Activity
Visiting programme in Dresden – Frauenkirche and the city as a symbol of hope for a better future
As part of the visiting programme “Peace and Exchange in Europe and Northeast Asia – remembering, reconciliation, exchanges”, a delegation visited different cities and sights in Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland. The goal of the trip is to promote the dialogue of reconciliation and peace in Europe and Northeast Asia. The duration of the visiting programme was from the 26th of May till the 1st of June.
Dresden is the capital of the German province of Saxony. During World War Two, the city suffered devastating aerial bombings, destroying much of its historic center. During the GDR (East Germany), Dresden was even further destroyed, when in the 1980s reconstruction work began to restore some of the most important sights. Nowadays most of the reconstruction work is done and Dresden is loved for its beautiful cityscape. Dresden is a city with a tale of endurance, innovation, and full of culture.
Especially the Frauenkirche is a symbol of hope for a better future. On 13th February 1945, just a few months before the end of the Second World War, the Frauenkirche was hit by aerial bombs. It burned out completely and finally collapsed two days later. What remained was a gigantic pile of rubble. Dedicating a memorial in 1966, Chancellor Helmut Kohl gave a speech here in 1989. The topic: his vision of a reunified Germany. On 13th February 1990, exactly 45 years after the Frauenkirche was bombed during the war, a citizens' initiative published the "Call from Dresden". In it, they asked Germany and the rest of the world for donations to rebuild the church as a symbol of a united Germany and Europe. For a year, only rubble was cleared away before the foundation stone for the "new" Frauenkirche was finally laid on 27th May 1994.
Specifically, the towercross on the Frauenkirche emphasizes the history of reconciliation and forgiveness. It was constructed by Alan Smith, a son to a military pilot of the royal Air Force who bombarded the city during the war. Smith was only a boy when he heard his father talk about the bombing at Dresden, but never forgot the history. More than 50 years after the bombing, Smith started the journey of reconciliation and created the towers’ cross for the Frauenkirche. It now has since proclaimed the power of reconciled coexistence.
Members of the delegation were Dr. Seliger (Country representative HSF Korea), Nyambayar Purevsuren (Researcher at National Institute for Strategic Studies of Mongolia: Economic Analyst at Parliament Television of Mongolia, from Mongolia), Hanna Suh (Research Fellow at CINAP; Committee Advisory Member at CBCK, from South Korea), Dr. Seiko Mimaki (Concurrent Researcher at Center for Transimperial History, from Japan), and Prof. Meng Hong (Professor for German politics, society and culture at Remin-University Beijing, from China).