SnakeTongue
Graduate Poster
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- Aug 16, 2010
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I disagree.
Dresden historical commission publishes final report
The »Historical Commission on the Aerial Bombing of Dresden between 13th and 15th February 1945« brought its investigations on behalf of the City of Dresden to a close on 17th March 2010 with the publishing of a final report. Following the presentation to Mayor Helma Orosz, the report was on the same day made available to the general public both in book form and via the city's website.
(...)
It was not a feasible objective of the investigations to determine each individual person killed in Dresden in February 1945 with any degree of certainty. It was rather the intention to establish the order of the total figure, in other words to determine the number of deaths within a significantly narrower range than that to be derived from the current debate. This was accomplished successfully by the Commission. Essential characteristics of the research work were both the extraordinarily broad interdisciplinary approach and intensive use of the possibilities offered by electronic information processing.
(...)
Over the course of intensive research in archives, the records of cemeteries both in and outside Dresden and the files of the register offices and local courts, almost 60,000 data records were acquired in an electronic database. In the majority of cases, several records referred to one and the same person. The data gathered related to both identified persons and unidentified remains. It was subsequently possible, on the basis of this data, to essentially reconstruct the processes of recovery, registration and burial after the bombing. (...)
The plausibility of the newly determined figure was tested in several further phases of study. Neither the documentary records, nor the numerous contentions and narratives to be found in literature and the media revealed sustainable arguments which placed the result in doubt.
(...)
The Commission gave consideration to the number of refugees killed in Dresden from several perspectives; their number is frequently assumed to be very high. The analysis of individual records, however, revealed clearly that the proportion of refugees among those killed during the aerial bombing of Dresden was actually only small. This conclusion was also confirmed by a statistical evaluation of the records of nationally active tracing services.
(...)
Through its intensive treatment of the memories of eyewitnesses, the Commission was once more able to reconstruct the human dimension of the Dresden catastrophe of February 1945 in particularly vivid form. The personally specific records in the electronic database, too, permit a view beyond bare figures and bring to light the individual suffering of those affected. The Commission understands its work as a contribution to a scientific portrayal of historical events and to responsible remembrance of the fate of those who lost their lives in Dresden.
http://www.dresden.de/en/02/07/03/historical_commission.php
The »Historical Commission on the Aerial Bombing of Dresden between 13th and 15th February 1945« brought its investigations on behalf of the City of Dresden to a close on 17th March 2010 with the publishing of a final report. Following the presentation to Mayor Helma Orosz, the report was on the same day made available to the general public both in book form and via the city's website.
(...)
It was not a feasible objective of the investigations to determine each individual person killed in Dresden in February 1945 with any degree of certainty. It was rather the intention to establish the order of the total figure, in other words to determine the number of deaths within a significantly narrower range than that to be derived from the current debate. This was accomplished successfully by the Commission. Essential characteristics of the research work were both the extraordinarily broad interdisciplinary approach and intensive use of the possibilities offered by electronic information processing.
(...)
Over the course of intensive research in archives, the records of cemeteries both in and outside Dresden and the files of the register offices and local courts, almost 60,000 data records were acquired in an electronic database. In the majority of cases, several records referred to one and the same person. The data gathered related to both identified persons and unidentified remains. It was subsequently possible, on the basis of this data, to essentially reconstruct the processes of recovery, registration and burial after the bombing. (...)
The plausibility of the newly determined figure was tested in several further phases of study. Neither the documentary records, nor the numerous contentions and narratives to be found in literature and the media revealed sustainable arguments which placed the result in doubt.
(...)
The Commission gave consideration to the number of refugees killed in Dresden from several perspectives; their number is frequently assumed to be very high. The analysis of individual records, however, revealed clearly that the proportion of refugees among those killed during the aerial bombing of Dresden was actually only small. This conclusion was also confirmed by a statistical evaluation of the records of nationally active tracing services.
(...)
Through its intensive treatment of the memories of eyewitnesses, the Commission was once more able to reconstruct the human dimension of the Dresden catastrophe of February 1945 in particularly vivid form. The personally specific records in the electronic database, too, permit a view beyond bare figures and bring to light the individual suffering of those affected. The Commission understands its work as a contribution to a scientific portrayal of historical events and to responsible remembrance of the fate of those who lost their lives in Dresden.
http://www.dresden.de/en/02/07/03/historical_commission.php
