrian

army attempts to capture the rebel health province of it live.