Eighty years ago, Allied bombers destroyed huge parts of Dresden, killing thousands. Those exploiting the attacks for political ends often give casualty figures vastly higher than is historically certified. A fact check.
In the late evening of February 13, 1945, British and US bomber squadrons began devastating air raids on Dresden. By midday on February 15, large-scale fires had spread, killing thousands of people and almost completely reducing the historic city center to rubble.
After the air raids the survivors piled up the dead bodies, burning them to prevent the spread of disease. The pictures taken by photographer Walter Hahn are etched in the memories of many Germans.
