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105-546: After the bombing of Dresden during World War II , the Green Vault was completely restored. Today, its treasures are shown in two exhibitions: The Historic Green Vault ( Historisches Grünes Gewölbe ) is famous for its splendors of the historic treasure chamber as it existed in 1733, while the New Green Vault ( Neues Grünes Gewölbe ) focuses the attention on each individual object in neutral rooms. The Green Vault

210-454: A chalcedony bowl in a filigree that is supported between the horns of a stag's head. Two dolphins spew water into the bowl for her bath. A pearl is suspended in place of the shaft, while the bowl seems to float on the tips of the stag's antlers. This piece depicts the mythological scene in which the unapproachable Diana changes the hunter Actaeon into a deer and has him torn to pieces by his own dogs for having watched her bathing. The base of

315-515: A munitions storage depot. The USAF report also states that two of Dresden's traffic routes were of military importance: north-south from Germany to Czechoslovakia , and east–west along the central European uplands . The city was at the junction of the Berlin - Prague - Vienna railway line, as well as the Munich - Breslau , and Hamburg - Leipzig lines. Colonel Harold E. Cook, a US POW held in

420-588: A synthetic oil plant in Magdeburg . Another 84 bombers would attack Wesel . The bomber groups were protected by 784 North American P-51 Mustangs of the Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command , 316 of which covered the Dresden attack – a total of almost 2,100 Eighth Army Air Force aircraft over Saxony during 14 February. The smoke plume over Dresden by now reached 15,000 ft (4,600 m) and

525-480: A "high priority". Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris , AOC-in-C Bomber Command , nicknamed "Bomber Harris", was known as an ardent supporter of area bombing ; when asked for his view, he proposed a simultaneous attack on Chemnitz , Leipzig and Dresden. That evening Churchill asked the Secretary of State for Air , Sir Archibald Sinclair , what plans had been drawn up to carry out these proposals. Marshal of

630-536: A 49.71-carat (9.942 g) carat cushion-shaped diamond, is on display. Also unique is a 648-carat (129.6 g) sapphire , a present from czar Peter I of Russia . Three of the Jewel Garnitures were removed during a robbery on 25 November 2019. So far they have yet to be recovered. The jewel-studded obelisk Obeliscus Augustalis was made by Johann Melchior Dinglinger in 1719–21. The 2.28 metres (7.5 feet) high obelisk with 240 stones and figures

735-566: A Colombian mine, was given to Elector Augustus by Emperor Rudolf II as a gift in 1581. The " moor " is actually an elegantly dressed South American Indian, who presents the Colombian emerald cluster on a tray of tortoiseshell . The Jewel Garnitures (Juwelen-Garnituren) constitute the largest collection of jewels in Europe. They represented the monarchs' claim of absolute power. Here, the "Dresden White" or "Saxon White" ( Sächsische Weiße ),

840-608: A Mosquito, gave the order to the Lancasters: "Controller to Plate Rack Force: Come in and bomb glow of red target indicators as planned. Bomb the glow of red TIs as planned". The first bombs were released at 22:13, the last at 22:28, the Lancasters delivering 881.1 tons of bombs, 57% high explosive, 43% incendiaries. The fan-shaped area that was bombed was 1.25 mi (2.01 km) long, and at its extreme about 1.75 mi (2.82 km) wide. The shape and total devastation of

945-695: A Western plan, but the Soviets were told in advance about the operation. According to the RAF at the time, Dresden was Germany's seventh-largest city and the largest remaining unbombed, built-up area. Taylor writes that an official 1942 guide to the city described it as "one of the foremost industrial locations of the Reich " and in 1944 the German Army High Command 's Weapons Office listed 127 medium-to-large factories and workshops that were supplying

1050-476: A block. Between 01:21 and 01:45, 529 Lancasters dropped more than 1,800 tons of bombs. On the morning of 14 February 431 United States Army Air Force bombers of the Eighth Air Force 's 1st Bombardment Division were scheduled to bomb Dresden near midday, and the 457 aircraft of 3rd Bombardment Division were to follow to bomb Chemnitz , while the 375 bombers of the 2nd Bombardment Division would bomb

1155-589: A bluish-green color. Due to this coloring, the rooms were referred to as the "Green Vault." The official name of these rooms, which were protected against fire and robbery by thick walls and iron shutters and doors, was "Privy Repository" ( Geheime Verwahrung ). Throughout the 17th century, the Privy Repository was used by the rulers of the Electorate of Saxony as a private treasure chamber for important documents and jewelry. Then, between 1723 and 1729,

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1260-575: A department store and a bank robbery. One of the thieves was also involved in the theft of a gold coin from the Bode museum in Berlin . Prior to the 2019 heist, the collection consisted of over 4,000 pieces, with almost 1,100 on display in the New Green Vault and about 3,000 shown in the Historic Green Vault. Entrance to the Historic Green Vault requires advance purchase of tickets for a specific entry time slot. A limited number of tickets

1365-565: A falsified casualty figure of 200,000, and death tolls as high as 500,000 have been claimed. These inflated figures were disseminated in the West for decades, notably by David Irving , a Holocaust denier , who in 1966 announced that the documentation he had worked from had been forged and that the real figures supported the 25,000 number. Early in 1945, the German offensive known as the Battle of

1470-402: A few months before his death. The frigate, with a crew of almost 50 tiny sailors made of ivory, is supported by the god of the seas. One of the mainsails, also made of extremely thin ivory, displays the coat of arms of elector Johann Georg I and his wife Magdalene Sibylle . The "Golden Coffee Service" presents the cups and saucers and sugar bowls on an elaborate pyramidal etagère surmounted by

1575-594: A ground plan from 1727 on which he drew his ideas. As in the first construction phase, the architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann planned and built a museum-like, artistic structure of German Baroque grandeur. A suite of eight interconnecting rooms was constructed whose architectural beauty complemented the abundance and quality of the priceless treasures. Augustus the Strong could now exhibit his entire collection of valuables, including bronze statues and works of art in silver , gold , amber and ivory . The sequence of rooms

1680-883: A memorial to German Emperor Frederick III , which was destroyed by the East German authorities. Currently, the Bode-Museum is home to the Skulpturensammlung, the Museum für Byzantinische Kunst and the Münzkabinett (sculpture, coins and medals, and Byzantine art). As part of the Museum Island complex, the Bode-Museum was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 because of its outstanding architecture and testimony to

1785-759: A new, thorough investigation, collecting and evaluating available sources. The results were published in 2010 and stated that between 22,700 and 25,000 people had been killed. Bode museum The Bode Museum , formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum ( Emperor Frederick Museum ), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin . It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of German Emperor William II according to plans by Ernst von Ihne in Baroque Revival style . The building's front square featured

1890-405: A sapphire, 16 pearls and two cameos. It was created by the royal goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger , his brothers and others, between 1701 and 1708. The elector paid almost 60,000 talers for it, more than he did for the construction of Moritzburg Castle . The "Bath of Diana" (or "Diana Bathing") was Dinglinger's favorite work: the goddess Diana , carved out of ivory, is seated at the edge of

1995-503: A synthetic oil plant in Böhlen , 60 mi (97 km) from Dresden, while 71 de Havilland Mosquito medium bombers attacked Magdeburg with small numbers of Mosquitos carrying out nuisance raids on Bonn , Misburg near Hanover and Nuremberg . When Polish crews of the designated squadrons were preparing for the mission, the terms of the Yalta agreement were made known to them. There

2100-612: A total of at least 21,895 buried bodies from the Dresden raids, including those cremated on the Altmarkt . Between 100,000 and 200,000 refugees fleeing westward from advancing Soviet forces were in the city at the time of the bombing. Exact figures are unknown, but reliable estimates were calculated based on train arrivals, foot traffic, and the extent to which emergency accommodation had to be organised. The city authorities did not distinguish between residents and refugees when establishing casualty numbers and "took great pains to count all

2205-451: A woman. I can see her to this day and shall never forget it. She carries a bundle in her arms. It is a baby. She runs, she falls, and the child flies in an arc into the fire. Suddenly, I saw people again, right in front of me. They scream and gesticulate with their hands, and then—to my utter horror and amazement—I see how one after the other they simply seem to let themselves drop to the ground. (Today I know that these unfortunate people were

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2310-462: Is also sold every morning. The New Green Vault can be visited at any time. The Historic Green Vault has approximately 3,000 pieces of jewelry on display, including works in gold, amber, and ivory. Gemstone vessels and bronze statuettes are on display without showcases, in front of mirrored display walls. The Historic Green Vault is located on the first floor of Dresden Castle, and spans roughly 2,000 square metres. With these treasure chambers, Augustus

2415-574: Is due to natural exposure to radioactive materials. It was acquired by Augustus III of Poland from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at the Leipzig Fair . Augustus ordered his "house diamond" to be mounted into a decorative badge of the Golden Fleece . His grandson Frederick Augustus I of Saxony commissioned the Dresden court jeweler Diesbach to alter it radically. The framed diamond was incorporated into an extremely valuable hat ornament. It became

2520-437: Is going to be done". In response to Churchill's inquiry, Sinclair approached Bottomley, who asked Harris to undertake attacks on Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz as soon as moonlight and weather permitted, "with the particular object of exploiting the confused conditions which are likely to exist in the above-mentioned cities during the successful Russian advance". This allowed Sinclair to inform Churchill on 27 January of

2625-509: Is located on the first and second floors of the western section of Dresden Castle . It is now part of the Dresden State Art Collections . In 1547, Holy Roman elector Moritz of Saxony ordered the construction of an additional wing to Dresden Castle . Four of the added rooms on the first floor of the palace were given elaborate, molded plaster ceilings. In these rooms, the column bases and capitals were painted

2730-574: Is no exaggeration to say that in the new Bode Museum, Europe will be able for the first time to read its history — aesthetic and religious, intellectual and political — in a three-dimensional form." In 2015, the museum started a new project for Arabic- and Persian-speaking refugees and other Muslim visitors titled " Multaka - Museum as Meeting Point". This intercultural project organizes guided tours for refugees and migrants designed and offered for free by specially trained guides. The visitor-centered discussions with migrants in their language are focused on

2835-699: The Coventry Blitz , when loss of this crucial infrastructure had supposedly longer-lasting effects than attacks on war plants. During the Yalta Conference on 4 February, the Deputy Chief of the Soviet General Staff, General Aleksei Antonov , raised the issue of hampering the reinforcement of German troops from the western front by paralyzing the junctions of Berlin and Leipzig with aerial bombardment. In response, Portal, who

2940-522: The Friedrichstadt marshaling yard the night before the attacks, later said that "I saw with my own eyes that Dresden was an armed camp: thousands of German troops, tanks and artillery and miles of freight cars loaded with supplies supporting and transporting German logistics towards the east to meet the Russians". An RAF memo issued to airmen on the night of the attack gave some reasoning for

3045-765: The Königstein Fortress . The Green Vault was severely damaged in the February 13, 1945 bombing of Dresden in World War II . Three of the eight rooms were totally destroyed. At the end of the war in 1945, the treasures were confiscated by the Red Army and transported to the Soviet Union . After their return to Dresden in 1958, part of the collection was displayed at the Albertinum . In 2004,

3150-620: The Middle Ages , the Italian Gothic , and the early Renaissance , including the controversial Flora attributed by Bode to Leonardo da Vinci but now widely argued to be a 19th-century work. Late German Gothic works are also represented by Tilman Riemenschneider , the south German Renaissance, and Prussian Baroque art up to the 18th century. In the future selected works of the Gemäldegalerie will be integrated into

3255-645: The Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 as a commemorative piece, was stolen from the museum. The coin, at 50 cm in diameter and 2.8 cm in thickness, is made of 24-karat gold and is worth around €3.7 million. A ladder was found on the train tracks nearby, leading German police to speculate that the thief entered the building by breaking open a window in the back of the museum next to the railway tracks. The thieves were later found to be 21 and 23-year-old cousins Ahmed and Wissam Remmo, along with their friend, Denis W. Police do not expect to ever recover

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3360-580: The historical origin and history of acquisition of cultural objects, including the visitors' own understanding of their country's cultural heritage . In 2019 the four founding museums in Berlin joined six similar museums in the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece and Switzerland, creating the international Multaka network. On 27 March 2017, a solid gold coin called the Big Maple Leaf , issued by

3465-542: The Air Staff's agreement that, "subject to the overriding claims" on other targets under the Pointblank Directive , strikes against communications in these cities to disrupt civilian evacuation from the east and troop movement from the west would be made. On 31 January, Bottomley sent Portal a message saying a heavy attack on Dresden and other cities "will cause great confusion in civilian evacuation from

3570-791: The Bulge had been exhausted, as was the Luftwaffe 's failed New Year's Day attack . The Red Army had launched its Silesian Offensives into pre-war German territory. The German army was retreating on all fronts, but still resisting. On 8 February 1945, the Red Army crossed the Oder River , with positions just 70 km (43 mi) from Berlin . A special British Joint Intelligence Subcommittee report, German Strategy and Capacity to Resist , prepared for Winston Churchill 's eyes only, predicted that Germany might collapse as early as mid-April if

3675-429: The Dresden operation as the justified bombing of a strategic target, which United States Air Force reports, declassified decades later, noted as a major rail transport and communication centre, housing 110 factories and 50,000 workers supporting the German war effort. Several researchers later asserted that not all communications infrastructure was targeted, and neither were the extensive industrial areas located outside

3780-464: The Friedrichstadt district west of the city centre, as the area was not obscured by smoke and cloud. The 303rd group arrived over Dresden two minutes after the 379th and found their view obscured by clouds, so they bombed Dresden using H2X radar. The groups that followed the 303rd (92nd, 306th, 379th, 384th and 457th) also found Dresden obscured by clouds, and they too used H2X. H2X aiming caused

3885-523: The German military and police. He asserted in Dresden im Luftkrieg (1977) that only a few tales of civilians being strafed were reliable in detail, and all were related to the daylight attack on 14 February. He concluded that some memory of eyewitnesses was real, but that it had misinterpreted the firing in a dogfight as deliberately aimed at people on the ground. In 2000, historian Helmut Schnatz found an explicit order to RAF pilots not to strafe civilians on

3990-473: The German radar system was also degraded, lowering the warning time to prepare for air attacks. The RAF also had an advantage over the Germans in the field of electronic radar countermeasures. Of 796 British bombers that participated in the raid, six were lost, three of those hit by bombs dropped by aircraft flying over them. On the following day, only a single US bomber was shot down, as the large escort force

4095-564: The Germans could see that a large enemy bomber formation—or what they called " ein dicker Hund " (lit: a fat dog, a "major thing")—was approaching somewhere in the east. At 21:39 the Reich Air Defence Leadership issued an enemy aircraft warning for Dresden, although at that point it was thought Leipzig might be the target. At 21:59 the Local Air Raid Leadership confirmed that the bombers were in

4200-598: The New Green Vault was opened on the second floor of the rebuilt Dresden castle. Its modern style of presentation centers on the works of art. In 2006, the reconstructed Historic Green Vault was reopened in the magnificent suite of rooms on the first floor as it had existed in 1733 at the time of its founder's death. On 25 November 2019, the Green Vault was broken into , and three sets of early 18th century royal jewellery were stolen. Each set consists of 37 items, made up of diamonds , rubies , emeralds , and sapphires . It

4305-626: The Royal Air Force Sir Charles Portal , the Chief of the Air Staff , answered: "We should use available effort in one big attack on Berlin and attacks on Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz, or any other cities where a severe blitz will not only cause confusion in the evacuation from the East, but will also hamper the movement of troops from the West." He mentioned that aircraft diverted to such raids should not be taken away from

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4410-533: The Soviets on the Eastern Front could shorten the war. A large scale aerial attack on Berlin and other eastern cities was examined under the code name Operation Thunderclap in mid-1944, but was shelved on 16 August. This was later reexamined, and the decision made to pursue a more limited operation. The Soviet Army continued its push towards the Reich despite severe losses, which they sought to minimize in

4515-526: The Soviets overran its eastern defences. Alternatively, the report warned that the Germans might hold out until November if they could prevent the Soviets from taking Silesia . Despite the post-war assessment, there were serious doubts in Allied intelligence as to how well the war was going for them, with fears of a "Nazi redoubt " being established, or of the Russian advance faltering. Hence, any assistance to

4620-523: The Strong realised his vision of a Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts) as an expression of wealth and absolutist power. He presented his treasures to a select public, thus establishing the Green Vault as one of Europe's oldest museums. The Historic Green Vault consists of nine rooms and one entrance chamber: One of the most important statues in the collection is the "Moor with Emerald Cluster" ( Mohr mit Smaragdstufe ; also known as "Moor with Emerald Plate" or "Moor with Platter of Emeralds"). It

4725-430: The area of Dresden- Pirna . Taylor writes the city was largely undefended; a night fighter force of ten Messerschmitt Bf 110 Gs at Klotzsche airfield was scrambled, but it took them half an hour to get into an attack position. At 22:03 the Local Air Raid Leadership issued the first definitive warning: "Warning! Warning! Warning! The lead aircraft of the major enemy bomber forces have changed course and are now approaching

4830-499: The area was created by the bombers of No. 5 Group flying over the head of the fan ( Ostragehege stadium) on prearranged compass bearings and releasing their bombs at different prearranged times. The second attack, three hours later, was by Lancaster aircraft of 1 , 3 , 6 and 8 Groups , 8 Group being the Pathfinders. By now, the thousands of fires from the burning city could be seen more than 60 mi (97 km) away on

4935-404: The army with materiel . Nonetheless, according to some historians, the contribution of Dresden to the German war effort may not have been as significant as the planners thought. The US Air Force Historical Division wrote a report, which remained classified until December 1978, in response to international concern about the bombing. It said that there were 110 factories and 50,000 workers in

5040-475: The attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, behind an already partially collapsed front, to prevent the use of the city in the way of further advance, and incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do. In the raid, major industrial areas in the suburbs, which stretched for miles, were not targeted. According to historian Donald Miller , "the economic disruption would have been far greater had Bomber Command targeted

5145-532: The bombings was rapid. According to the official German report Tagesbefehl (Order of the Day) no. 47 ("TB47") issued on 22 March, the number of dead recovered by that date was 20,204, including 6,865 who were cremated on the Altmarkt square, and they expected the total number of deaths to be about 25,000. Another report on 3 April put the number of corpses recovered at 22,096. Three municipal and 17 rural cemeteries outside Dresden recorded up to 30 April 1945

5250-478: The city area". Some 10,000 fled to the great open space of the Grosse Garten, the magnificent royal park of Dresden, nearly 1.5 square miles (3.9 km ) in all. Here they were caught by the second raid, which started without an air-raid warning, at 1:22 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., the third wave of bombers, the two hundred eleven American Flying Fortresses, began their attack. To my left I suddenly see

5355-515: The city centre. Critics of the bombing argue that Dresden was a cultural landmark with little strategic significance, and that the attacks were indiscriminate area bombing and were not proportionate to military gains . Some claim that the raid was a war crime . Nazi propaganda exaggerated the death toll of the bombing and its status as mass murder , and many in the German far-right have referred to it as "Dresden's Holocaust of bombs". In

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5460-529: The city supporting the German war effort at the time of the raid. According to the report, there were aircraft components factories; a poison gas factory (Chemische Fabrik Goye and Company); an anti-aircraft and field gun factory (Lehman); an optical goods factory ( Zeiss Ikon AG); and factories producing electrical and X-ray apparatus ( Koch & Sterzel  [ de ] AG); gears and differentials (Saxoniswerke); and electric gauges (Gebrüder Bassler). The report also mentioned barracks, hutted camps, and

5565-498: The coffeepot, all in enameled gold, a cabinet piece unique in Europe. Here, Dinglinger masterfully combines the most diverse artistic forms to produce an avantgarde work of art which can be regarded as one of the first manifestations of the fashion for chinoiserie . Augustus took the recently completed ensemble with him to Warsaw at Christmas 1701, to dazzle the nobles of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , of which he

5670-543: The collections is both geographic and chronological, with the Byzantine and Gothic art of northern and southern Europe displayed separately on the museum's first floor and a similar regional division of Renaissance and Baroque art on its second floor. The sculpture collection displays artwork of the Christian Orient (with an emphasis on Coptic Egypt ), sculptures from Byzantium and Ravenna , sculptures of

5775-483: The collections. In total, more than 400 paintings and about 300 sculptures were missing due to looting during the fire or destroyed in the fire itself. Closed for repairs since 1997, the museum was reopened on 18 October 2006, after a €156 million refurbishment. True to the ethos of its founding director, Wilhelm von Bode, who believed in mixing art collections, it is now the home for a collection of sculptures, Byzantine art , and coins and medals. The presentation of

5880-410: The current primary tasks of destroying oil production facilities , jet aircraft factories, and submarine yards . Churchill was not satisfied with this answer and on 26 January pressed Sinclair for a plan of operations: "I asked [last night] whether Berlin, and no doubt other large cities in east Germany, should not now be considered especially attractive targets ... Pray, report to me tomorrow what

5985-485: The dead, identified and unidentified". This was largely achievable because most of the dead succumbed to suffocation; in only four places were recovered remains so badly burned that it was impossible to ascertain the number of victims. The uncertainty this introduced is thought to amount to no more than 100 people. 35,000 people were registered with the authorities as missing after the raids, around 10,000 were later found alive. A further 1,858 bodies were discovered during

6090-443: The decades since the war, large variations in the claimed death toll have led to controversy, though the numbers themselves are no longer a major point of contention among historians. City authorities at the time estimated that there were as many as 25,000 victims, a figure that subsequent investigations supported, including a 2010 study commissioned by the city council. In March 1945, the German government ordered its press to publish

6195-598: The development of museums as a cultural phenomenon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum after Emperor Frederick III , the museum was renamed in honor of its first curator, Wilhelm von Bode , in 1956. During World War II , portions of the collection were stored in an antiaircraft tower called the Flakturm Friedrichshain for safe keeping. In May 1945, several fires destroyed some of

6300-545: The east and hamper movement of reinforcements from other fronts". British historian Frederick Taylor mentions a further memo sent to the Chiefs of Staff Committee by Air Marshal Sir Douglas Evill on 1 February, in which Evill states interfering with mass civilian movements was a key factor in the decision to bomb the city centre. Attacking main railway junctions, telephone systems, city administration and utilities would result in "chaos". Britain had ostensibly learned this after

6405-540: The elector Frederic Augustus I , today referred to as Augustus the Strong, turned the private chambers into a public museum. First, he commanded splendid rooms to be created in which to display his collection. The Pretiosensaal (Hall of Treasures) and the Eckkabinett (Corner Cabinet) were listed as completed in the inventory of 1725; they reached their present-day form in this construction phase. An extension followed in 1727. Augustus’ intentions have been preserved on

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6510-508: The final phase of the war. On 5 January 1945, two North American B-25 Mitchell bombers dropped 300,000 leaflets over Dresden with the "Appeal of 50 German generals to the German army and people". On 22 January 1945, the RAF director of bomber operations, Air Commodore Sydney Bufton , sent Deputy Chief of the Air Staff Air Marshal Sir Norman Bottomley a minute suggesting that if Thunderclap

6615-484: The focal point of a 14.1 cm (5.6 in) high hat clasp, where it was surrounded by two large colorless diamonds of 19.3-carat (3.86 g) and 6.3-carat (1.26 g) carat plus 411 additional medium-sized and small diamonds. This is the setting that the Dresden Green Diamond still appears in today. Bombing of Dresden This is an accepted version of this page The bombing of Dresden

6720-623: The ground – the second wave had been able to see the initial fires from a distance of over 90 mi (140 km). The Pathfinders therefore decided to expand the target, dropping flares on either side of the firestorm, including the Hauptbahnhof , the main train station, and the Großer Garten , a large park, both of which had escaped damage during the first raid. The German sirens sounded again at 01:05, but these were small hand-held sirens that were heard within only

6825-482: The groups to bomb with a wide dispersal over the Dresden area. The last group to attack Dresden was the 306th, and they finished by 12:30. No evidence of strafing of civilians has ever been found, although a March 1945 article in the Nazi-run weekly newspaper Das Reich claimed this had occurred. Historian Götz Bergander, an eyewitness to the raids, found no reports on strafing for 13–15 February by any pilots or

6930-399: The high-explosive bombs ranging in weight from 500 to 4,000 lb (230 to 1,810 kg) —the two-ton "cookies" , also known as "blockbusters", because they could destroy an entire large building or street. The high explosives were intended to rupture water mains and blow off roofs, doors, and windows to expose the interiors of the buildings and create an air flow to feed the fires caused by

7035-562: The incendiaries that followed. The Lancasters crossed into France near the Somme , then into Germany just north of Cologne . At 22:00 hours, the force heading for Böhlen split away from Plate Rack, which turned south-east toward the Elbe. By this time, ten of the Lancasters were out of service, leaving 244 to continue to Dresden. The sirens started sounding in Dresden at 21:51 (CET). The 'Master Bomber' Wing Commander Maurice Smith, flying in

7140-854: The old town and the inner eastern suburbs had been engulfed in a single fire that had destroyed almost 12,000 dwellings. The same report said that the raids had destroyed the Wehrmacht 's main command post in the Taschenbergpalais , 63 administration buildings, the railways, 19 military hospitals, 19 ships and barges, and a number of less significant military facilities. The destruction also encompassed 640 shops, 64 warehouses, 39 schools, 31 stores, 31 large hotels, 26 public houses/bars, 26 insurance buildings, 24 banks, 19 postal facilities, 19 hospitals and private clinics including auxiliary, overflow hospitals, 18 cinemas, 11 churches and 6 chapels, 5 consulates, 4 tram facilities, 3 theatres, 2 market halls,

7245-417: The piece presents the forest floor , upon which lies the head of the stag Actaeon, with the dogs falling ravenously upon it. The inscription picked out in diamonds on the rim of the base reads, "DISCRETION SERT EFFRONTERIE PERD" ("Discretion is laudable, indiscretion unwise"). The 41-carat (8.2 g) Dresden Green Diamond is the most valuable diamond in the whole Green Vault. The stone's unique green color

7350-407: The present day. With approximately 500,000 items, the collection is a unique archive for historical research, while its medal collection also makes it an important art exhibition. Writing in The Financial Times on the occasion on the museum's reopening in 2006, Neil MacGregor , director of the British Museum , hailed "the most comprehensive display of European sculpture anywhere." He added: "It

7455-410: The previous raid, their ordnance was scattered over a wide area. Dresden's air defences had been depleted as anti-aircraft guns were requistioned for use against the Red Army in the east, and the city lost its last massive flak battery in January 1945. The Luftwaffe was largely ineffective, with planes that were unsafe to fly due to lack of parts and maintenance and a critical shortage of aviation fuel;

7560-584: The raid: Dresden, the seventh largest city in Germany and not much smaller than Manchester is also the largest unbombed builtup area the enemy has got. In the midst of winter with refugees pouring westward and troops to be rested, roofs are at a premium, not only to give shelter to workers, refugees, and troops alike, but to house the administrative services displaced from other areas. At one time well known for its china , Dresden has developed into an industrial city of first-class importance ... The intentions of

7665-412: The reconstruction of Dresden between the end of the war and 1966. Since 1989, despite extensive excavation for new buildings, no new war-related bodies have been found. Seeking to establish a definitive casualty figure, in part to address propagandisation of the bombing by far-right groups, the Dresden city council in 2005 authorised an independent Historians' Commission ( Historikerkommission ) to conduct

7770-405: The resulting firestorm destroyed more than 1,600 acres (6.5 km ) of the city centre. Up to 25,000 people were killed. Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city's railway marshalling yard and one smaller raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas. Postwar discussions about whether the attacks were justified made the event a moral cause célèbre of

7875-518: The royal goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger and other jewelry from the Baroque era. In total, there are roughly 1,100 pieces on display in the New Green Vault. The New Green Vault is located on the second floor of the castle, and is roughly the same size as the Historic vault, at approximately 2,000 square metres. The New Green Vault consists of 12 rooms: The "Cherry Stone with 185 Carved Faces"

7980-457: The sculpture collection. This is reminiscent of William von Bode's concept of "style rooms", in which sculptures, paintings, and crafts are viewed together, as was usual in upper middle-class private collections. The Münzkabinett ("coin cabinet") is one of the world's largest numismatic collections. Its range spans from the beginning of minting in the 7th century BC in Asia Minor up to

8085-580: The size of small children, pieces of arms and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from." "I cannot forget these terrible details. I can never forget them." The sirens started sounding in Dresden at 21:51 (CET). Frederick Taylor writes that

8190-511: The streets and buildings. It was then that we realized we were trapped in a locked cage that stood every chance of becoming a mass grave. There were few public air raid shelters . The largest, beneath the main railway station, housed 6,000 refugees. As a result, most people took shelter in cellars, but one of the air raid precautions the city had taken was to remove thick cellar walls between rows of buildings and replace them with thin partitions that could be knocked through in an emergency. The idea

8295-480: The suburban areas where most of Dresden's manufacturing might was concentrated". In his biography of Attlee and Churchill, Leo McKinstry wrote: "When Churchill arrived at Yalta on 4 February 1945, the first question that Stalin put to him was: 'Why haven't you bombed Dresden?' His enquiry reflected the importance that the Soviet Union attached to an attack on the city, following intelligence reports that Germany

8400-516: The target for the bombers to aim at. The attack was to centre on the Ostragehege sports stadium, next to the city's medieval Altstadt (old town), with its congested and highly combustible timbered buildings. The main bomber force, called Plate Rack , took off shortly after the Pathfinders. This group of 254 Lancasters carried 500 tons of high explosives and 375 tons of incendiaries ("fire bombs"). There were 200,000 incendiaries in all, with

8505-468: The vicinity. The official historical commission collected 103 detailed eyewitness accounts and let the local bomb disposal services search according to their assertions. They found no bullets or fragments that would have been used by planes of the Dresden raids. On 15 February, the 1st Bombardment Division's primary target—the Böhlen synthetic oil plant near Leipzig —was obscured by clouds, so its groups diverted to their secondary target, Dresden. Dresden

8610-404: The victims of lack of oxygen.) They fainted and then burnt to cinders. Insane fear grips me and from then on I repeat one simple sentence to myself continuously: "I don't want to burn to death". I do not know how many people I fell over. I know only one thing: that I must not burn. Suddenly, the sirens stopped. Then flares filled the night sky with blinding light, dripping burning phosphorus onto

8715-476: The war. Nazi Germany's desperate struggle to maintain resistance in the closing months of the war is widely understood today, but Allied intelligence assessments at the time painted a different picture. There was uncertainty over whether the Soviets could sustain their advance on Germany, and rumours of the establishment of a Nazi redoubt in Southern Germany were taken too seriously. The Allies saw

8820-413: The way back from Dresden. He also reconstructed timelines with the result that strafing would have been almost impossible due to lack of time and fuel. Frederick Taylor in Dresden (2004), basing most of his analysis on the work of Bergander and Schnatz, concludes that no strafing took place, although some stray bullets from aerial dogfights may have hit the ground and been mistaken for strafing by those in

8925-760: The zoo, the waterworks, and 5 other cultural buildings. Almost 200 factories were damaged, 136 seriously (including several of the Zeiss Ikon precision optical engineering works), 28 with medium to serious damage, and 35 with light damage. An RAF assessment showed that 23 per cent of the industrial buildings and 56 per cent of the non-industrial buildings, not counting residential buildings, had been seriously damaged. Around 78,000 dwellings had been completely destroyed; 27,700 were uninhabitable, and 64,500 damaged but readily repairable. During his post-war interrogation, Albert Speer , Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production , said that Dresden's industrial recovery from

9030-472: Was a common mix when the USAAF anticipated cloudy conditions over the target. 316 B-17 Flying Fortresses bombed Dresden, dropping 771 tons of bombs. The remaining 115 bombers from the stream of 431 misidentified their targets. Sixty bombed Prague , dropping 153 tons of bombs, while others bombed Brüx and Pilsen . The 379th bombardment group started to bomb Dresden at 12:17, aiming at marshalling yards in

9135-569: Was a group of Lancasters from Bomber Command's 83 Squadron , No. 5 Group , acting as the Pathfinders , or flare force, whose job it was to find Dresden and drop magnesium parachute flares, known to the Germans as "Christmas trees", to mark and light up Dresden for the aircraft that would mark the target itself. The next set of aircraft to leave England were twin-engined Mosquito marker planes, which would identify target areas and drop 1,000-pound (450 kg) target indicators (TIs) that marked

9240-542: Was a huge uproar, since the Yalta agreement handed parts of Poland over to the Soviet Union. There was talk of mutiny among the Polish pilots, and their British officers removed their side arms. The Polish Government ordered the pilots to follow their orders and fly their missions over Dresden, which they did. The first of the British aircraft took off at around 17:20 hours CET for the 700-mile (1,100 km) journey. This

9345-560: Was a joint British and American aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden , the capital of the German state of Saxony , during World War II . In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and

9450-413: Was able to prevent Luftwaffe day fighters from disrupting the attack. "It is not possible to describe! Explosion after explosion. It was beyond belief, worse than the blackest nightmare. So many people were horribly burnt and injured. It became more and more difficult to breathe. It was dark and all of us tried to leave this cellar with inconceivable panic. Dead and dying people were trampled upon, luggage

9555-440: Was acquired by Augustus the Strong directly from Dinglinger's workshop. This cabinet piece, conceived as an indoor monument, shows a portrait of Augustus the Strong at the centre of the monument. He is presented as a king revered by peoples from classical antiquity , as becomes obvious by the cameos of famous men and women from this classical period skillfully carved on the shaft of the obelisk. The New Green Vault contains works of

9660-415: Was also obscured by clouds, so the groups targeted the city using H2X. The first group to arrive over the target was the 401st, but it missed the city centre and bombed Dresden's southeastern suburbs, with bombs also landing on the nearby towns of Meissen and Pirna . The other groups all bombed Dresden between 12:00 and 12:10. They failed to hit the marshalling yards in the Friedrichstadt district and, as in

9765-413: Was clear, Chemnitz was the target. If both were obscured, they would bomb the centre of Dresden using H2X radar . The mix of bombs for the Dresden raid was about 40 per cent incendiaries—much closer to the RAF city-busting mix than the USAAF usually used in precision bombardment. Taylor compares this 40 per cent mix with the raid on Berlin on 3 February, where the ratio was 10 per cent incendiaries. This

9870-400: Was created before 1589 by an unknown artist, probably using a magnifying glass . Actually, only 113 faces can be distinguished on this cherry pit, which is integrated into an earring. This tiny work of art was given as a present to Elector Christian I of Saxony in 1589. The "Large Ivory Frigate Supported by Neptune " was the last work of Jacob Zeller. It was completed in the summer of 1620,

9975-408: Was deliberately staged, presenting the objects according to their materials. By the end of his almost four-decade-long reign in 1733, Augustus the Strong had made his crown treasures and his inherited riches accessible to the public – an unprecedented innovation in the Baroque period. These rooms remained unchanged for almost two centuries. When war was imminent in 1938, the art treasures were taken to

10080-472: Was estimated that the stolen items were worth up to 1 billion euros ( US$ 1.1 billion). In December 2022, investigators found 31 objects stolen in the 2019 burglary, reportedly after talks with the lawyers of six men on trial for the theft. In May 2023, five men were found guilty of the heist. The robbers were a part of the Remmo clan, a criminal clan that is involved in organised crime and conducted raids on

10185-463: Was in Yalta, asked Bottomley to send him a list of objectives to discuss with the Soviets. Bottomley's list included oil plants, tank and aircraft factories and the cities of Berlin and Dresden. However, according to Richard Overy , the discussion with the Soviet Chief of Staff, Aleksei Antonov, recorded in the minutes, only mentions the bombing of Berlin and Leipzig. The bombing of Dresden was

10290-399: Was left or snatched up out of our hands by rescuers. The basket with our twins covered with wet cloths was snatched up out of my mother's hands and we were pushed upstairs by the people behind us. We saw the burning street, the falling ruins and the terrible firestorm. My mother covered us with wet blankets and coats she found in a water tub." "We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to

10395-433: Was left to RAF Bomber Command to carry out the first raid. It had been decided that the raid would be a double strike, in which a second wave of bombers would attack three hours after the first, just as the rescue teams were trying to put out the fires. As was standard practice, other raids were carried out that night to confuse German air defences . Three hundred and sixty heavy bombers ( Lancasters and Halifaxes ) bombed

10500-436: Was manufactured by the royal goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger together with Balthasar Permoser , probably in 1724. The statue is 63.8 centimetres (2.09 feet) high and richly decorated with jewels. It was created because Augustus the Strong wanted to exhibit a precious emerald cluster, studded with 16 dark green emeralds, in his new Schatzkammer museum. The emerald cluster, a "miracle of nature" which originally came from

10605-694: Was moving large numbers of troops towards the Breslau Front . Churchill assured Stalin that an Allied attack was imminent." The Dresden attack was to have begun with a USAAF Eighth Air Force bombing raid on 13 February 1945. The Eighth Air Force had already bombed the railway yards near the centre of the city twice in daytime raids: once on 7 October 1944 with 70 tons of high-explosive bombs killing more than 400, then again with 133 bombers on 16 January 1945, dropping 279 tons of high-explosives and 41 tons of incendiaries . On 13 February 1945, bad weather over Europe prevented any USAAF operations, and it

10710-421: Was plainly visible to the approaching raid. Primary sources disagree as to whether the aiming point was the marshalling yards near the centre of the city or the centre of the built-up urban area. The report by the 1st Bombardment Division's commander to his commander states that the targeting sequence was the centre of the built-up area in Dresden if the weather was clear. If clouds obscured Dresden but Chemnitz

10815-418: Was that, as one building collapsed or filled with smoke, those sheltering in the basements could knock walls down and move into adjoining buildings. With the city on fire everywhere, those fleeing from one burning cellar simply ran into another, with the result that thousands of bodies were found piled up in houses at the ends of city blocks. A Dresden police report written shortly after the attacks reported that

10920-841: Was the nominal ruler. "The Royal Household at Delhi on the Occasion of the Birthday of the Grand Mogul Aureng-Zeb " represents contemporary European fantasies of "Oriental despotism" in India . At the time, Augustus the Strong was under serious threat due to setbacks in the Nordic Wars . In contrast, the Grand Mogul embodies the dream of absolute power and immeasurable riches. This masterpiece of European jewelers’ art comprises 4,909 diamonds, 164 emeralds, 160 rubies,

11025-582: Was timed so that it appeared to be a coordinated air attack to aid the current Soviet offensive, then the effect of the bombing on German morale would be increased. On 25 January, the Joint Intelligence Committee supported the idea, as Ultra -based intelligence had indicated that dozens of German divisions deployed in the west were moving to reinforce the Eastern Front, and that interdiction of these troop movements should be

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