After the bombardment in 1945 the Frauenkirche in Dresden was almost totally destroyed only a portal on the lefthandside was still standing. When they rebuild the church they reused some of the old stones (the black ones) https://www.frauenkirche-dresden.de/en/building/
This afternoon I reread parts of the book Till we meet again. The story of Gunner Bert Martin in 1941-1945.
Part of his story was situated in Dresden. I can really recommend this book as it is very moving.
@quietpurplehaze Hi Hazel, This afternoon we arrived in Dresden and before we went for a walk trough the city I reread parts of your fathers book. It must have been so very dreadful to have been ordered to help with moving all the debris of the bombardment.
Jacqueline, it is interesting to see your photo of the Frauenkirche and thank you so much for the mention of my father's book. And, yes, it surely was the worst part of his time as a PoW when he and his fellow prisoners had to go into Dresden to help clear up the mess. He was unable to write about it in his diary at the time and only spoke about it when he was interviewed by the Imperial War Museum about his wartime experiences when he was 61.
Same thing happened to the Bishops Residenz in Wuerzburg and the Marienburg in Aschaffenburg. They had to be rebuilt. In fact, they were still rebuilding the Residenz in Wuerzburg when we were there in the early 1990s.
Jacqueline, it is interesting to see your photo of the Frauenkirche and thank you so much for the mention of my father's book. And, yes, it surely was the worst part of his time as a PoW when he and his fellow prisoners had to go into Dresden to help clear up the mess. He was unable to write about it in his diary at the time and only spoke about it when he was interviewed by the Imperial War Museum about his wartime experiences when he was 61.
If you or anybody was interested to read that interview it is freely available:
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=Martin%2C+Bertram+Haig+5193&items_per_page=10
Scroll down a little to find (and click on):
Martin, Bertram Haig (Oral history)
thanks for sharing
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@valpetersen Thanks Val!