This past weekend, my friends Heather, Evelyn, Laura, and I decided to spend our Saturday sightseeing in Dresden, Germany. As part of the Länder tickets that the Deutsche Bahn offers, we were able to take regional trains to Dresden, in the state of Saxonz and back, for 28Euros. Evelyn, Heather, and I left Erfurt at 7 in the morning, and Laura was going to meet us in Dresden since she was coming from a trip in Berlin.
The trip began fine (albeit incredibly quite early in the morning) and we settled in for our 4 hour train ride. I had my first "Berliner" or jelly donut for breakfast :) It was only when we arrived in Chemnitz to catch our connecting train that we noticed anything out of order. When we approached our Gleis (track) police offers were sorting people into three different categories. We were told by a German police officer to "keep moving." We obliged and ended up in the middle group. On our left were neo-Nazi types wearing mostly black and shirts with captions such as "Hasta La Vista Antifacistas" and "Too White 4 Your." On our right, were a random assortment of punks and other young people. We were in the middle with some families and a couple of elderly people. At this point, I texted Laura, our German friend from Bonn, to make sure she was on her train and added the line "p.s. i think we are in the middle of a riot." She called backed and explained that she had just realized that Saturday was the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden in World War II, and that for the last 10 years, neo-Nazis had turned out in Dresden for a "mourning march." Since the British Royal Air Force and the American Air Force were responsible for the attacks on Dresden we quickly discussed whether or not it was safe for us to actually be in Dresden. We decided to give it a try.
The Dresden bombings occured on February 13 and 14, 1945, 12 months before the German government surrendered. In one of the most controversial actions of the war, 1,300 bombers dropped 3,900 tons of high explosive bombs on the city. As a result of the bombings, massive fires broke out all across the city and essentially destroyed the Altstadt. Civillian casualties were between 24,000 and 40,000. While some argue the attacks were justified due to the communication and transport infastructure in Dresden, as well as the 50,000 workers in 110 factories working for the German war effort, others claim the bombing was indiscriminate and not proportional to the military gains.
For the past 10 years, far right extremists have been gathering in Dresden on the anniversary to commemorate what the call the "Dresden Holocaust." Juergen Dansel of the NDP (the National Democratic Party of Deutschland) described the bombing as "mass murder" and "Dresden's Holocaust of Bombs." This created outrage in Germany since denail or minimization of the Holocause is prohibited by federal law. Nevertheless, far-right extremists have been using the 14th of November as a rallying point to revive the German reich, and to display anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. The rally this year was the biggest to date--also one of the biggest demonstrations since German reunification in 1990. 6,000 German anti-immigrant, skinhead, and neo-Nazi groups marched through the city. Two counter-demonstration groups, led by leftists and unions, gathered 10,000 people to protest the neo-Nazi rally. About 3,500 police from all across Germany were present to keep order.
When we first arrived in Dresden, police were waiting to escort everyone off the trains in groups--making sure the neo-Nazis were separate from the leftists. We quickly found Laura and made our way out to the bus area only to find that no busses were going into the city. The neo-Nazi groups were congregating at the Hauptbahnhof--thousands of people wearing black, carrying black flags or red, white, and black flags, listening to eery music. An information man approached us and said that he advised us going into the city at all today.
The neo-Nazi gathering outside the Hauptbahnhof
Not wanting our four hour train ride to be a waste, we decided to take a train to a part of the city where we didn't think there would be rioters. After going the wrong way, we ended up in the Neustadt section and there we found all of the leftist demonstrators--members of the various left political parties, peace groups, and even a couple of American flags. We definitely felt a little more comfortable on this side of the Elbe River :)
Leftists protestors in the Neustadt (and the Goldener Reiter, a statue of Augustus the Strong)
After our initial shock at the sheer number of people, we quickly became comfortable with the protestors (especially since we happend to run into the leftists groups more often than the Nazis). The city of Dresden is incredibly beautiful--especially keeping in mind most of it had to be rebuilt after the bombings. The churches, palaces, statues, and artwork throughout the city were definitely worth the visit. Here are some highlights:
The Bruehlsche Terrasse, or Balcony of Europe in the Altstadt of Dresden
Frauenkirche--while the 1743 Lutheran church had at first appeared to survive the bombings, it collapsed from fire a few days later. The collapsed church was left by the Communist government as a symbol of British aggression. In 1990, after reunification, a group of Dresdeners sent out an international appeal known as the "Call from Dresden" to request help in rebuilding the church. The rebuilt church was consecrated on October 30, 2005.
This mural is called the Fuerstenzug--it depicts 35 rulers of Saxony.
Looking across the Elbe to the Altstadt.
The Dreikoenigskirche in the Neustadt
The New Synagogue--the original Dresden synagogue was burnt down on Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. The New Synagogue was rebuilt in 2001 using the original Star of David which was saved by a Dresden firefighter. On February 13, 1945, the remaining Jews in Dresden who had yet to be sent to a concentration camp were ordered to report for deportation on February 16. The bombings, however, overtook the city, and, as one Jewish resident wrote in his diary, "whoever of the [Jews] was spared by this night was delivered, for in the general chaos he could escape the Gestapo."
The Katholische Hofkirche--built by Augustus the Strong when he converted to Catholicism so he could be the King of Poland...oh what the chance of power will do to ones values. Although, it was a pretty church, so I have to give Augustus credit :)
Evelyn, myself, and Laura in front of the Kronentor leading into the Zwinger palace complex.
Anti-Nazi protestors in the Altstadt. The flag says "Gegen Nazis" (against Nazis) and shows a fist breaking a swastika. There were a lot of riot police at this point, as well as a vehicle that shot heavy streams of water at rioters who were getting out of hand.
More anti-Nazi protestors--at this point, it was obvious that some of the more dangerous Leftist groups were getting riled up. We saw several groups taking stones and some being thrown into the group of police. For their part, I think the police did an amazing job at keeping the two sides separate, but still allowing for the freedom of gathering and voice.
After we had succesfully seen everything we had wanted to in the city, we decided to leave Dresden early to avoid large crowds of rioters heading home. Our path to the Hauptbahnhof was cut off by rows and rows of police officers--it wasn't until Laura talked to a female police, explaining that we weren't involved in any of the riots and that her three friends were Americans who had just come to Dresden to visit, that we were able to get through. Once we arrived at the Hauptbahnhof it was easy to see why there was so many police guards--the train station was crawling with neo-Nazis. We decided to avoid English at this point, and the buddy system that we had instituted earlier in the day as a joke became more necessary. We figured out our next train, and settled in for the wait.
Once we got on our train, we decided to sit in a Wagon that had only 8 seats--four in a square, and four lined up against the walls. This way, we hoped, we would avoid being in a bigger Wagon where groups of rowdy, and mostly likely drunk, rioters might be located. Unfortunately, sitting in the top level right across from us was a group of drunk and aggressive Nazis. The entire train ride from Dresden to Leipzig, the four of us sat quietly in our seats trying not to react when they whistled at us, yelled obscenities, and, essentially, verbally sexually harassed us. Evelyn and I were both facing the group, so it was difficult to avoid looking, but it was important to do so because whenever we looked up, they used that to their advantage and upped their obscenities. Luckily for me, I wasn't able to understand all of the slang German, although I did get some of it...such as them asking if we had boyfriends, and saying that we made them horny. Laura obviously could understand it all, and she was getting very angry and upset with them. Looking back on the day, I think this was the only time in our entire trip where I was actually scared--four girls on a train with a group of drunk, aggitated men yelling would be a scary situation anywhere. But adding the fact that probably 80% of the rest of the passengars on the train were part of their group, plus no police officers in sight, it definitely got a little scary.
Once we arrived in Leipzig, we waited while the Nazis got out of the train and listened to hundreds of them break out into shouts of "All foreigners out!" We went to the bathroom, and when we were leaving, the Nazis who had sat close to us on the train were outside the bathroom. As we walked out, they again made rude comments to us. The feeling of vulnerability that we had was just awful.
Thankfully, the rest of our journey home was uneventful and we returned to Erfurt thoroughly exhausted. Personally, I am glad that we decided to go to Dresden even after we found out about the riots. The entire experience was incredibly interesting and something that I have never witnessed in my life. It is hard to believe that there are still that many people who believe in such an awful philosophy, but it was also good to see that even more German citizens came out to protest that kind of hatred. Hopefully the gap will continue to grow.
St. Stephen's Basilica: Really pretty church that was completed, I think, around 1905. Like many other things in Europe, it was damaged in WWII, but is now restored. Inside the church is the mummified right hand of St. Stephen, which lights up when you drop 100Ft into the box. Unfortunately, it was being used in a private ceremony so we did not get to see this wonder.
Me inside Parliament. My guide book says, "The palatial Gothic Parliament stands 96m tall, a number that symbolizes the date of Hungary's millennial anniversary. The building was modeled after the UK's, right down to the facade and the riverside location." Interesting :) We took a tour of Parliament and it was very interesting...and fancy!
Me, Erin, and Halley crossing over the Danube from Buda to Pest.
Inside the Matthias Church which was converted into a mosque in 1541, and then renovated again 145 years later when the Hapsburgs defeated the Turks. The outside was gorgeous with a very colorful roof.
The Buda Castle--now houses museums. While in the Castle District, we went on a tour of the Castle Labyrinths, which Let's Go Europe gave a thumbs up to. Note: If you are ever in Budapest, do NOT go to the Castle Labyrinth. It was just a ridiculous tourist trap, and sadly we fell for it. Although, with the ending pitch-black Labyrinth of Courage section, it almost got to be so ridiculous it was worth it. Also while in the Castle District, we saw the Prime Minister going on a stroll with his wife :)
In the Labyrinth of Courage...Halley trying to find the sun.
Looking over to Pest from the Castle District.