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3,000 neo-Nazis march in
Dresden |
Reuters
Monday, February
14, 2005
| Solemn anniversary
marred by protest
DRESDEN, Germany Waving black flags and
carrying banners, thousands of neo-Nazis marched in Dresden on
Sunday, marring the official 60th anniversary commemoration of one
of the fiercest Allied bombing raids of World War II.
Before
the march, Chancellor Gerhard SchrÃder pledged to stop far-right
groups from exploiting the anniversary and portraying Germany as a
war victim while ignoring Nazi atrocities.
The police said
that at least 3,000 people joined the march in the eastern German
city, making it one of the biggest far-right demonstrations since
the war. Before the march, 5,000 attended a neo-Nazi
rally.
Once a fringe group, the neo-Nazis have seized on
Germany's long-delayed recognition of its own wartime suffering to
grab headlines and forge political gains, especially in the east,
where unemployment remains high 15 years after
unification.
Thousands of officers, backed by water cannon,
were drafted into the city to stop the far-right supporters - barred
from wearing bomber jackets and boots - from clashing with
anti-fascist activists, who chanted "Nazis out" from neighboring
streets.
The official ceremonies began with a wreath-laying
ceremony at a mass grave for 20,000 victims while neo-Nazi marchers
elsewhere in the city carried balloons saying: "Allied bomb terror -
then as now. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden and today Baghdad. No
forgiveness, no forgetting."
Dresden, untouched by bombing
just months before the end of World War II, was nearly destroyed by
two waves of British bombers on the night of Feb. 13, 1945. U.S.
planes blasted the city the next day.
"We expect an official
apology from Britain," said Udo Voigt, leader of the far-right
National Democratic Party, or NDP.
The official death toll is
put at about 35,000, but many survivors believe the actual number
was higher because bodies were reduced to ashes in the ensuing
firestorm.
British, American, French and Russian dignitaries
attended events meant to send a message of peace and reconciliation,
while remembering the crimes of the Nazis and those cities that
shared Dresden's fate.
"Thousands of innocent people,
including many children and refugees, died in most terrible
circumstances," SchrÃder said in a statement on Sunday.
"One
of the most beautiful cities in Europe was destroyed. We mourn today
for the victims of war and violent Nazi rule in Dresden, Germany and
Europe."
Once dubbed the Florence of northern Europe for
architectural jewels like the Zwinger Palace and the Semper Opera,
the city was reduced to smoldering ruins.
East German
socialist town planners restored some historic buildings but also
tore vast concrete avenues through the city's heart. Today, ugly
concrete housing blocks jostle with church spires on the city
skyline.
The anniversary has fueled a debate over how to
mourn Germany's war dead while containing the resurgent far
right.
SchrÃder pledged to counter all attempts to distort
history and hinted that he would make a fresh attempt to ban the
NDP, which helped organize the march and is hoping to score well in
a regional election next week.
"We will use all means to
counter these attempts to re-interpret history. We will not allow
cause to be confused with effect," he said.
"This is our
obligation to all the victims of the war and Nazi terror, especially
and also the victims of Dresden."
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