Memories of Dresden

Your article ``Dresden Rebuilds Bombed Church In a Bid to Restore Civic Pride,'' Aug. 24, took me back to the horror of Feb. 13 and 14, 1945. I was a refugee living in Dresden, Germany. I had a chance to see part of that glorious city, undamaged before that time. Then on the 13th, the bombings and fires changed it all. I lived in the new part of the city when the fires hit; it was so hot that I thought I would never get out alive. The next day people were streaming away from the burning city. The low-flying planes returned, and machines gunned the crowd.

I am extremely grateful to the Allied forces for stopping Adolf Hitler and liberating Europe, but I can never justify in my heart the cruel destruction of Dresden and its people.

Maybe now the people who helped to destroy Dresden could help rebuild its symbol - the Frauenkirche - the Church of Our Lady. Helene S. Maris, East Brunswick, N.J.

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