More than 13,000 people for peace and tolerance

For the 15th time, Dresden set an example for peace, human dignity and tolerance on Tuesday – and formed a human chain. Around 13,000 citizens joined hands in silence at 6 p.m. and formed a ring to the bells of the city center churches. The motto was: “Together vigilant”. The ring symbolically stood as a protective wall around the old town and for the values ​​of democracy. The rector of the Technical University (TU) Dresden, Ursula Staudinger, called the human chain “a guardian of democracy.” However, the organizational team had previously expected around 20,000 people.

Tuesday marked the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden during the Second World War. According to scientific sources, people died in the airstrikes on February 13, 1945 and the following day around 25,000 people.

The day of remembrance began with wreath-laying and memorial ceremonies in several Dresden cemeteries, and later the focus was on activities on the Neumarkt and Altmarkt. A total of 25 events were registered in Dresden. During most of the events, citizens, contemporary witnesses and their families as well as politicians remembered the destruction of Dresden and the victims of the air raid and National Socialism. Dresden’s mayor Dirk Hilbert (FDP) said: “More than ever, we must be vigilant together and resolutely counteract contempt for humanity, anti-Semitism and intolerance.”

In the afternoon, around 200 people sang along to the Dresden Philharmonic’s citizens’ singing “against hate, violence and for peace and reconciliation”, and hundreds lit candles in front of and in the Frauenkirche. The human chain, which also included Saxony’s state parliament president Matthias Rößler (CDU), Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) as well as his deputy Martin Dulig and Social Affairs Minister Petra Köpping (both SPD), also included the British ambassador Jill Gallard and a delegation from Coventry.

Contemporary witnesses still remember that Shrove Tuesday in 1945, when the city center of Dresden was reduced to rubble in an evening bombing raid and the loss of people close to them who died in the bombing or the subsequent fires. Some spoke about their memories in cemeteries and at civic sing-alongs. Ursula Bergs from Dresden told those listening her heartfelt wish: “I wish that we preserve the natural peace that we have here. So that our children and grandchildren can also experience this.”

The police secured the memorial day with a large contingent of emergency services. Until the early evening of the anniversary, quiet remembrance predominated. “There were no disturbances, the day was very quiet,” said a police spokesman.

His colleagues were on duty until after 10 p.m. The right-wing extremist AfD held a vigil on the Altmarkt late in the evening. Several thousand counter-demonstrators from the bourgeois and left-wing spectrum loudly protested against this event because of the alleged creation of victim myths and the relativization of history. According to the police, there were attempts from the left-wing spectrum to overcome the barriers. The officials stopped that. Pepper spray was also used. According to this, a total of six investigations were initiated – for breach of the peace, insult, threats, theft, using the symbols of unconstitutional organizations and violation of the Assembly Act.