NationStates Jolt Archive

The destruction of Dresden was unnecessary and a warcrime. An apology would have been welcome, although it would not change a thing. It at least would have shown that the people who did it felt some sort of remorse for destroying one of the most beautiful cities in the world for no reason and murdering thousands of innocent civilians.

I think what the Nazis did was pretty bad, but this does not mean that the other side has a free reign to do what it pleases without consequences. The destruction of Dresden and the nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the 3 lowest points in human warfare until now. All 3 events receive the attention they deserve each year and commemoration of the innocent dead who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

So far no official apology has been made by the British or the Americans for either of these events, which is rather sad. Germany at least has apologized a lot during the last 60 years, although the Federal Republic of Germany is not responsible for what happened during WW2. Reparation payments have been made en masse and each year, our highest politicians bow their heads in grief at the various memorials for WW2 victims. Our country has apologized plenty of times during the last 60 years, so an apology for these warcrimes by the allies would be suitable to acknowledge that despite the world war, terrible things were done which still today stand among the worst failures of mankind, but which are not considered needed or acceptable. Even those who ordered these atrocities or those who committed them, in the end, saw that their deeds were wrong.

To truly end WW2 and to remember and honour those who died needlessly, official apologies are a good step.

Take the Swiss approach. Never apologize for anything.

Besides, as we all know, the Swiss win every war.
since they are neutral and have special "intimity" banks it is easy...

The british need never apologize to the germans for anything.

An apology from the americans is hollow, because they are liars and have no national character or credibility.


Americans have no national character eh? All liars? I dont need to list the things that we have done to help people around the world. Your statement shows your ignorance. As far as liars. Europeans have the corner on the market. Would you like to get in a debate about the bs lies the europeans get away with? If you want to go down that road we can. But I think you probably dont.

As far as Dresden... Its war. Bad things happen. Although I dont recall the British starting it. Just remembered who had to end it. As far as Germans saying there sorry for 60 years. 60 years wouldnt even cover part of the crap the Germans did. Keep on with the apologies. You got alot of years left!

Winning means never having to say your sorry and for very good reason.
Good guys never lose and bad guys never win. THis is because winning automaticly makes one good and loosing automaticly makes one bad.
Winners never cheat and cheaters never win because if you win then you didn't cheat, even if you did.
Winning meakes everything okay.

Winning means never having to say your sorry and for very good reason.
Good guys never lose and bad guys never win. THis is because winning automaticly makes one good and loosing automaticly makes one bad.
Winners never cheat and cheaters never win because if you win then you didn't cheat, even if you did.
Winning meakes everything okay.

agree
that why napoleon said once that only the winners are writing history, whatever how wrong or good was the intention....to begin/to go the war

Ein Deutscher']The destruction of Dresden was unnecessary and a warcrime. An apology would have been welcome, although it would not change a thing. It at least would have shown that the people who did it felt some sort of remorse for destroying one of the most beautiful cities in the world for no reason and murdering thousands of innocent civilians.

And the obliteration of Guernica(1937) was necessary??

I don't recall Germany apologizing for that!

Ein Deutscher']The destruction of Dresden was unnecessary and a warcrime. An apology would have been welcome, although it would not change a thing. It at least would have shown that the people who did it felt some sort of remorse for destroying one of the most beautiful cities in the world for no reason and murdering thousands of innocent civilians.


Unnecessary, possibly but I don't see how it was a warcrime.
Technically, only one side in a war can commit a warcrime and only once, since all international conventions have clauses that allow their signatories to ignore them once one side violates them.
Even in that, it isn't like they intentionally targeted civilians. They firebombed civilian homes in the middle of the night, yes, but that is far different from intentionally attacking civilians. The homes were the target it isn't their fault that civilians were sleeping inside. Civilian homes are legitimate infrastructure targets.

And the obliteration of Guernica(1937) was necessary??

I don't recall Germany apologizing for that!
Germany apologizes each year for the whole of WW2. Select things such as the Holocaust victims get their own apology rituals.

Unnecessary, possibly but I don't see how it was a warcrime.
Technically, only one side in a war can commit a warcrime and only once, since all international conventions have clauses that allow their signatories to ignore them once one side violates them.
Even in that, it isn't like they intentionally targeted civilians. They firebombed civilian homes in the middle of the night, yes, but that is far different from intentionally attacking civilians. The homes were the target it isn't their fault that civilians were sleeping inside. Civilian homes are legitimate infrastructure targets.
Civilian homes are not legitimate targets in any war.

They are if your goal is to disrupt the production of weapons and supplies. Factories can easily be dstroyed but they can be rebuilt almost as easily. By burning down homes one disrupts the entire infrastructure that supports war. Accomidations have to be made for the civilians before production can resume. This is rather difficult when a major community loses its self-sufficiency so drasticly. The civilians are, for a time, a drain on reseouces rather than being valuable resource themselves. It is a logical and reasonable tactic.

Ein Deutscher']Germany apologizes each year for the whole of WW2. Select things such as the Holocaust victims get their own apology rituals.


And this has what to do with Guernica?

Nothing!.....

They are if your goal is to disrupt the production of weapons and supplies. Factories can easily be dstroyed but they can be rebuilt almost as easily. By burning down homes one disrupts the entire infrastructure that supports war. Accomidations have to be made for the civilians before production can resume. This is rather difficult when a major community loses its self-sufficiency so drasticly. The civilians are, for a time, a drain on reseouces rather than being valuable resource themselves. It is a logical and reasonable tactic.
Bombing civilian homes accepts the risk of unreasonably high civilian casualties. Clearly a war crime under todays standards of international law. I don't know how sophisticated international law was before 1945, but I doubt this technique of terror bombing was allowed. There has been no prosecution of the war crimes committed by the allies, due to them being the winners of WW2. It's called victor's justice (the Nuremberg Trials were an excellent example). Most of the civilians in Dresden at the time were refugees from the East, since they thought the city would be safe from attacks as it was relatively unimportant for the war (which was lost for Germany by then anyway) and because Dresden had no significant war production facilities.

And this has what to do with Guernica?

Nothing!.....
It does. Obviously you are just not interested in reading it.

Ein Deutscher']It does. Obviously you are just not interested in reading it.


Obviously, you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Guernica wasn't during WWII, thus NO apology has been given!!


"April 26, 1937
Late one Monday afternoon, Guernica was bombed by over fifty German and Italian aircrafts who had the intent of destroying all form of life which inhabited this unique placid town. To begin the destruction, explosive bombs and packets of hand-grenades were released. Those people who were not injured by this assault were then chased and brutally killed by one of the multitudinous shots that were expelled from the machine-guns. And lastly, just in case any trace of a town remained, the entire area was saturated with incendiary bombs. This attack persisted for approximately two hours and fifteen minutes and turned the sky into a black fog."

Obviously, you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Guernica wasn't during WWII, thus NO apology has been given!!
It was in 1937, under Nazi dictatorship, so it is pretty much included in the ceremonies dealing with WW2. Additionally to this, our former president Roman Herzog apologized for Germany and I read, some payments have been made. However, after 60 years, this is the max. Germany can do to repent for the failures of the Nazi dictatorship.