Post-war Dresden: resurrection from the ruins. German Democratic Republic (GDR): history, capital, flag, coat of arms

DRESDEN Twenty years ago, on the night of February 13-14, 1945, on the night of Tuesday, the last day of Shrovetide, on Wednesday, the first day of Lent, the largest Allied air raid on the German city during World War II was carried out - the bombing of Dresden. thrice in

September 28th. I overslept and got up at 7 am. The alarm clock on the phone did not start, but turned it off so that it would not be discharged in the cold air. Went to the toilet, got ready quickly. Richard and Fiona were also about to have breakfast - they are thorough tourists, like me, riding on the foothills and nuts. Richard will show me a book, a guide to the EuroVelo 7 bike route (from Norway to southern Italy). According to this book, it turned out that Dresden was still 90 km from the place of our deployment. And I thought just over a hundred from Prague. Therefore, today we will have to leave the bike path and cut off along other routes.

On the other side of Usti nad Labem

I got to Uste nad Labem. Learned the way to the border to drive through Petrovice And Helendorf. Now you need to cross the river and drive through the city. I found a supermarket in the city. At 8 in the morning it was already open, and I stocked up on kefir, sausage and horns. While I was packing all this into a backpack in the parking lot, another cyclist came up and managed to stuff his entire basket with a bunch of food into the bags on the bike and into the backpack. I asked him how I could get to the border in a shorter time. He first started his Czech: i don’t speak English, sorry, mister. But to the question: The road to Petrovich to Dresden? reacted and the herd became more sociable and showed on my navigator the best way to go. You need to go through Klumets, but before Naklerovo there will be a steep climb. Think scared. Thanks a lot for the hint.

Leaving the city, I see the poster of the local hockey. Team Usti nad Labem - Slovan plays in the second league and today they play with the Knights of Kladno. Rivals from Kladno - this team belongs to Jaromir Jagr and his father. How. But today we have no time, we have to fly from Dresden tomorrow. Therefore, we are waiting for the GDR.

Arrived normally Chlumec passed the interchange. There were steles with lions in honor of the victory over Napoleon. As I understood from the inscriptions on the monuments, here the Austrians defeated Napoleon well. But in addition to the Austrians, Russian troops also fought here. Therefore, there is an Austrian stele in German and Russian, respectively, in Russian. These are some amazing places.

And now an amazing ascent to the pass will begin. How do you cross the railroad Telnice, then the track immediately leads sharply uphill. Six kilometers of very steep climb. We put the stars in the lowest gears, turn off the brain, slowly repeat to ourselves "we are living in yellow submarine" and so on for each turn of the wheel. We are not in a hurry, we do not tear the veins. We just spin slowly. Halfway through I made a stop, noticed a steep forest where we could organize a wild overnight stay yesterday. Marked a place on the map - all of a sudden he will bring it to these places. And here is the view from the hill.

A little more and I'm at the pass. Cafe Vandam is located here. This is the name of the French generals who defeated ours in the battle in these places. And here people in the field fly kites. In fact, there is no Nakler settlement itself. There are only 5-6 yards. And a very piercing wind.

Now I'm rolling down the mountain. It’s as cool as going uphill, only ten kilometers and already to the very border. I fly over Petrovich without stopping. There are many shops and markets to sell inexpensive Czech goods to visiting German residents. But all the goods here, of course, are Chinese, and the sellers are mostly Vietnamese. The local producer is represented by bags of potatoes. I am thoroughly cold and I want to drink coffee. But money is running out and there is no desire and opportunity to call in a cafe. There is a gas station for the last kilometer to the border. There is also a coffee machine. I pour some change for her and drink two cups of hot coffee for 12 crowns. Hooray. I warmed up and you can say goodbye to the Czech Republic.

I drive into the GDR and immediately notice that there are more cars. It took me half an hour of driving along the side of the road to get used to the more active flow of cars. We need to get back on the bike path to be more comfortable. And this means you need to turn towards the Elbe to the city of Pirna. The road is always downhill, except for a small climb. But then down again.

I drove into Pirna and decided to cross the river in order to find a path on the opposite bank. But just in case, I stopped a local cyclist. He volunteered to show the way and did not take me to the bridge, but led me to the bike path in a tricky way. The one on Dresden. I thanked him and drove along the Elbe. That's how I cut off 25-30 kilometers, and roll through Germany. The inscriptions are all incomprehensible, but you can spend euros, and I have them. At one in the afternoon I made a halt and dined on buns and gingerbread, which I bought in the Czech Republic in the morning.

In one place there was a detour. In such situations, it is immediately clear that the bicycle is treated as a means of transportation. Firstly, in connection with the detour, all signs and signs of the bike path were hung up. So that I would drive and know where to turn and not get lost on the way. All pointers. I counted at least 20 signs on this detour, which had to be replaced from a straight arrow to an arrow with a turn. Secondly, when I returned to the bike path along the river and turned back, I understood why they made a detour. Just in this section, a team of workers on a truck and two cranes cut off old and long branches above the bike path. So that they don't fall and hurt anyone. For the safety of cycling. Not by car.

Before Dresden eight kilometers. In fact, I'm already in the city. Passed the TV tower on the mountain. More cyclists. And jogging on a parallel track. I checked with the navigators and left at the right place on the bridge in order to continue my journey along the opposite bank of the Elbe. Great views from both sides of the river. I stopped and asked a student sitting with a book to take a picture of me with a Nokia Lumia phone. Here's what happened.

There are no fewer cyclists in the city. There are separate traffic lights at intersections and lined bike paths throughout the city. I quickly found Kangaroo Hostel where I plan to stay for one night. At the reception, they give me bedding, a key and a map of the area and appreciate my joke about the country Deutsche Demokratische Republik. – Same shit but another name of country.

Last 79 km of travel

Using the computer at the reception, I uploaded all my tracks to Strava, washed off and went for a drive around the city. The tables for Octoberfest are already set. You can come and fill yourself with beer and sausages. I stopped by the Dresden gallery, but today is Monday - all museums are closed. It will be necessary to have time tomorrow morning before the flight to look at the Sistine Madonna by Raphael.

There are very beautiful trams on an established public transport network.

And this is a bicycle parking near the station. I counted 150 bikes, and half the parking lot on the other side of the square. Total more than 200 great. Can you imagine how much space such parking will take for cars? This is all a response to the stench of motorists who are not willing to pay for parking within the city. And in doing so, they demand that the authorities build more free parking lots. But it's just not possible. The earth is not infinite. Especially in the city center.

I went to two camping equipment stores - I looked at what tents were on sale. But I did not find anything light and compact for myself. I went for a walk along the street filled with cafes and did not find sausages, but I ate an awesome shawarma (donner in the local custom). The Kurdish guys make a crazy shawarma with so much meat that we need to buy three of these or open our own shawarma. With a belly full of local beer and meat, he went to bed. In the hostel, I chatted with a dude from Italy, Giorgio, who came to study in Dresden. I came with a guitar to learn German. A semester of study - 6 months costs 250 euros. The rest are housing and food costs. And the rest - a freebie. All documents sent by e-mail and received by e-mail.

I woke up early in the morning as usual. But the hostel was closed and I stuck around in the kitchen making teas. I chatted with a dude from Munich - he came to Dresden for a massage and chiropractic practice. And then Giorgio woke up. And his eyes are as sad as all Italians. Like Eros Ramazzotti. But I saw that he was stupidly hungry. He took out his sausage bread and waffles and called him to eat. I left everything that I hadn’t eaten to him, because I have to fly away at lunchtime. Offered him leftover nut stock, but he said he was allergic. He eats a nut and there will be an attack. After breakfast, I dug through the trash can and was rewarded with three plastic bottles. I need them to pack it on a plane.

And then I managed to walk to the Gallery in Dresden. I looked at the paintings of European masters. The funny thing is, most of the pictures I've already seen. I had them on German DDR brands. As a child, when I was collecting stamps, I decided that I would collect paintings and flowers. Nobody advised me to do this. But I decided so. I myself now wonder where I then had a craving for beauty.

I didn’t bother with the trip to the airport, but took the train. Another 30-40 minutes carefully packed great. I wrapped the whole frame with newspapers and tape. The big star was closed with a plastic bottle cut along. And he put the cock and the rear derailleur in another plastic bottle. There were no representatives at the registration Aeroflot. Registration is carried out by the airport itself. I was asked if my bike was paid for - I answered that they should look at the booking, there should be a corresponding note. Everything was found, I took the bike to the window of oversized cargo. Upon arrival, I waited a long time to be carried to Sheremetyevo. The bike flew without the slightest scratch. I love Sukhoi SuperJet 100.

The plane was flying a man with a bicycle helmet, who lives in both Moscow and Dresden, and said that in Dresden there are huge kilometers of bike paths, taking into account the suburbs. And driving in the morning to Prague and back is quite normal entertainment. You need to try this as well.
That's all.

Conclusion: if you plan to ride in Europe, then for the first time, choose any of the main EuroVelo cycle routes and follow the signs. Europe is not so expensive if you travel by bike. And I plan to continue studying European countries next summer.

Dresden

Dresden

Dresden

Dresden

Dresden

GDR - echo of socialism

Dresden - a man on a horse

All ready to celebrate Oktoberfest

Dresden

Bridge over the Elbe to the old town

Cycle path on the bridge over the Elbe

Demolish everything and build a new garden city from scratch - How often do I hear such suggestions. An old house of the 19th or 20th century interferes with the construction of a road or the construction of a business center? It's simple: "you understand, the city must develop" and the bulldozers go on the attack. Every month, cities across the country lose historic buildings and about every week some detail. In all this process we lose ourselves.

In the process of rapid urbanization, it is important not to lose face and identity. Today, at best, we preserve the ceremonial heritage in the form of temples or palaces, but ignore the utilitarian legacy of industry, the avant-garde, or post-war modernism. Even a demolished house from the 1950s or 1970s deprives citizens of the boundaries of memory - the hereditary thread of cultural tradition is lost. After all, it is one thing to talk about the past in your head, and quite another to look at and touch this past.

So far, we are only approaching the understanding of the lost environment and pieces of history due to barbaric demolitions or traces of war. The Poles, for example, after the Second World War began to restore their history in order to recreate their identity. Dresden is unique in that its restoration of unique objects and environment began after the unification of Germany. It took decades, but today the city again has its own face and place on the map of human civilization.

War and the GDR

In February 1945, Anglo-American aircraft subjected Dresden to a massive bombardment. A major cultural center, the former capital of the electorate of Saxony, "Florence on the Elbe" - it all turned into a heap of ruins. Was:

It became:


Frauenkirche church

The state of the Dresden Castle was not much different from the state of the Royal Castle of Königsberg in the first post-war years. But Dresden was mothballed in time and was not allowed to be pulled apart into a brick, all the more they did not blow up the remains.

During the clearing of the rubble, the remains of old Dresden were preserved and taken out of the city for preservation. Downtown in 1957:

There was new construction, but the center itself was left mostly empty. The authorities of the GDR were not opposed to the restoration of historical sights, they restored some of the pearls of Dresden very well: the Zwinger palace ensemble and the Opera, for example. However, further work on the revival of the Old City was not included in their immediate plans.

Year 1990:

United Germany and restoration

In 1989, the inhabitants decided that they wanted to restore the former beauty and grandeur of the Saxon capital at any cost. They were not worried about the remake, the disastrous economic situation of eastern Germany after reunification, that they would have to rebuild the long-defunct Old Town and other issues.

It is unlikely that they even thought then that the invested costs would then pay off with the flow of tourists. They just wanted to return their city in all its glory and be proud of it. For them it was the same important spiritual task as for the Poles after the war.

The restoration of the castle began in the early 90s, and ended only in 2013 - it took more than 20 years for just one object in the Old Town!

Here the original details of the lost city came in handy - the Germans recognized the position of the old bricks and inserted them into their former places. The void was filled with new light-colored material. As a result, it was possible to preserve the historical value and insert the memory of the war for many centuries:

Money for restoration was collected nationwide, and the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche became a symbol of the campaign

The restoration of the church was completed in 2005. Immediately after that, the reconstruction of entire blocks of the surrounding historical buildings began. For this, even the GDR houses that were in the way were demolished.

The restoration of the Castle-Residence and the Frauenkirche was a meticulous work in compliance with the maximum historical accuracy. The background development was originally planned as a remake stylized as antiquity without any attempts to create the illusion of antiquity and authenticity.

Almost all houses are designed from old photographs and paintings, but they are deliberately modern. As a result, the recreated buildings provide the necessary background for authentic historical monuments and the cozy atmosphere of the old city, but do not mislead about their authenticity. This is just an emulation of something irretrievably lost.

The process is still ongoing:

Many wastelands are temporarily given over to parking, but their time will also come:

Broken teeth are restored not only in the center, but also closer to the outskirts:

In some places, the buildings of the GDR era imitate the old buildings in terms of their parameters. The panels are inserted along the red lines and the height of the previous building. That is, they were already thinking about the appearance and environment.

What to keep and what not

heritage conservation - a rather late concept that appeared during the Enlightenment. If at the very beginning the value of ancient monuments aged 2000 years was recognized, then gradually this threshold was reduced. Today, the boundary of the memory of the place has approached 20 years. If earlier houses outlived us and only then became valuable, today the heritage begins to overtake us.

The heritage is different, but even the buildings of stations, along with monasteries, tell us about the way of life of generations before us. Buildings that have outlived their creators speak volumes about the preferences, craftsmanship, and quality of life of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandmothers. Most importantly, it is an irreplaceable resource.

Urban development can be carried out by rethinking the old fund or point solutions. Many emphasize that the concepts of the wealth of the city and the architectural heritage are directly related. People love vintage and it monetizes - heritage economics proves that every euro invested in the maintenance of historic buildings generates 10 euros of income for society (google proof at the Directorate of Cultural Heritage of Norway).

The demolition of each historical building not only destroys the labor invested by the ancestors in the construction of the house, but also harms the general ecology. For example, the remains of the Rossiya Hotel occupy about 11 km² in the Moscow region. Therefore, today the principle of Save & Reuse is applied in the world. - save and use in a new way. Redevelopment is better than demolition and building from scratch.

Demolishing a house may seem like a quick and profitable decision here and now, but it should always be a balanced and considered step from all points of view. After the work of the bulldozer, all that remains is to cry at old photographs. No wonder Europeans today determine the level of civilization in relation to their heritage. - this forms the environment around us and ourselves (Civillizing influence of continuity). Depriving ourselves of the past, we have no future.

PS I used material for the post

The Stasi office in Dresden was formerly located at Bautznerstrasse 112-a. In the same area there were apartments of Soviet and German officers, departmental stadiums, kindergartens ... A good place, the Elba is nearby.

To enter the museum, you need to pass by this building. Previously, there were also Stasi offices here, but now it is a residential building with very expensive and decent apartments.

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Here in the courtyard is the entrance to the museum. The facade of the museum has been repaired for a long time. Back in 2006, part of the museum building was damaged during the construction of a new bridge across the Elba. Either the foundation is wet, or something else happened ...

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Here is the bridge. He greatly unloaded the city in terms of traffic jams, but it was because of him that Dresden was excluded from the list of UNESCO treasures. Like, because of this bridge, the historical view of the city center has changed. It has not changed anything, the center is far from here, and the bridge is not visible almost from the center, the river makes a bend in this place.

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I return to the museum. The entrance ticket costs 4 euros, all information is only in German, several times a month volunteers conduct excursions, again, in German. You can see one of these volunteers in the photo. This is Michael Schlosser, a former prisoner of this prison. By profession - a mechanic and a truck driver. He built a small plane in an abandoned chicken coop and planned to fly it across the border to West Germany. Construction lasted two years, with all the tools at hand, Schlosser had parts for cars and trucks, a textbook on aircraft engineering and a photograph of a Cessna aircraft. The escape was planned for the evening of November 11, 1983, but two weeks before that, one of the comrades handed over Schlosser to the authorities. Interrogations lasted for five months in the Stasi prison at Bautznerstrasse 112-a, then Michael Schlosser was sentenced to four and a half years in prison under an article with the wording: "Preparation for an illegal border crossing in a particularly difficult case." Translation - direct, stupid, I don’t know, right, how to translate it literally.

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Michael Schlosser served his sentence in the prison "Gelbe Elend" - "Yellow Misfortune", in Bautzen. Fortunately, just six months later, West Germany bought it from the GDR for 96,000 German marks.

Here are the technical data of the built airplane, it is now exhibited on the first floor of the museum. I will not translate everything, I will write the main (for me).

Length: 5.25 m
Weight: 155 kg
Power: 36-48 horsepower
Can carry a load weighing 115 kg.

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The propeller is made of wood, the body - what had to be.

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This is what the plane looks like from the inside.

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Some more general information. From 1945 to 1950 there were 10 "re-educational" camps in the GDR. Dissatisfied with the new regime, young people from Werwolf and others got there, whose guilt was not enough to put them in an ordinary prison, but it was also not worth leaving them unattended at large. In one of these camps, the mother of my already very elderly friend, Elka, was sitting. Mom sympathized with the Nazis, wanted to "re-educate" after the war, handed over two children to an orphanage and spent five years in prison. Elke and his brother were assigned to different institutions, they were forbidden to look for each other all their lives. Mother - too, but Elke did not want to.

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It sounds scary, but one of the correctional camps was located in a former concentration camp in Buchenwald, they didn’t even begin to rebuild anything there.

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Death cell.

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16) From 1945 to 1955, the Soviet military tribunal issued 2,000 death sentences, of which 1,200 were executed. Until 1953, another 1,000 men and women were sentenced to death, mostly from the GDR. All these people were transported to Moscow's Butyrka, where they were shot and burned and buried in the Donskoy cemetery. There are lists of those sentenced on the walls, probably not all of them, there should be much more names.

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Shower room and toilet.

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In total, from the day the Stasi prison was founded until 1989, from 12 to 15 thousand citizens of the GDR were imprisoned in this building, the exact number is unknown, since many documents were destroyed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the photo below you see a diagram of the prison.

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This is a plan of premises belonging to the NKVD. See corridor number 1? This passage was built between 1952 and 1954, it connects the Stasi part of the house with the Soviet commandant's office, which existed until the early 1950s,and a Soviet prison. The tribunal was located on the upper floors of the same building. Those sentenced to long terms were sent to local prisons and to the Gulag.

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Let's go to the cells.

Since the mid-1970s, most prisoners have lived in such two-person cells. The situation was identical and since then has not changed much. Two wooden beds, mattresses, a pillow and a blanket, linens, a small hanging cabinet for plastic dishes and dental supplies, a sink with tap water, a folding table. A big plus was that batteries and toilets with a flush tank appeared in the cells. In those years in the GDR, such equipment was not typical for all prisons.

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Room for prisoners to walk.

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Upstairs too.

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This is what all three floors of the prison look like.

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The so-called Schreibzelle is a room for writing letters. It was forbidden to write in the cells where the prisoners lived. They wrote in a special room alone and under the supervision of guards.

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Right into the prison building through those wooden gates, a car for transporting prisoners or suspects entered.

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The numbers on the car are original.

I look into the car.

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Inside there are six narrow compartments.

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In each - places only on a stool to stumble.

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Brought people were received in this room. They were dressed in striped underwear, a dark tracksuit, and indoor slippers or athletic shoes without laces. The reception procedure was the usual: first name, last name, special inclinations, health status, both physical and mental ... Well, and so on.

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The so-called prisoner.

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After the examination, the arrested person was taken to the shower.

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And into the camera. This one is single.

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And this one is normal. The prisoners were monitored day and night. The prisoners had to sleep with their faces uncovered, their hands on top of the blanket. Every 15 minutes, inspectors entered the cell, turned on the light for a short time to see if everything was in order, if not, they woke the sleeping person with a loud voice.

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And these are copies of death sheets with the names of children who died during childbirth or shortly after them.

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All the windows in the building are covered with bars, even in those rooms where the offices of the military and employees are located.

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