We have a close friend in Dresden, in fact our first ‘au pair’ girl – a devout Lutheran. Charles and I have stayed there with her and her husband.
In February this year we were very sad to see the media focussing on the Neo-Nazis during the commemoration of the destruction of central Dresden on the 13th February 1945. They seemed interested only in the negative side, neglecting the positive elements of hope for the future. The Neo-Nazis were in fact few and ignored; and we learnt from our Dresden friends that people carrying wide brooms even advanced on them and literally swept them out of the Square.
The theme of reconciliation was keenly felt by the citizens of Dresden, who convened peacefully in the city centre in a spirit of acknowledgement of German guilt and enduring responsibility. The light of burning candles carried the message ‘Dresden is fed up with Nazis’. The Lutheran and Roman Catholic bishops who led the service in the Freuzkirche were assisted by clergy from Britain, Poland and the Netherlands.
The city has now substantially been rebuilt, with the Frauenkirche topped by a new golden pinnacle cross from Britain, commissioned from a London goldsmith whose father had been directly involved in the bombing.
Coincidences, or little miracles as I prefer to all them, have abounded. [i] I received a telephone call from Dorothea in Dresden about all this, shocked to learn about the media’s reporting in England [ii] within days I received the Corrymeele magazine [Connections] containing articles about Ray Davey’s time in Dresden. Corrymeela in Northern Ireland is a centre for reconciliation, founded by him in 1965. He had been a chaplain at Queen’s University in Belfast, and in 1945 as a prisoner he was in a camp ministering to British prisoners of war outside Dresden. Extracts from his diaries recording how he felt walking about he ruined city are most moving. [iii] As I knew Ray Davey personally, having done quit e a lot of work for and at Corrymeela, I forwarded copies of our friend’s letter to Ray and Corrymeela, and of the Corrymeela magazine to our friends in Dresden. Ray replied immediately, and was most interested. So were our German friends.
Judy has a copy of the Corrymeela magazine and our friend’s account of the Dresden commemoration if anyone would like to see these.