Here's a transcript of a fascinating letter written by the author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. to his family after his release from P.O.W. camp in 1945. Great stuff!
Very interesting. Slaughterhouse Five was the first of KV's books I read way back when.
__________________
Dr.G.
14" G4 iBook
15" MacBook Pro (July, 2009)
13" MacBooK Pro with Retina Display
Paix
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read these books." Mark Twain
Since the novel was published, historians keep reducing the number of casualties at Dresden, but that doesn't diminish the power of the novel.
Listen.
Very true. I felt that the Dresden firebombing was retribution for the bombing of Coventry in England, especially since the British, with their Enigma Machine, knew of the attack but could do nothing but get the children out of the city for fear of letting the Germans in on the reality that their code was broken.
__________________
Dr.G.
14" G4 iBook
15" MacBook Pro (July, 2009)
13" MacBooK Pro with Retina Display
Paix
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read these books." Mark Twain
Very true. I felt that the Dresden firebombing was retribution for the bombing of Coventry in England, especially since the British, with their Enigma Machine, knew of the attack but could do nothing but get the children out of the city for fear of letting the Germans in on the reality that their code was broken.
However, the allies did not have to use incendiaries.
Why? Everyone here is entitled to an opinion and to comment.
But if we must compare, my heritage is similar and my family suffered greatly in both world wars. My father was a civil engineer who worked in Egypt for a British firm prior to the outbreak of WW2. When the Nazis took power, he was interrogated and nearly imprisoned by the Gestapo because of that connection. My mother was buried alive in a building where she worked which was bombed by the US air core. My mother also barely escaped being raped by the Soviet liberators. Two of her uncles were sent to the eastern front never to be seen or heard from again....should I go on?
Why? Everyone here is entitled to an opinion and to comment.
Perhaps I framed it wrong. Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion. But if I were for example the great-grandson of Bomber Harris, me saying the bombings were justified would be taken in a rather different light than saying I was a person with relatives who experienced allied bombings.
This is a hugely sensitive topic: even though I am of very recent German decent, I see the bombings of Dresden as something that was necessary, if not in hindsight. Is not more weight lent to an argument when say for example a Jewish person criticizes Israel? I think it is; for if they are not more knowledgeable on the subject, they have at least been acquainted with it for years in way anyone else is not.
Linear Mode
