..November 2016.. ..Dresden..
I recently found out that Mr. Rudolf Eichner passed away. He was one of the first fire bombing survivors I photographed in Dresden.
Mr. Eichner was photographed holding a chess piece that was given to him by his father while he was staying at the hospital. His father regularly visited him to play chess.
The hospital was destroyed by the second wave of bombers on February 13th, 1945. The injured struggled to scramble out of the hospital. Rudolf and a few others sought refuge in a nearby garden where they were cornered by the growing firestorm.
Every year on the anniversary of the bombings Rudolf returned to the spot where he had fought the inferno. Three years later, February 13th, 1948, he found a chess piece, a black knight, from the chess set destroyed by the flames.
Mr. Eichner was a proud man who rigorously fought during the DDR times and after unification for recognition of those who perished in the destruction of Dresden.
Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Rudolf Eichner