Berlin – Nazi claims that as many as 500,000 people died during the Allied bombing of Dresden in the Second World War were exaggerated, a group of German scientists have concluded.
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Official estimates by the local authorities after the end of the war estimated the number of dead to be around 25,000.
But far-right groups claimed that up to 500,000 people were killed in the attack, by 1,300 British and US bombers between February 13 and 15 in 1945.
Allied critics have claimed that the attack constituted a war crime which had no strategic aim since Germany was already close to defeat and the targets were civilian rather than military.
Now, five years of research by a team of historians from the Dresden Historians’ Commission has confirmed that 25,000 died in the celebrated Baroque city.
The team reviewed records from city archives, cemeteries, official registries and courts and compared them to published reports and witness accounts.
Their study also shows fewer refugees fleeing the Eastern Front were killed in the bombing than previously thought, and dismissed claims that many of the victims’ bodies were never recovered.
The historians said their findings would have far-reaching implications for how people saw the final chapter of the war and the role of the Germans.
But some were quick to condemn the findings. Within an hour of their publication, 150 protesters had marched on Dresden town hall and Ralf Lunau, the city’s cultural commissioner, announced that: “This has not ended the debate at all.”
Among those who claimed Dresden was a war crime was controversial British historian David Irving. In his 1963 book, The Destruction of Dresden, he cited figures in a Nazi document reporting that 202,400 people had perished.
According to Frederick Taylor, another historian cited by The Times, the Nazis had simply added an extra ‘0’ to the total.
The bombing has long been a cause of Anglo-German tensions and when the Queen visited the city in 1992, eggs were thrown at her by protesters demanding an apology.
The bombing should have continued, until thedeath toll reached 6,ooo.ooo .
#1 you are treading on very dangerous territory and is highly inflammatory. The issue i is whether the numbers are correct. This is not unlike people investigating whether the numbers of the Jews is also correct. Check many major Jewish historians such as Bauer. However, to make a comment like you did is a chilul hashem.
NO.2. I was posting to my fellow-Jews .
#2 u prob dont even know what the meaning of chilul hashem is. And you prob didnt have your entire family wiped out by the Germans like me
I hope these historians are wrong I hope the humber was half a million or even higher
RE.to # 4. You are right . Ididn’t have my entire family wiped out. Only , half of them . Not enough ?
NO .4. You, don’t cherish the memory of the victims. Instead, you sound apologetic . H”YD .
NO. 6. I did the math. To me one belove member of my family is worth ,at least , a million Nazis,,
I cherish them very much, and I am very proud that after the war my zeide killed some Nazi POWS who would have got off scott free had he let them live.
To the contributors of messages 1-11:
PLEASE CEASE AND DESIST FROM THIS POINTLESS BICKERING.
You have added precisely nothing to the debate, and you are behaving like tinokos.
A recent book about the Dresden bombing made the case that Dresden was still a center for production of munitions and armaments, and the war was still going on. It was not like German soldiers were surrendering at every opportunity. They were fighting even as they retreated. Based on what the Allies knew at the time, it was a valid war target.
Most Germans knew of the atrocities . They didn’t lift a finger in protest . Even after the the war they hated the Jews with a vengance. So, don’t give me your morality crap. You, bleeding hearts, out there ,you better learn from history. Otherwise, you may be ,c’v, doomed to relive it .
Does anyone know, how much Jewish blood was spilled, between February ,15 and May, 6 1945 ? Apparently The firebombing of Dresden didn’t soften their resolve. Y”S.
Too bad more weren’t killed.
It should be noted that the idea of bombing non-strategic non-comatant civilian targets of the enemy was initiated by the Nazis in the blitz of 1940. Until then in no war ever had civilian targets been a primary target.
The Nazis were simply reaping what they had sown.
Indeed the the bombing of Germany from mid 1944 had a certain strategic value. The Nazi blitz of 1940 was just plain murder.
Towards the end of the war there was an embargo on civilian rail travel because the railroads were needed for the war effort. The one exception was for trains carrying Jews to the death camps.
Why was there ever a ruckus? Why believe any “fact” advertised by the Nazis? As for Jewish numbers – we know the Nazis hid the work of the Einsatzgruppen, especially the work of the local Poles and Ukrainians. Whole towns were destroyed. It’s a miracle there are civil records that can be used for genealogical research.
Not a single Jew died in the Dresden bombing, since they were all shipped to Auschwitz. The Germans brought havoc and destruction on the world, and they deserved the terrible retribution.
G-D bless Bomber Harris. Carpet bombing was his idea, against lots of opposition, especially the established church.
I hope he has got his just reward in the next world.
Also he never made an anti-semiic remark.
Reply to # 24. Amen . Mr. Harris did what was not very popular at the time. Even ,Winston Churchil was opposed .G-d bless his Soul. The sound of the engines flying overnight.was music to our ears . I was a kid , 15 years old unable to sleep in my delirious, Typhus-infested,condition .The high-flying RAF bombers, I shall never forget it .Absolutely, hastened the collapse of the Reich.
RE; to no. 24. Thanks for the memories . How about sending a little reminder to our good friend Ahmanidejad. Thanks,again Guv’ner .
Re; to. No 27. Point well taken. Hoewer. it was Allied Command policy,for whatever reason. We, shall never know. Mr. Harris ,certainly , was no Antisemite .This. in no way , diminish his accomplishments.