“My family was living in the Dresden Neustadt at the time of the firebombings. I was the eldest of five children and attended the Dresden Neustadt School. For about a year my mother and all the children stayed with relatives outside the city because they thought it would be safer during the war. In December 1944, we returned to Dresden because there had been no major attacks on the city. Our family hoped that the war would end because they believed Dresden would eventually be attacked.
At the time of the bombing we rushed into the cellar. The house next to us suffered a direct hit and nine people died. When the bomb detonated it had such an intense impact I thought the entire city was gone. We spent all night in the cellar. There was another family, who were artists, that had a flat in the building but they weren’t home at the time. They returned in between bombing waves and told us what was happening in the city.
In the morning our aunt from Heidelberg came by bicycle to check if we were alive. Dresden Neustadt wasn’t hit badly compared to the rest of the city but still when we went outside there were fires raging. The wind was carrying sparks everywhere. Flames came out of the windows of buildings, filling the air with smoke. Some men were putting water on roofs to prevent the sparks from igniting more fires. We prepared a wagon and passed Alaunpark, the big park which was used by the military, on the way to Heidelberg. There were many people leaving the city and even horse wagons pulling burnt and dead people. We thought that nothing would be left and we would never see the city again.”
-Renate Baum, Dresden firebombing survivor
Renate Baum is photographed in the cellar where her family experienced the firebombings 77 years ago.
On February 13th, 1945 the baroque city of Dresden, Germany was firebombed into cinder by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. The attack was divided into three bombing raids dropping over 4,500 tons of high explosives, including incendiary bombs, onto the city known as “Florence on the Elbe.” This portrait is a part of my From Above project which featured portraits of atomic bomb and firebombing survivors from WWII. My limited edition book is available at https://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=I1040&i=&i2=
A selection of From Above portraits taken in Dresden and also including portraits of firebombing survivors from Coventry, Rotterdam, Tokyo and atomic bomb survivors is now being exhibited in Dresden at the outdoor display case in front of the Gewandhaus Strasse from February 12th-March 26th. Eight portraits will be displayed along with short testimonies. The photographs will change every two weeks.
Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Renate Baum