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Dresden - how many?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Scottish Librarian (U1772828) on Friday, 3rd October 2008

  Hi all,
  This comes up frequently on these boards with some still using to David Irving's discredited 100,000 - 250,000 death toll figure for the Dresden bombings. Even the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's "On this day in history" section has until recently propagated this falsehood as it used to claim that 100,000 people where killed in the bombings. Now, all the recent research on this subject has suggested that the true figure is between 20,000 and 40,000 as i have often argued. Now a recent German historical commission has concluded that the figure is likely to be around 25,000. Just thought i would pass on the info
  
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by U3280211 (U3280211) on Friday, 3rd October 2008

  There is a piece in the Daily Telegraph today which agrees with your lower estimate of 25,000.
  
  I suppose we will never know.
  
  The raid lasted for two days so people who survived the RAF night raid might well have been caught in the USAAF raid the next day. If all residents in an apartment block are killed and their bones incinerated and turned to dust as it collapses, there is no one to give an accurate account of the numbers lost. This will lead to under-estimates.
  If you are an historian and Holocaust-dismisser of Irving's stripe, then, of course, the bigger the number, the more severe the loss of your supposed 'Aryan' kin. Hence his gross over-estimates.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Friday, 3rd October 2008

  Scottish Librarian
  
  Many thanks for posting this. The report vindicates the longstanding position of 25,000 - 40,000 being the more accurate figure.
  
  U328011, this commission used multiple techniques in order to avoid overlooking the sort of factor that you mention, but the German records of residence and casulaties were extremely comprehensive. While we will never know the exact number, we can be certain it was nowhere near the 100,000 plus regularly quoted, usually for modern political reasons, in the Press and elsewhere.
  
  ANDREW HOST, given that the German commission's report rebuts the rationale given by your Head of History for not amending the erroneous "On This Day" entry for Dresden, can we have an assurance that when the due date rolls round in 2009, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ will have made the necessary alteration?
  
  Regards
  
  LW
  
  LW

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 5th October 2008

  Up. As they say.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Colquhoun (U3935535) on Monday, 6th October 2008

  The German article quotes 18,000 confirmed deaths and says that actual figure is unlikely to be much higher. I think the first casualty estimates made by the RAF immediately after the bombing were around 18,000 so it looks like they got it right.
  
  I suspect the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ keeps with David Irving's made up figures for its own political reasons... They (the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ) have had plenty of time to correct them after all no serious historian has come close to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's estimate for 20 years if ever.
  

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