The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class

[selenak]

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Würzburg, one of the last German cities to be firebombed in WWII before the surrender. The assumption on the German side had been it wouldn't be, since it didn't have any big industries and a lot of hospitals, but a) by March 1945, there were hardly any German cities left to bomb, and bombing was still deemed essential for demoralizing the population, b) Würzburg had an almost intact medieval city center full of timber buildings, which meant it would be ideal for a firestorm (and in fact 90% of it was burned) and c) it still was a transport hub for trains (such as were still going in March 45). (BTW, this is still true - Würzburg is a central junction for switching trains even today.)

Now, most of the citizens of Würzburg were not by any definition of the word resistance fighters, or even neutral. In 1930, three years before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, a Jewish-Russian theatre troup was supposed to perform the play The Dybbuk in the local theatre, and the local Nazis were so successful in organizing riots against the performance that anyone visiting the theatre anyway that evening had to be escorted by the police. The Nazis came to power in January 1933; by March 1933, the Mayor was forced to leave office and make way for an NSDAP member, leaving an undisputedly Nazi-led city behind. Everything that happened in the rest of Germany - book burnings, boycotts, progroms, and then, starting in 1941, deportations of the remaining Jewish citizens - happened in Würzburg, too.

But here's the thing. Today, Würzburg, like Dresden, is part of the Community of the Cross of Nails, started in and by Coventry, where after the 1940 bombardment three large nails were found in the destroyed Cathedral. In today's anniversary concert in Würzburg, they will sing Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and they will recite the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation at the Marienkapelle. And every time I think about how absolutely toxic the endless WWII cult in Britain has become, how much it has contributed to the currrently unfolding disaster, I also remind myself that in Britain, you had parliamentary debates the justification of "area bombing" and "morale bombing" throughout the war. You had people saying that no, the dead of Dresden and Würzburg were not justifed by the dead of Coventry and London. Okay,so it was just Bishop George Bell in the House of Lords and two Labour MPs in the House of Commons, but still. In Britain, during a war against an undisputably evil foe who had demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt what his aims were, you had voices saying that no, even fighting Nazis, the end does not justify all means, and you had them in one of the branches of government.

See, to me, this strikes me as something far more impressive than the endlessly hailed "Blitz spirit". Because, as, among other things, the complete lack of intended effect of "morale bombing" in Germany proved, any nation bombed, no matter what its leadership is like, is prone to respond with rallying together. But it's a rare human being who will say "no, the end does NOT justify the means, even against Hitler", and it takes an admirable sense of democracy to have these voices heard instead of forbidding them during a crisis and/or a time of war. In any nation, helping each other's neighbours when they lose their home is thankfully something more prevelant than the opposite. But to reach out to a suffering enemy after one's own suffering, to offer to become twin cities as Coventry did to Dresden in the mid-1950s (when in addition to everything else, Dresden was behind the Iron Curtain and thus part of the Eastern bloc) - that takes a generosity of spirit and a human decency which we should all strive to.

I watch the Brexiteers with their ridiculously inappropriate WWII comparisons, see the millionth WWII era tale (featuring Plucky Hero(ine) Fighting Evil Nazis) announced, and wonder: if pop culture had adopted this other heritage from WWII to even a third of the degree, might that have made a difference?

Comments

[nostalgia]

I'm going to Wurzburg in June, have they got a museum or anything?

[selenak]

Several! Here they are, including two Jewish ones covering the history (and now, thankfully again present) of Jewish communtiies in Würzburg and Lower Franconia. The most famous buildings are listed here. I don't know how much time you have, but the surrounding scenery in Lower Franconia is lovely; it's a vineyard area, and June is ideal for making a trip to various vineyards (and sample stuff, if you're so inclined and someone else is driving).

[trobadora]

n Britain, during a war against an undisputably evil foe who had demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt what his aims were, you had voices saying that no, even fighting Nazis, the end does not justify all means, and you had them in one of the branches of government.

Yes. These are the small things that give me hope.

and wonder: if pop culture had adopted this other heritage from WWII to even a third of the degree, might that have made a difference?

A very, very good question.

[selenak]

To paraphrase Gandalf, those little things give me courage. They might be what saves us (us being humanity, not a nation) from offing each other while murdering the planet. I hope.

Also these particular examples help me from joining the increasing "go with God but GO!" chorus brought on by British politics through the last three years.

[sovay]

if pop culture had adopted this other heritage from WWII to even a third of the degree, might that have made a difference?

I always think so. It matters what you see, but it matters just as much what you don't see, because then people will say it was never there at all.

I learned about the Allied bombing of Dresden and other cities from Kurt Vonnegut, but I had an atypical and somewhat out of order education. I imagine other people my age were taught it in schools.

[selenak]

It matters what you see, but it matters just as much what you don't see, because then people will say it was never there at all.

So much agreed, not just in this but in all matters. Especially when there are nearly no living witnesses anymore, or none, perception is formed by the way we first encounter stories, and more often than not, it's via pop culture.

[espresso_addict]

My parents lived in Coventry in the 1950s, and I was brought up in Portsmouth, which was largely flattened; Portsmouth twinned with Duisburg and German learners at my school were encouraged to exchange visits -- it was a really formative experience as a young teen, to stand in front of Köln Cathedral, looking at a part that had been knocked off by Allied bombers. I think my exchange student was probably the only German my parents ever spoke to; they visited almost every tourist destination in Europe but refused to set foot in Germany or Austria.

[selenak]

I can understand that. The first time I visited Poland, when I was in Warsaw, it hit me all over again how none of those buildings were historical because the city had been flattened by the German army and had to be rebuild from scratch.

(My hometown is twinned with Bedford, but because I had managed to take part in the student's exchange with our American twin town, I couldn't take part in the British one as well. I managed language holidays in Eastbourne as a teen, though, and that was an interesting experience but one that was far more familiar than the culture shock of first encountering the US in the middle or Reagan's re-election campaign. By contrast, England didn't seem so different.)

[taelle]

That was interesting to read - though looking out from the middle of Russia's current WWII-based toxicity, everyone else seems perfectly sane and balanced.
I did not know about the cross of nails community, though in the 1990s I read a story in the Russian version of Reader's Digest about an Englishman who, as a young member of a bomber crew in the war, released a bomb into a church of a German town instead of where it was supposed to go, and later he went to that town to apologize, and it was absolutely mind-blowing to me.

[selenak]

That sounds like an admirable man. I don't suppose you remember the name?

[taelle]

Unfortunately, no - it was long ago and he did not keep the magazine.

[viggorlijah]

Thank you for highlighting that today

[selenak]

You're welcome.

[lokifan]

You had people saying that no, the dead of Dresden and Würzburg were not justifed by the dead of Coventry and London. Okay,so it was just Bishop George Bell in the House of Lords and two Labour MPs in the House of Commons, but still. In Britain, during a war against an undisputably evil foe who had demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt what his aims were, you had voices saying that no, even fighting Nazis, the end does not justify all means, and you had them in one of the branches of government.

I didn't know that. I'm very glad to.

God, I just put my head in my hands every time I hear another horrendous WW2 comparison from British politicians. Uggggghhhh.

[selenak]

Here is Bell's entire 1944 speech (not the first, but the most famous) against area bombing in Parliament, with ensuing protocoled debate, from the online parliamentary papers.