Archbishop of Canterbury & Bombing Dresden

on February 15, 2015

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, representing the Church of England, commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Allied bombing of Dresden with a mournful speech in the German city, prompting British newspapers to claim he had apologized for the Royal Air Force.

At the restored Protestant cathedral in Dresden, surrounded by German civil and religious officials, Welby said: “So as a follower of Jesus I stand here among you with a profound feeling of regret and deep sorrow.” Perhaps omitting “regret” and sticking with “sorrow” would have avoided confusion.

Welby responded indignantly to the media interpretations of his Dresden sermon with his own clarifying blog, denying any apology, recalling his great uncle had died in Bomber Command, the heroism of British air crews, the terrible losses from German bombing of British cities, that the “great evil of the Nazis created a great war, and during it terrible things were done, by necessity, by the nature of war.” He implored:

So let us mourn and learn, honour the heroism of those who defeated Hitler and his regime, celebrate our freedoms, and in the strength of Jesus Christ struggle for peace and reconciliation, of which he is the source.

The British and American bombing of Dresden, by most accounts likely Germany’s most beautiful city, where about 25,000 lost their lives in an horrific inferno, has been controversial for 70 years.

Critics complain the war was nearly over, the city was engorged with civilian refugees, few legitimate military targets were destroyed, and the raid was more vindictive than productive. Defenders note Dresden was a key industrial and transportation hub near the fast approaching eastern front, was ardently pro-Nazi, was insufficiently prepared to protect civilians due to Nazi indifference, proportionately suffered less than other cities, and its devastation shocked previously defiant German public opinion into accepting unconditional surrender.

The late Christopher Hitchens noted that the small handful of Jews in Dresden who had not yet been shipped to extermination by their countrymen likely saw the bombing with mixed emotions. So likely too did thousands of enslaved laborers from German occupied nations who were compelled to toil in Dresden’s war factories in service to the Third Reich’s death machine.

Hitler reputedly received news of Dresden’s destruction with silent stoicism. The leveling of one more city by his enemies was humiliating, but he was infamously indifferent to suffering even by his own people, even deciding by war’s end that they deserved their demise.

The fireballs that raged through Dresden’s ornate streets starting on the evening of February 13, 1945 as British bombers dropped their payloads likely resembled the Devil’s own Hell to many fleeing and perishing victims. But to some they may have resembled the thunderbolts of divine judgment. Dresden’s great synagogue was torched on Kristallnacht in 1938, and the congregation was billed for the cost of removing the rubble. Dresden, like countless other great German cities, had elected, supported, armed, and stood by Hitler, his wars of conquest and his genocides. The dead at Dresden across three days of Allied bombing equalled about four days of exterminated Jews at Auschwitz, or a few days of dead civilians across the Eastern Front.

In his Dresden homily, Welby quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “From now on there can be no more wars of faith. The only way to overcome our enemy is by loving them.” Welby used the quote from The Cost of Discipleship somewhat out of context, as Bonhoeffer was contrasting the “wars of God against the world of idols” in the Old Testament with the Church’s very different mission.

Welby’s better quote concludes his homily: “We should never underestimate the miracle which peace in Europe represents – arguably the most significant political process of reconciliation in history.”

And that miracle was only possible thanks to the comprehensive defeat and destruction of Nazi Germany, of which the horrible fate of Dresden was only one tragic chapter of several days in a six year war that killed 50 million.

  1. Comment by Patrick98 on February 16, 2015 at 11:54 am

    Does anyone (historian or otherwise) know if any German clergyperson has ever apologized or expressed regret for the German bombing of Coventry?

  2. Comment by Mark Salmon on February 16, 2015 at 12:47 pm

    Always interesting to note that most of the comment comes from those wishing to rubbish the Archbishop and also from those who have not read the text nor heard the talk in question. In fact the ABC is very well qualified to speak on this subject as he has spent a significant amount of time working in Coventry Cathedral… and working for forgiveness and reconciliation. Surely it has to be a Christian trait to work for better understanding and to grieve with those who grieve rather than seek to rub salt in old wounds…
    And for the record there were 568 killed in the bombing of Coventry, 22-25,000 killed in Dresden!

  3. Comment by Mark Salmon on February 16, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    Perhaps read what he wrote, then decide.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/justin-welby/dresden-archbishop-of-canterbury_b_6682962.html

  4. Comment by Patrick98 on February 16, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    Thank you for the link to the article. It was informative and worthwhile to read the source.

  5. Comment by Greg on February 16, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    Mark,
    You put the Dresden bombings in the proper context of a world war started by the Germans.
    I’ve always been struck by the bombed out Kaiser Wilhelm Church in Berlin, which stands “as a testimony for [future] peace.” I always think to myself, “Yeah. Easy for the losing side, who was also the instigator, to now come out on the side of “peace.” If the Germans had one, I’m sure that church would be said to be symbolizing something very different.

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