Dresden firebombings February 13 1945 « I Killed the King With My Lies

Posts Tagged ‘Dresden firebombings February 13 1945’

Interview on John Batchelor Show WABC Radio- July 2017

Sunday, July 30th, 2017

..July 2017.. ..New York..

This is the link Friday night’s interview about From Above on The John Batchelor Show on WABC Radio. We cover some of my journey to Hiroshima and Nagasaki photographing atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha). The exhibition will once return to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Hall in December 2017 and will also be shown for a limited time at the Tenri Cultural Institute in NY from August 2nd-15th.

A huge thank you to Mr. Batchelor for having me on the show again. The John Batchelor show is the highest rated radio show in New York at the 9pm time slot. Honored again to be asked back to the show!

Remaining copies of From Above, my limited edition book, featuring portraits and testimonials of atomic bomb survivors and fire bombing survivors from Dresden and Tokyo can be purchase exclusively by clicking this link.
http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=I1040&i&i2

The exhibition will be open August 2nd-15th. The gallery hours are:
Monday-Friday 12pm-6pm
Saturday 10-3pm
Closed on Sunday
www.terni.org
TENRI Cultural Institute 46 W. 13th, New York, NY.

Tags: Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, Exhibition, Exhibition Review, From Above, Hibakusha, Hiroshima, Interview, John Batchelor Show, Nagasaki
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From Above, Kleines Haus Theatre, Dresden

Monday, March 6th, 2017

..February 2017.. ..Dresden..

Dresden firebombing survivors Nora Lang and Anita John in front of their portrait at the From Above exhibition in the Kleines Haus Theatre.

Mrs. Lang and Mrs. John grew up on the same street and have been friends from childhood. Both escaped death during the Dresden firebombings on February 13th, 1945.

From Above was shown as a part of the commemoration program in Dresden. The exhibition featured portraits of firebombing survivors from Dresden, Coventry (UK), Tokyo, Wielun (Poland) and Rotterdam (Netherlands). It was an honor once again to bring the exhibition back to Dresden.

Tags: Anita John, Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, Exhibition, From Above, Nora Lang
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Dresden

Monday, February 13th, 2017

..Dresden..

“In the middle of the night my mother came into the bedroom and shook me in a way like never before. Our suitcases were already packed and we frantically ran down to the cellar. A neighbor heard on the radio that a large formation of bombers was on its way. My mother was shaking because the air raid sirens sounded a full alarm. It was like having cold bucket of water poured down my body.” -Katarina Brünnel

The banks of the Elbe with Dresden in the background. On the night of February 13th, 1945 the baroque city of Dresden was pummeled by three waves of Allied firebombings.

The city burnt to ash for weeks. Dresden, once known as “Florence on the Elbe”, sat as a pile of debris for many years and is still being rebuilt.

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, Elbe River, From Above, Katarina Brünnel
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Rudolf Eichner

Thursday, November 24th, 2016

..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
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Günther Kannegießer

Friday, September 9th, 2016

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Gunther Kannegiesser, Johannisfriedhof Cemetery
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Lieselotte Rüger

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Lieselotte Rüger
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Nora Lang and Anita John

Sunday, August 21st, 2016

“It’s hard to put into words; it left a mark on our lives.”
-Anita John

Nora Lang (left) and Anita John (right) were close friends growing up. They lived down the street from each other in Dresden-Johannstadt. Nora was 13 1/2 and Anita was 12 years old when Dresden was destroyed during the infamous WWII air raid.

Nora was separated from her family during the chaos but luckily everyone survived. Anita’s family and neighbors took shelter in a cellar. Soldiers clearing debris on top of the collapsed cellar found Anita passed out sixteen hours after the raid. She lost her parents and was the only survivor in the cellar.

Mrs. Lang and Mrs. John are photographed in front of the damaged church, Trinitatiskirche. It is located a few streets from where they experienced the bombings. Mrs. Lang and Mrs. John were one of the few survivors I met who continued to live near to where they had lived at the time of the bombings. For Mrs. John, I believe in some respect it is a way for her to still be close to her parents.

Tags: Anita John, Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, Nora Lang, Trinitatiskirsche
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Ursula Elsner

Monday, May 23rd, 2016

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Ursula Elsner
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Mrs. Margarethe Buhr

Thursday, April 21st, 2016

..April 2016.. ..Dresden..

“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t cry a tear. Nothing at all.”
-Mrs. Margarethe Buhr
I received the sad news that Mrs. Margarethe Buhr passed away a couple of weeks ago. Mrs. Buhr was one of the Dresden fire bombing survivors I photographed during my first trip to Dresden. She was the oldest survivor I photographed from Dresden.

Her portrait became the photograph I used to present the Dresden survivors in the From Above exhibitions. The photo was used on the book jacket.

She was already partially blind when I photographed her portrait against a surviving baroque churches, but her eyes were the most telling eyes I have ever photographed. Her eyes seemed to pierce through the camera lens.

Her testimony about the surviving the destruction of Dresden was one of the most brutal I have heard. She was living in an area which was pummeled into ash. People boiled to death when they jumped into fountains thinking they could escape the raging fires.

I will always remember her saying that she was born in 1919 at the same time the German troops began to return home from WW I. The war ended months before but troops didn’t return home from the front until the spring of 1919.

Mrs. Buhr was 96 year old. I consider myself lucky to have spent time with Mrs. Buhr. She will be greatly missed. It was an honor to have known her.

The last time I saw Mrs. Buhr was at a gathering with other Dresden fire bombings survivors in Mrs. Lang’s home.

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Margaret Buhr
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Katarina Brünnel

Monday, April 11th, 2016

Tags: Dresden, Dresden firebombings February 13 1945, From Above, Katarina Brünnel
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I Killed the King With My Lies