Dresden
Sculptures guard a street in Dresden
February 13, 2005
We transferred at the German border town of Görlitz on our way to Dresden from Krakow.
The passport control held us up and spend just enough time with Elizabeth’s Bolivian
passport in order for us to miss our connection. The border guards were odd, the
one had the lead and the others simply followed him around. We could only give our
passports to the lead and he got a nice hat instead of a beret like his cronies.
We got the next train about a half hour later and that ride was interesting to say
the least. The neo-Nazis began piling in and it felt like we were on our way to
a book burning or an anti-Semite convention. About half the train consisted of skinheads.
It was a little uncomfortable, but nothing that made me feel threatened.
At the train station in Dresden the trend continued and the station was filled with
police in full riot gear and a large number of skinheads. We arrived at our hostel,
checked in, then immediately turned around into town, the capital of Saxony.
As we approached Hauptstraße we ran into a line of police in riot gear and they
checked our passports and questioned us. It was rather nice, the street was empty
except for us and a few others sporadically spread throughout the street. All the
shops were closed and the city seemed overly quiet.
We continued south across the bridge to Altstadt and the heart of the city. The
police were everywhere and the young crowds were numerous, but still settle. We
passed the Hofkirche church, which was amazing and seems like the true heart of
the city along with the neighboring Opera house. The Dresden opera is considered
among the best in the world and many of Strauss’s and Wagner’s music was premiered
here. This area, Schlossplatz and Theaterplatz was nice and we found a street vendor
selling brats, so of course I bought two and hopefully a streak of brat eating has
begun.
Ratskeller
Hofkirche
After passing the New Town Hall, we continued south and decided to go down to the
Grosser Garten and see the palace that stands in the middle. The palace looked wounded
and winter may not be the best time to go.
We decided to head back north to the city’s heart. We walked around a bit and saw
the Frauenkirche, a church that was destroyed in 1945, but only re-built since the
fall of East Germany. The Frauenkirche was considered Germany’s greatest Protestant
church before the war and the statue of Martin Luther in front symbolizes this.
The church has both black and white stone, the black the original and the white
only recently added to the archeological finds. Only two sections seemed to be more
original than modern, but the entire structure is incredible and the sporadic black
stones show the realism that the city experienced. The surrounding area is still
being constructed.
We also walked down Augustusstraße and saw the incredible Procession of Princes
painted on the wall of the Royal Stables. Nearby, to the southern edge of the bridge,
we found ourselves in the middle of a protest rally and completely surrounded by
either police or angry student protesters. Students were all over including on the
steps to the Brühlsche Terrasse. We tried to get out of the protest, but the police
wouldn’t let us, so we stayed and enjoyed the atmosphere.
We later did get out, but only after talking to a police officer who checked our
passports. He also talked of the anniversary of the bombing and how although many
people there were supporting the bombing by celebrating liberation, others were
protesting it and saw the bombing of Dresden as cruel and unnecessary, most of these
people were neo-Nazis and Nationalists. This led to a crazy atmosphere and the police
officer said since they didn’t know who was on what side, they simply had to close
the city off to all youths and keep them contained; since we were youths that included
us.
Jim was a bit scared, but Elizabeth pointed out that there were babies everywhere
and that there was obviously no threat if there were babies. The police backed off
at one point to take away any threat the crowd felt from their close presence. At
another point police cars came across the bridge and blocked it off as more police
cars came for the opposite direction isolating us.
After enjoying the scene for quite some time, we left and grabbed a bite to eat
a couple blocks from everything. While walking around the city for the rest of the
day we again showed our passports for freedom of movement and soon we came to a
square where people were lighting candles for the bombing victims, which all political
sides contributed to.
Closer to the river we grabbed a couple brats and soon after the bells starting
chiming, just before 6:00pm; they continued for about 25 minutes. This was to honor
the dead and symbolize the bombing; the city fell into a silence, only the church
bell could be heard and no one dared interrupt. This was the "highlight"
of the city; to me this feeling will forever be synonymous with Dresden; the city
could give me no more.
With this silence we crossed the bridge along with hundreds of others vacating the
downtown.
Courtyard in Dresden
Terrace in Dresden after the protests
Kunstakademie & Frauenkirche