Tag: Dresden Bombing

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Powerful Images

I ran across an article several months ago that immediately captured my attention. It was a photograph that sent chills down my spine. I said to myself, “Now that’s a very powerful image.”

I thought about the story behind the photograph and decided to write a blog about powerful and iconic images from World War II. Unfortunately, we can only include twenty-five photographs in this blog. However, there are hundreds if not thousands of other photographs that would fit into the theme of this blog. If interested, you can check out various web sites listed below to view some of the other photographs we did not include.

Please be warned that some of the images included in this blog are very disturbing.

We begin our photographic journey with the Hanukkah menorah in the window. It is the image that inspired me to write this blog.

Did You Know?

Did you know that nearly all forty of the original Washington D.C. boundary stones are hidden in plain sight? The capital city of the United States was originally a ten-mile by ten-mile diamond shape. These stones marked the boundaries of the city, and they are the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States.

Chart showing the original boundary milestones of the District of Columbia. Map by Fred Woodward (c. 1906). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Chart showing the original boundary milestones of the District of Columbia. Map by Fred Woodward (c. 1906). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Andrew Ellicott was hired to chart out the new city, but the surveyor needed an assistant to read the stars to ensure the markers were placed accurately. Benjamin Banneker, an African American, was recommended to Ellicott. He questioned the competence of a Black man who had no formal schooling or scientific training. Faced with no alternatives, Ellicott hired the amateur astronomer to work alongside him. For six nights, Banneker lay on his back to record the stars and with those calculations, the first marker stone was placed at Jones Point. (You can see the stone through a window in the seawall of the 19th-century Jones Point Lighthouse.)

Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and city planner. Illustration by Charles Henry Alston (c. 1943). U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.
Benjamin Banneker, astronomer and city planner. Illustration by Charles Henry Alston (c. 1943). U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. PD-U.S. Government. Wikimedia Commons.

The stones are one foot square and three feet high. They were placed one mile apart and each is numbered according to its quadrant and location. Each side bears the inscription of either “Virginia” or “Maryland” depending on its border state. Other information inscribed on the sandstone markers were the words “Jurisdiction of the United States,” a mile number, the date the stone was erected (either 1791 or 1792), and a magnetic compass variance for the stone’s location. Thirty-six stones remain in their original place (some in severe deterioration as sandstone is not the best material for posterity) while three are replicas and one is represented by a simple plaque.

Boundary stone Northeast No. 2. Photo by anonymous (c. 1907). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.
Boundary stone Northeast No. 2. Photo by anonymous (c. 1907). PD-Expired copyright. Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas Jefferson was secretary of state at the time, and he went on record as saying he did not believe Black and enslaved people were of the same standards as White people in terms of brains and physical abilities. Clearly, Jefferson had never met Mr. Banneker.

Boundary stone NE 2 between the District of Columbia and Takoma Park, Maryland. Photo by Bruce Anderson (August 2010). PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.
Boundary stone NE 2 between the District of Columbia and Takoma Park, Maryland. Photo by Bruce Anderson (August 2010). PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

The Hanukkah Menorah

Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill of the Posner’s home in Kiel, Germany.
Hanukkah menorah on the windowsill of the Posner’s home in Kiel, Germany.

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Dresden Brick Ladies

During my banking career, I had the privilege to work with many talented and interesting people. One of those was a man who married a German woman whose grandmother was from Dresden, Germany. Steve told me that every two years, he and his wife would travel to Dresden to see her grandmother for a couple of weeks. On each trip, they could always count on being treated to the best seats in the theater, movie houses, and sports venues.

It turned out that Grandma was a Trümmerfrau or, a “Brick Lady” of Dresden.

Two typical brick ladies in Berlin. Photo by Janczikowsky (c. 1946). PD-GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. Wikimedia Commons.
Two typical brick ladies in Berlin. Photo by Janczikowsky (c. 1946). PD-GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. Wikimedia Commons.

Did You Know?

Did you know that forty U.S. generals were killed during World War II or immediately thereafter? That represents 3.6 percent of almost 1,100 U.S. generals and compared to the generals that the Soviet Union and Germany lost, it was a very small percentage. The difference is that our generals were either killed by the enemy, died of heart attacks, or disappeared without ever being found. A majority of the Soviet and Nazi generals were killed by their leaders: Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler, respectively.

The United States never followed a policy whereby generals were executed for gross incompetence, insubordination, or any other reason ⏤ the worst punishments were loss of jobs and demotion in military rank. However, the two dictators directly controlled their senior military staff and there was no room for failure or other sins. Stalin purged (i.e., executed) at least 65,000 high ranking and experienced officers in the years before World War II. Those executed included fifteen generals of the army, ninety-three percent of all officers ranked lieutenant general and above, and fifty-eight percent of all colonels through major generals. By the time the Second World War began, Stalin found he was lacking the necessary experience to plan and wage war. Hitler was equally brutal to his officer corps. During the war, eighty-four Nazi generals were executed while another 135 generals were killed in action (I suppose Field Marshal Rommel met both criteria ⏤ symbolically as well as realistically).

The City of Dresden

The city of Dresden can trace its lineage back thousands of years when it was a settlement of Slavic people. By 1350, it became known as Antiqua Dresdin and shortly afterwards, “Old Dresden.” Towards the end of the 15th-century, the city was the seat of the dukes of Saxony and today, it is the capital of the German state of Saxony. The 17th-century saw the building of the Zwinger Royal Palace, the Japanese Palace, the Taschenbergpalais, the Pillnitz Castle, and two landmark churches: The Catholic Hofkirche and the Lutheran Frauenkirche. Read More Dresden Brick Ladies