Surviving in Dresden

14th February 1945: Amid utter destruction and suffering, a few people have reason to be thankful for the bombing - and a chance to survive the war

A famous view from the old town hall of the devastation to Dresden

The beautiful centre of Dresden in the early part of the war. The city also encompassed many important war industries and was a vital transport hub - just like many other cities destroyed by Allied and German bombing.

The bombing of Dresden had brought salvation for Victor Klemperer¹. As one of the few surviving Jews in the city, he had spent the 13th February distributing official letters warning most of the remaining Jews to report for ‘deportation’. Few had any illusions about what this meant. They were either being sent to a concentration camp or they were going to be worked to death digging tank ditches somewhere on the outskirts of the city.

The single factor that had prevented Klemperer from being sent off to a death camp before now was his 'Aryan' wife, Eva. After a terrifying night during which they were separated, he was reunited with Eva in the early morning. She had immediately cut off the yellow star on his overcoat.

From now on, in the confusion following the bombing, he would assume a 'purely German' identity. Like tens of thousands of others, he had lost everything, including his identity papers, in the fire. Miraculously, his diary, which chronicles life in wartime Germany in great detail, had survived.

USAAF bombers arrived for a second raid just after midday, as Dresden was still burning from the night before.