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We stopped in Dresden on our way to Prague from Berlin. We learned about all of the architectural buildings that the proud people rebuilt after the Allied bombing in World War II. They see the reconstruction as a symbol of strength because they lost everything during the bombing, and now the city is flourishing.

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What we saw in Dresden relates to our studies. It shows the resiliency of the people: they chose to bounce back and rebuild. Instead of letting the communist government demolish the ruins after the war, the people fought to rebuild them and keep the same feeling of Dresden before it was bombed. This way they kept the beautiful German look of the city.

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Today we went to Dresden which is a city in the eastern part of Germany. Towards the end of World War 2 the Allies bombed one of the most prominent city to Nazi Germany. During the bombings 25,000 people died and the city was destroyed. Today we learned about how the city was able to restore its beauty and become a powerful place again.

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Today was a very interesting experience for me while visiting Dresden but was most interesting was when Cosima talked about her life during communist rule in the former DDR or East Germany.

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Today we visited Dresden and learned about the bombing that took place during WWII. The town was completely destroyed and 25,000 people were killed. The whole town has been rebuilt and some survivors of the bombings are still living there.

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Today while on our tour of Dresden our guide carried around a book containing pictures of the city less than 70 years ago while it was still in ruins. She held the pictures up at the same sites where new beautiful buildings stand today. In the past the people wanted to leave a part of the destroyed as a reminder of how cruel imperialistic countries are, but instead the government preferred to remember the past while not letting it hinder them. So instead of leaving the ruins or building something completely new and forgetting it all together, they rebuilt them as a reminder of what they once were. Today Germany is doing the very same thing. Instead of leaving the past where it is or pretending it didn’t happen and starting all over again, they are deciding to try to fix their mistakes of the past and rebuild themselves as the culturally diverse country they were before the 20th century by letting in refugees and creating strict laws to outlaw anti-semitism.

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Going through Dresden today and looking at how much they have rebuilded the city after it was destroyed in World War II was amazing. Hearing from our guide about how people from Dresden stood up for the ruins of buildings that were destroyed by the war and then later using those same foundations to rebuild all of the buildings by still using some of the stones form the original buildings made me realize how much it meant to the people of Dresden. While not only trying to figure out how to rebuild the city but they also had to persuade the Russian communists to not destroy the ruins of the buildings they were trying to rebuild.

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Today we visited Dresden, an East German city filled with history dating back to the 13th century. After being almost completely destroyed by British and American bombs in 1945, the city and it’s historical Baroque structures were rebuilt with the help of financial aid from other countries. Our local guide, Cosima, told us what it was like to grow up in Eastern Germany and as one of the few Catholic citizens of Dresden, which was under communist rule at the time. Within a few blocks we saw the Zwinger Palace, the Dresden Castle, the Frauenkirche, and the Dresden opera house.

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Dresden was heavily bombarded during the Second World War, resulting in over 25,000 deaths, and destroying about 80% of the beautiful city. Just like in Berlin, there were tiles known as “stolpersteins” in the stone on the ground that commemorated the Jews that lived there. However, we were informed that a Jewish woman did not like that they were placed there because of the fact that a lot of people step over them without taking any notice of them, and are disregarded despite having major significance. She preferred if they were put on a wall as a plaque instead. If someone said something like this and they were not Jewish, they would be considered anti-Semitic, or a Neo Nazi.

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Today gave me a lot of insight on how it was for those living in East Germany and how they were living post World War II. The communist rule they lived under in Dresden was not ideal and many people were living sort of secluded from the rest of the world. Cosimo told us a story of when she was younger and a man who found out she spoke some English snuck a slip of paper with his address in her pocket. She met with him later on, and told us how it was her first experience of what life was like outside of communism. This shocked me, because living in a society under communist rule is something I’ve never had to experience or even think about.

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Today, one thing that I found really poignant was not just the story about the bombing of Dresden and the resultant desruction, but also the way in which such a horrible situation became one of survival. For example,our tour guide explained that one girl from Dresden who had been informed that she was going to be deported to Auschwitz, was only able to escape the Nazis because the Dresden bombing occurred the very next day. The resulting chaos an destruction allowed both her and her father to flee, and later hide with farmers in the countryside till the end of the war. For me, it was interesting to see that an event which was at once so devastating, could also be a moment of salvation for others. Reflecting on the beauty of the current city, which has been rebuilt, it is crazy to think that its destruction was the only thing powerful enough to save innocents lives from death.

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Below is a picture of the restored opera house in Dresden commissioned by the locals and municipality. The destruction of the opera house in 1945 is directly related to the extermination of the Jews due to a beautiful landmark being destroyed and a magnificent culture almost being decimated. Due to the testimonies of locals and the remaining columns of the building, a marvelous restoration was able to take place which is similar to how the Jewish community attempted to flourish after recovering from the Holocaust.

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Today in Dresden, our local tour guide took us all throughout the historical square. As we walked throughout the town, she would show us older pictures of Dresden. The picture seen below specifically stood out to me because as you can see in the past photo the building was destroyed and barely together. Seeing the building before being rebuilt and after reminded me of how Germany had their whole country torn apart by the Nazis, but through fighting and hope they were able to reconstruct a new world where they accepted and took responsibility for their past actions. Similar to how Dresden had numerous buildings bombed and ruined and they kept photographs in order to remember the harder times they once had to go through.

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Today during our visit to Dresden we were able to connect events from their history to our American ones. The tour taught us about how the Eastern Germans were held under oppression when the wall was up & after it being taken down had trouble assimilating into the Western way of life. This is similar to the United States history. Black people were slaves once in the past, and even though slavery was abolished in all 50 states eventually, blacks still dealt with discrimination against them and had very hard troubles fitting in with everyone. Eastern Germans felt the same problems as blacks in America and even though discrimination is wrong it’s prescence is still not forgotten in both cultures. Eastern people still feel slight problems in Germany as do blacks in America

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Today we focused on how those living in East Germany were impacted by WWII. Towards the end of the war, the city of Dresden was bombed and destroyed by British/American troops. The reconstruction of the city was influenced by the people who had a true love for the city and it’s baroque beauty. Our guide Cosimo told us a story of a British man who had been a part of the bombings during the war. One day he returned to Dresden to see the city for himself, and after his visit he said he could now die in peace. The man found closure for the guilt he felt for what he had been a part of. This story made me realize how many different types of people were impacted by WWII and the Holocaust, and how it truly is a universal issue.