Entry tags:
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class
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?
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?
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