German ruling says Dresden was a holocaust

Telegraph ^ | 4-12-5 | Hannah Cleaver in Berlin

[SJackson]

Given their history I understand the basis of Germany's criminalization of Nazism and Holocaust denial, but wherever there are judges there are unintended consequences.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

How do they characterize the blitz of London?

[aQ_code_initiate]

Payback for RAF bombings of cities in the Ruhr Valley during the spring and summer of 1940.

[SJackson]

How do they characterize the blitz of London?

That would only be an issue if you spoke the words in Germany, but it's a very interesting question. My guess, they'd say the same thing, it was a holocaust.

[Petronski]

Calling Dresden a holocaust only serves to destroy the word holocaust, which can only serve to minimize the Holocaust.

[SJackson]

Payback for RAF bombings of cities in the Ruhr Valley during the spring and summer of 1940.

Destroying staging areas, which imo largely ends the discussion.

[SpaceBar]

I'm assuming the phrase "it takes two to tango" doesn't translate well into german.

[aQ_code_initiate]

Strictly speaking, the word "holocaust," which comes from the ancient Greek for "burnt", might seem apt for Dresden, much of it immolated by the fires started by the RAF's incendiary bombs.

Considering that tens of thousands of refugees were literally incinerated during the bombings, "holocaust" is a very apt term.

[Petronski]

[aQ_code_initiate]

The RAF used area bombardments from beginning to end. The RAF's strategic doctrine was based on destroying the will of the enemy civilian population, thus Dresden.

[PeterPrinciple]

I think it would have been better to call it a tsunami....it is a much more popular word.

[G32]

Germany's real lucky they didn't get a nuke or 2 up their rears. They should shut their yaps.

[aQ_code_initiate]

Why? Do you still want to nuke them?

[SJackson]

The RAF's strategic doctrine was based on destroying the will of the enemy civilian population, thus Dresden.

Yes, but Dresden was a legitimate military target. Clearly given the destructive scope of that war it's hard to separate those objectives.

[Michael.SF.]

I'm assuming the phrase "it takes two to tango" doesn't translate well into german.

Well, actually, it does:

Es nimmt zwei, zu tanzen Tango

[aQ_code_initiate]

Bombing and strafing refugees is a legitimate military action? Okay, I understand.

[aQ_code_initiate]

After the war Churchill even admitted that Dresden was targeted just to "rub it in."

[G32]

You missed my point. They're lucky they lost the war conventionally through such firebombing instead of nuclear warheads like Japan had to be dealt.

[Yasotay]

A VERY good book on the subject.

[Tribune7]

How about the bombings of Warsaw & Rotterdam?