People of Dreseden Defend their City Against Neo-Nazis

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

And not just historians, also the overall media of the west seems to be ignoring the subject. I don't remember any movies or tv-series being made of the bombings.

The Dresden bombing was the central theme to the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse Five and the 1972 movie of the same name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaught...ive_%28film%29

Originally Posted by Torplexed

The Dresden bombing was the central theme to the Kurt Vonnegut novel Slaughterhouse Five and the 1972 movie of the same name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaught...ive_%28film%29

I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on that. I've never seen the movie, it's pretty rare to get and it's pretty much never shown on tv over here. I tried to read the book and Vonnegut's style of putting all kinds of 'humour' etc. never really appealed to me. I was kind of hoping for a more matter of fact -type approach but, oh well.

[Oberon]

"History is written by the victors."

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by OneToughHerring

I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on that. I've never seen the movie, it's pretty rare to get and it's pretty much never shown on tv over here. I tried to read the book and Vonnegut's style of putting all kinds of 'humour' etc. never really appealed to me. I was kind of hoping for a more matter of fact -type approach but, oh well.

The movie flopped, probably because it followed the same meandering approach Kurt Vonnegut did in the novel. I do remember one scene were Billy Pilgrim is convalescing in hospital and an arrogant patient in the bed next to him is boasting about writing a book about Dresden to downplay the "cry-babies" who claimed it as some sort of war-crime. This convinces Pilgrim to write about his actual experiences of having survived the tragedy. I also recall the scene where his war-time buddy is dragged off and shot as a looter for picking up an intact porcelain statue while helping clear the debris after the raid.

Of course, then there were the weird scenes on another planet.

Vonnegut is hard to follow even for native English language speakers.

Yes, I remember trying to read some other works by Vonnegutt and being similarly, well not dissappointed but kind of irritated. And I don't mean that I would prefer a "Sgt. Rock" - type approach to war literature, on the contrary. I've enjoyed reading very ponderous and meandering works that were about all kinds of subjects and not just about war.

I guess what I would like to read from Vonnegutt would be an autobiography that would focus on his time in the WW 2.

But anyway, I guess I have to concede that Slaughterhouse 5 book & film is infact a western work on the Dresden bombings although IMO not fully satisfactory and not really a "Saving Private Ryan" - type block buster.

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

. I also recall the scene where his war-time buddy is dragged off and shot as a looter for picking up an intact porcelain statue while helping clear the debris after the raid.

Of course, then there were the weird scenes on another planet.

Vonnegut is hard to follow even for native English language speakers.

I believe it was a tea pot (without a cozy as Balz was still wearing it at the time) and yes it was a bit difficult to read for us in the 12th grade.
Interesting book nonetheless.

@Golden Rivet

Free speech ends for me when it is abusing the death of at least 25.000 people to support a criminal regime that caused havoc all over Europe. Besides a lot of the Nazis (just like the counter demonstrators from the black block) were only there to "see action". There have been plenty of fights between the police and them outside of Dresden.
Would you allow Al Quaida to demonstrate in New York in the name of free speech?

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Al Quaida to demonstrate in New York in the name of free speech?

Could it be done without the incitement of violence?

just as i said with the neo-nazis... * IF *it could be done without violence i say... "Why not?"

i dont agree with either message, but i agree with their rights.

what happens 20 years from now when it becomes illegal for Christians to gather publicly for fear it might incite violence?

food for thought.

[CaptainHaplo]

I will (and have) fought for the right of anyone to speak peaceably their views - even the idiotic ones. That is what free speech is.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. - Voltaire

[Schroeder]

They wanted to promote a regime that doesn't grant free speech. So in a way they got what they wanted, didn't they?