Dresden

Germany is an interesting place, and last Saturday morning our group found out why. As most readers probably know, Dresden, Germany was the site of a major Allied firebombing during World War II. The bombing is controversial to this day in likeness to the controversy express over dropping atom bombs in Japan—namely, the opposition views that there was a more peaceful end to the war.

The bombings in Dresden destroyed a large part of the city and thousands of innocent people were burned alive. It is little over a half-century later and the city is still trying to recover. Part of the city were left in ruins and many historical sites, such as the Church of Our Lady, were left as ash. After the war ended, Dresden and other cities in Europe were faced with a decision of what was worth saving and what should be forgotten.

Luckily (or not, depending on you views of nobility), many of city’s upper class neighborhoods were spared. They now make up most of city’s museums, and in 1985, it was decided to rebuild the famed Church of Our Lady. Still today as a visitor walks around the city he or she notices the constant process of rehabilitation but he or she can also feel the immense old beauty trying to work its way out.