Dresden, Germany: Reconstructed and Rewarding

More info about travel to Dresden: www.ricksteves.com/europe/ger... In February of 1945, after the city was bombed in the last months of World War II, Dresden's beloved Frauenkirche ("Church of Our Lady") collapsed. Then, Dresdeners decided to rebuild it completely and painstakingly, and it finally reopened to the public in 2005.
At www.ricksteves.com, you'll find money-saving travel tips, small-group tours, guidebooks, TV shows, radio programs, podcasts, and more on this destination.

[@D.N..]

The majority of Dresden is post modern, few areas were actually rebuilt to their original historical style. In its glory day, Dresden must have been one of the most beautiful cities , not just in Germany, but all Europe... sad, little remains.

[@TheDutchMitchell]

civita t one could only dream to wonder along this city before the war. This and many other German cities.

[@muzamilkelam2957]

Fills my heart with anguish for what could have been.

[@Dhruvnater456]

Makes my blood boil. Johann Sebastian Bach was lucky to see Dresden in its glory in the early 1700's

[@batboy-wb2cn]

Dresden is mostly rebuild. the city centre, hardest hit, returned to great beauty.

[@leaderofthelewishpeople6382]

To see modern buildings at Neumarkt Square fills my heart with anger.

[@hermannschell8598]

Unglaublich wie schön die Architektur ist. Das ist in meinen Augen eine göttliche Architektur die aber nicht nur in Dresden sondern in unendlich vielen Bauwerken auf der ganzen Welt zu sehen ist.

[@8avexp]

My father managed to leave Dresden just days before it was incinerated. Even his family didn't know if he was alive. My grandfather had prepared travel papers for him to go to Kempten, and my father could choose between a civilian train, a local, or an express. As fate would have it, he chose the local and saw the express take a direct hit from an Allied bomb. He insisted until the day he died that someone led him out of Dresden. I asked him about Frauenkirche and he remembered it very well. He attended concerts there.

[@nowhereman8564]

The bombing was all of Dresden or just the centre because I don't know the city are suburban buildings still there?

[@jeremiahmiller5845]

Very fortunate man to have avoided that WW II incineration.

[@8avexp]

@@jeremiahmiller5845 His time hadn't come yet.

[@andrehille9805]

@@nowhereman8564 das Zentrum wurde fast vollständig zerstört das alte Dresden gibt es noch um das Zentrum herum die neustadt am blauen Wunder der weiße Hirsch man muss es erkunden wenn man es sieht kann man erahnen wie diese stadt einmal in ihrem Glanz erstrahlte

[@thebeautymaker9784]

@@nowhereman8564 I am from Dresden and can tell you that the most of the suburban buildings were not the target and survived the war.

[@Ian-iq9rr]

They should reconstruct the whole city and not replace with modern architectures

[@frei000]

The modernist Wave occurred short after the bombing. Hundreds of Thousands citizens were left homeless and bankrupt. Those who were able to pay for a new home moved to the countryside of nearby smaller towns, while the poorest had to stay. It‘s hard to compare the wealthy baroque architecture of August The Strong with fast and cheap concrete blocks, but i totally agree. Frankfurt‘s „Neue Altstadt“ (new historic city center) did exact this by demolishing a brutalist construction.

[@Paarthurnax_]

@nanda erdhani I lived in the old town of wismar! I been to some other old towns like Melsungen

[@yeaheh7911]

I thought your profile picture was a hair on my phone

[@wanderschlosser1857]

@nanda erdhani It certainly has! Rothenburg o/D Tauber, Füssen, Quedlinburg for example. Mainly the bigger ones gave been badly destroyed but many of them still have big original and also rebuild quarters like Potsdam or Erfurt. Google them and you'll see

[@nowhereman8564]

@@wanderschlosser1857 potsdam has been rebuilt ?

[@yvonnepaul1196]

Dresden is my favorite city in Germany. It has endured the worst and not just survived but rebuilt many of the grand buildings per the original architectural drawings. The Cathedral is absolutely amazing! The potassium bombs actually vaporized the buildings...similar to napalm . It was at the end of WWII and it was not necessary.

[@margaretbubenik]

Keep enjoying your wonderful travelling and we all can enjoy the beautiful places posted by you, bravo.

[@ltgenbaldrik6432]

Hello Margaret, how are you doing ?

[@firtazile8035]

Beautiful, just... beautiful.

[@Nothingschanged]

Soviet “architecture” is and always will be... rubbish.

[@Paarthurnax_]

sooo true.. the Altstadt of our city is so nice, but then just 5 minutes away, there are the blocks.. so ugly xD

[@nowhereman8564]

Soviets nothing good about them communism, buildings, architecture, their minds ,their lives ,the good ones are in the west

[@fckeu88]

@@nowhereman8564 there are some good architecture buildings in Russia too, but not the soviet ones!!

[@emmerentiagroenewald3694]

I was in Dresden when the Frauen Kirche was stil not rebuilt. All the blocks and the materials that they were able to use again ,were kept in wire cages around the church. Nou you can see the difference in colour, where the old and new stones were built in the walls....

[@fckeu88]

Beautiful city

[@arielsilva1793]

great video! we're flying there this afternoon, and this vid have me so excited !!!!

[@nowhereman8564]

How was it then?

[@arielsilva1793]

@@nowhereman8564 i enjoyed the hip-artsy neighborhood, the history, the food. we had a great time !

[@TWOCOWS1]

As usual, you are the best, Rick. This has been so since the 90s! I saw one of the vids where as a very thin young Rick, you teach people how not to pack and carry too many items of clothing, by washing in the wash basin of a hotel in Italy and hanging to dry the entire under garments for reuse!

[@LKSimonTsang]

Amazing🎉

[@JH-hu5oz]

Keep on travellin...

[@dianarojas6768]

Beautiful ❤️❤️

[@danielpedro2479]

Diana Rojas

[@doctorsocrates4413]

The gold cross standing at the top of the frauenkirche was crafted by an englishman who's father had actually took part in the 1945 raid...Dresden trust was founded here in england to help with the restoration..Very unfortunate in a time of war that this happened but with all the information we have in regard to rail links to the eastern front and munitions factories helping the german war effort i feel it was a legitimate target.

[@sixmax11]

question, if the original church was constructed using artisains and craftsman imported from italy (in the 1700s), where did the workers obtain the knowlgede and skill needed to rebuild it down to the finest detail? those skills and trades are unknown today. they haven't constructed anythin using similar techniques for hundreds of years!!

[@leonowak6209]

Such beautiful City i wish someday visit this pearl of Germany .

[@janandersen8848]

will they also rebuild the rest of the city? Since most of it look really ugly today with grey office and apartment blocks

[@OKjoey86]

I like the haircut Rick

[@dan020350]

❤️

[@JacksonsJourneys]

Germany is definitely on my to do list

[@luuchoo93]

Such a beautiful city it was! If only Germany wouldn’t have tried to invade the entire continent...

[@heisennoob6446]

War Child Im sure you can show good and reliable sources for your claims and can explain why every historian who studied ww2 and the interwar years is wrong that germany was the agressor in ww2

[@michaelbinney9913]

@@heisennoob6446 what an uneducated statement to make, please feel free to feel embarrassed!

[@LinusFeynstein]

​@@heisennoob6446 of course Germany was the aggressor. Or do you believe that Poland invaded Germany? And yes: Stalin's Sowjetunion and Japan were also aggressors.

[@magdalenam.7858]

​​@@LinusFeynstein Erkundigen Sie sich bitte, wer Deutschland den Krieg erklärt hat und warum 250.000 Zivilisten im Feuersturm Dresdens sterben mussten. Dresden war im Krieg Lazarett-Stadt und war voll mit Flüchtlingen aus den Ostgebieten und das wussten die Engländer und Amerikaner. Lesen Sie auch unbedingt die Balfour Deklaration des britischen Außenministers von 2. November 2017. Hören Sie sich auch die Rede von Benjamin Freedman 1961 im Willard Hotel Washington D.C. an und merken Sie sich eins: Die Geschichte schreiben immer die "Sieger".

[@magdalenam.7858]

Sie lügen genauso wie Ihr Fernseher!

[@muzamilkelam2957]

It pains me to think of what could have been if it had not been incinerated by the Allies. Britain had savages like Arthur Harris among their ranks who were not very different from the Nazis.

[@ralphbernhard1757]

*"Right or wrong", or "Was it a war crime", or "Who started", is all irrelevant.* Our elites have divided us "commoners" and "grunts", and are agitating behind closed doors, while we do the squabbling... Because there's always a big picture... And of all the "big pictures", this is the biggest of all... *The worst choice of all was ignoring the reality of how Europe had been "set up" to protect the British Empire.* The British Empire was actually protected in Europe by uniquely "balancing powers" on the continent. [Google: britannica & balance-of-power] For more than 100 years, "balancing powers" on the continent, kept these powers opposing each other, *unable to divert military or economic resources* to affront the status of the British Empire as the nr.1 in the world... According to the logic of this policy, completely ruining a power on the continent, would lead to an imbalance, which could then be directed at the British Empire... *Therefore, totally destroying Germany was neither wise nor in GB 's interests.* Concerning WW2. Firstly, a 100% collapse of Germany as a power...was a dream condition for communism (Moscow) and US corporatism (Washington D.C.). After WW2, there was no strong Central Europe to "balance out" the rise of communism (Moscow). France broken, still angered by Mers el Kebir and slipped under Washington's wings... Germany = alles kaputt Eastern Europe = overrun by the commies... GB was no longer the boss. *Nothing left to play "balancing games" with...* Sorreee. That's just how it goes if your eternal "balancing" games on the continent go south...you loose your empire to the new kids in town... From the unmistakable *"Nr.1"* in 1900, down to *"merely on par"* with Washington DC after WW1, down to *"third fiddle"* during the Cold War. All in less than a single lifetime... Washington got tired of bailing GB out, and decided to become the "balancer of powers" in Europe herself. The world was divided in "East" and "West". And down went the British Empire too... I wouldn't waste time arguing with immoral people. Simply tell them *the outcome* of *own actions.*

[@muzamilkelam2957]

@@ralphbernhard1757 Correct

[@jeremiahmiller5845]

Unfortunately many countries and ancient civilizations had/have savages equal to those we watched in WW II.

[@michaelbinney9913]

@@muzamilkelam2957 It wasn't bomber Harris who ordered the bombing of Dresden it was Churchill under pressure from Stalin. The red army was advancing west Dresden was in the way with 2 other big cities, the mistake they made was not hotting the marshalling yards that transported munitions and troops.

[@roberthorst5790]

facts

[@gusrs2252]

bellísima ciudad, que pronto recupere su antiguo esplendor que por intereses financieros la despedasaron, de pena.

[@SimonBell]

nice video but come on Rick, that's not how you say church in German!!!

[@OrnumCR]

Simon Bell ...Agreed...Lol...I was cringing every time he said it....

[@chrisallen7911]

I am ready for we Americans to start rebuilding the great lost architecture of our Nation. Starting with Pennsylvania Station to other glorious historical buildings that have been destroyed over the years.

[@tambambawa1262]

Does rick steves live in europe

[@wasimahmed7337]

Tamba Mbawa Nope. He's an American who spent a great deal of time in Europe travelling throughout . He lives in Seattle , U.S.

[@JudasPriestSUCKS]

Why didnt they get western tv in Dresden?

[@thebeautymaker9784]

Most of the city lies in the Elbe valley. Western tv could not be received there. DDR should have paid for it.

[@stonecypher6344]

Never forget what they have taken from you

[@tomek4224]

The British did a war crime by this bombing. It was strategically without a reason

[@joshuacondell1686]

It was a arms transportation hun for the eastern front. And Germany started it. Not the allies.

[@krisoliver6202]

On the other hand we weren’t too impressed by the Blitz

[@eghdf8888]

In the last month of WW2 the german resistance was collapsed, so what to do with many british and american planes with their bombs exept bombing. They could to it very easy without a lot of resistance from the germans...., and air bombing has become very perfect, only one attack has been enough to destroy a whole city, thanks God, the atomic was not falling in Germany...

[@rapi999dsl]

@@joshuacondell1686 No, Great Britain startet everything. Just learn history.

[@johnmaxwell1750]

@@eghdf8888 - In 1945 during the last months of the war the Nazis killed more than one million people. Get your facts straight. By 1945 the Brits and the Americans wanted to bring the war to a conclusion as soon as possible. That motivation, more than revenge, was the main reason why Dresden was destroyed.

[@nicechmenchok1410]

I want to meet you

[@meistereder6382]

In reality it were around 230.000 dead in the bombing ...

[@Consrignrant]

+Meister Eder............You've done the research ??? 35,000 to 100,000 is a more realistic estimate. Ultimately it is unknown how many.

[@Betegfos]

Around 600,000 lived in Dresden and 90percent of the city was destroyed. You do the math.

[@YourLittleDeath]

I might go out on a limb here but I don't think Dresden should have been rebuilt for the same reason as Oradour-sur-Glane was never rebuilt. Rebuilding Dresden simply serves to assuage the guilt of the allies in this crime.

[@TheSolder777]

why can germans construct everything from 0 but migrants from africa and asia can't?

[@AnthonyTurcios]

I genuinely wonder the same

[@alfredoangel2359]

Umm Japan did so did South Korea and China.

[@heisennoob6446]

thesoldier maybe because germany is one of the richest countries in the world?

[@patricktheil8844]

Do you mean the refugees that came 2015? Thats maybe because there still is war in these countries. And they were poor before the war. Germany and the german lands before the Kaiserreich, were allways an industrial powerhouse.

[@jmobing3972]

Europeans designed and built the most beautiful buildings, cities, and nations in all the world. Dresden is/was one of many on the continent.

[@adambomb30]

The frauenkirche will make an excellent mosque some day.

[@crystalrosedresden4878]

No? Lol

[@k.s.421]

This will never happen, trust me...

[@LUIS-ox1bv]

@@k.s.421 They said the same about Hagia Sophia.

[@alexivalentin2368]

HI MICHEAL DRESDEN1? I STILL THINK YOUR GUYS BEING IDENTYTHEFTED IM NO WHERAR NEAR ANY FRIENDLYS WAITING FORE RIDE OVER TO UKRAINE6 ?

[@ROOSTER333]

I hate them fir what they took from me. The cold monster, violent and ruthlessness in it's devasation and the war. Most want it but no one gave it a name. I Feel; a fed FF to sabatauge

[@Valerie-xx2fy]

no one wants to live on the Prager Strasse lol...

[@davidamadeus5486]

Horrible

[@KyoushaPumpItUp]

Anne Frank got the gas. Dresden got the blast

[@folkestender2025]

Anne Frank died of typhoid fever

[@KyoushaPumpItUp]

@@folkestender2025 still died in concentration camp run by the nazis.

[@erich2432]

Arthur "Send your Lancs around, lose your bank account" Harris Arthur "From Britannia rules the waves to Cold War 3rd fiddle" Harris.

[@szeddezs]

"German armed forces deliberately murdererd innocent civilians, therefore allied armed forces can deliberately murder innocent civilians too." 'Two wrongs don't make a right' is something even children can understand.

[@KyoushaPumpItUp]

@@szeddezs words often repeated by criminals to avoid getting punished for their crimes

[@vidfilestore5653]

Dresden is part of the colony of the Eng and USA Getting tax money from Dresden. Showing nonsense with few old buildings.

[@DelhiMan-xb8nm]

What about the holocaust victims?

[@Bj-yf3im]

I visited Dresden earlier this month. Besides the rebuilt buildings and memorials to the bombing, there are Holocaust memorials as well. On the pavements, you could see places with golden squares on the pavement naming the people who lived on that site and were murdered in concentration camps or otherwise were taken by the Nazis. So, one cannot say that such memorials are absent.

[@giuliopoli69]

Rebuilt with new stones i suppose?