February 13-15 is the 80th anniversary of the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 as World War Two was nearing its close. British and American bombers rained down 650,000 incendiary bombs that destroyed most of the city and killed 25,000. The operation remains controversial to this day.
On the 12th and 13th, the Staatskapella Dresden, the symphony orchestra of Dresden since 1548 and one of Germany’s finest, will be performing Giuseppi Verdi’s Requiem Mass, in memory of the destruction of Dresden. A requiem is a Catholic mass said for the repose of the souls of the dead.
I’m noting this occasion not to add more darkness to our already dark times but simply as a reminder that it’s much less costly in all respects to prevent an illiberal, autocratic dictatorship than it is to get rid of it once power has been captured and protest made illegal.
Here’s a piece that caused me to begin to move beyond my “what can I do?” thinking. An interview of Erica Chenoweth, author of Civil Resistance, What Everyone Needs to Know:
https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-nature-of-our-power-a-conversation-with-political-scientist-erica-chenoweth/
The book by Rebecca Chenoweth:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/civil-resistance-9780190244408?lang=en&cc=us
Staatskapella Dresden web site:
www.staatskapelle-dresden.de/en/
I found this account of the Service of Prayer for the Nation, held at the National Cathedral in DC on January 21 to be a reminder how enlivening spiritual and moral clarity can be:
www.emptywheel.net/2025/01/22/herod-goes-to-the-national-cathedral-and-is-disappointed/
Pictures below:
The Dresden Semperoper, home to the Staatskapella, destroyed in 1945 & reopened in 1985
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC
![]()
