February 13 in Dresden in the ticker: counter-demonstration blocks Pirnaischer Platz

According to the police, there are currently traffic restrictions around Georgplatz. This is related to the numerous meetings in Dresden today.

Now the memorial concert of the Dresden Philharmonic begins in the Kulturpalast. A poem based on Anna Seghers’ novel “The Seventh Cross” by Hans-Ulrich Treichel is played. The Semperoper also commemorates the Second World War and performs Bach’s Mass in B minor. The symphony concert will be recorded and broadcast from 8:05 p.m. on MDR Klassik and MDR Kultur.

Around 1,000 people gathered at the rally at the Trümmerfrau. According to reporters, the atmosphere is relaxed and there is live music. A demo train is just approaching from the direction of the university campus. The student council of the TU Dresden advertised this demo. The “shuttle demo” started at Fritz-Förster-Platz in the city center and went to the town hall. Organizers tweeted that those 300 to 400 participants in the rubble woman were joining forces with other protesters.

MDR reporters report that several hundred people have gathered in the Alaunpark in Dresden’s Neustadt district. According to several left-wing and anti-fascist initiatives, they see themselves as a “supply demo” to protest against neo-Nazis and right-wingers in the city center. They, in turn, had booked an elevator towards the city center for the evening.

The Dresden police had already prepared in advance for a “higher dynamic” in the evening. Because for the first time on February 13, an elevator from the Monday protest movement was reported. The second act stands opposite him as a counter-protest, which was also attended in the Alaunpark.

Thousands of participants are forming a human chain around the old town to send a signal for peace. Among them are Mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP), TU Rector Ursula Staudinger and State Parliament President Matthias Rößler. “Reconciliation is the foundation of a peace that will last for generations,” says Hilbert. “What we can do here on February 13 is to state clearly how nationalism, imperialism and megalomania will end: in ruins.” According to information from the town hall, around 10,000 people followed the call from the city and civil society.

In a few minutes, the “Dresden Memorial Trail – on the way to reconciliation” begins. At 6:15 p.m., the destruction of the old synagogue and the murder of the Jews during National Socialism on Hasenberg opposite the new synagogue will be commemorated in front of the memorial stele. The Society for the Promotion of the Frauenkirche Dresden invites you to do so.

The memorial trail leads with text readings to the sculpture of the Great Mourning Man, the piece of debris from the dome of the Frauenkirche on the north side, then on the south-east side of the Altmarkt near the memorial for the victims of the air raids on Dresden on February 13 and 14, 1945 to the Kreuzkirche to the monument and memorial “Swords to Ploughshares – Stones of contention”, to the thinking room for the Sophienkirche and finally to the Frauenkirche.

Traditionally, all church bells in the city ring for ten minutes when the human chain closes. The people want to commemorate the bombing of the city in 1945 and the millions of victims of the National Socialist tyranny. At 9:45 p.m. the bells ring a second time. This was when the first bombing raid on Dresden took place on February 13, 1945. There is also a silent commemoration on the Neumarkt in front of the Frauenkirche in Dresden until 10 p.m. People can light candles as a sign of true remembrance for the victims of World War II and tyranny and as a warning against any misuse of the memorial day.

According to reporters, around 30 people have gathered at the rubble woman. The rally was registered by the Greens. They want to defend themselves against the instrumentalization of February 13 by the right, says organizer Valentin Lippmann (Greens). The Greens have also registered a meeting at Postplatz. According to reporters, there have been around 20 participants there so far.

In exactly one hour, a human chain should close around Dresden’s old town. Before that, there will be choral music and speeches on the stage at the level of the Green Gewandhaus on the Neumarkt. Mayor Dirk Hilbert and TU Rector Ursula Staudinger will speak to the people of Dresden.

According to the police, the meeting at the Kulturpalast was ended by the organizer Uwe Steimle. Wilsdruffer Strasse is to be reopened in the near future.