Messerschmitt vs Spitfire
A love story
Slide numbers
Content
2 – 10
Introduction and context of Lotte’s childhood
11 – 19
Overview of WWII and of the air war
20 – 30
Details of air raids on Britain and Germany
31 – 42
Ethics of the air raids
43 – 49
Types of bombs used and their effects
50 – 52
Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris
53 – 57
Whose ‘fault’ was the war?
58 – 59
Firestorms
60 – 63
Destruction and impact of the raids
64 – 71
Recovery after the war
72 – 79
Impact of war today and parallels with today’s wars
80 – 84
The Angel of History – discussion point
85 – 92
The performance, its style and Brecht
93
Final words
Guten Tag.
• My name is Lotte Schäffer I am seventy six years young. I
am an artist who lives and works in Frankfurt and I am
bringing my exhibition “Families, Art and War” to England.
• You see, I am old enough to have experienced the Second
World War but too young to remember it.
• Teachers have played a big part in my life; my sister Ruth
became a teacher and my father, who I do not remember
well, was a teacher. I have asked a teacher in the UK to help
me gather the facts to give you the whole picture.
Hello.
• And that’s where I come in. My name is Mr.
Lowe and I’m the teacher that Lotte has asked
to help her with this work.
• To make it easier to know who’s speaking, all
of my words and work will be in white type,
like this….
Drawing what I see
• …and all of my words (Lotte’s) and work will
be in red type, like this.
• As a child I experienced the air war from
below. The only way I could make sense of it
was to draw what I saw.
• Here is one of my drawings:
Pictures as therapy
• Hi, it’s Mr Lowe again. What Lotte did, was do what she
did naturally – she drew. But art is used nowadays as a
form of therapy for young children.
• War can have devastating effects on children and when
they are too young to talk about what they’ve seen or
experienced, therapists ask them to draw their
experiences. Often, letting something out helps
someone let something go. Here are some examples of
drawings by children from wars that have happened
after the Second World War:
Children’s drawing of war
What a terrible thing war is
• Children draw what is in front of them, they see
horrific events but they don’t have the whole
picture.
• I would like you to have the whole picture, there
will be statistics, quotes from people involved
and photographs. And amongst all of that there
are some questions which you need to wrestle
with. The first one is – who started it?
So who started World War 2??
•
•
•
•
Germany. And Britain.
Germany invaded Poland and so started a war.
Germany didn’t want to go to war with Britain.
Britain and France declared war on Germany as a
reaction to Germany’s invasion of Poland.
• Germany started bombing raids in Poland and
Russia and accidentally dropped some in London.
• Britain started air raids on Germany in retaliation.
WW2 Timeline
Germany
Great Britain
1939
Hitler invades Poland 1/9/39. Blitz of
Polish cities begins.
Britain & France declare war on Germany
3/9/39
1940
Rationing starts. Churchill becomes PM. British
German ‘Blitzkrieg’ defeats France,
st
Belgium and Holland. Germany halted in victory in Battle of Britain. 1 air attacks on
Germany on 15/5/40. Blitz on Britain begins 7/9/40
GB invasion by loss of Battle of Britain.
1941
Hitler invades Russia. Japan attacks
Pearl Harbour & US enters war.
Blitz continues on major cities. Allied victory
in North Africa
1942
Germany held at Stalingrad. Killing of
Jews in Auschwitz begins
US victory in Battle of Midway marks turning
point in Pacific War.
1943
Germany defeated at Stalingrad. Jewish
ghetto of Krakov destroyed.
Allied invasion of Italy. Italy surrenders but
Germans continue fight.
1944
Germans defeated at Leningrad. Enigma
code broken by British.
Russians get stronger on Eastern Front. D-Day
successful and Paris liberated.
1945
Russians liberate Auschwitz and scale of
atrocity revealed. Russians reach Berlin. Hitler
commits suicide. Germany surrenders 7/5/45
US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and Japanese surrender 14/8/45
So it was a complicated war
• The war raged for nearly 6 years and fighting
took place all over the world. Many nations
were involved, not just Germany and Britain.
• But our play deals with Germany and Britain
so let’s examine the issue that the play
focuses on: bombs dropped from aeroplanes.
War in the air – a summary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
For the first year of the war the Germans bombed mainly military targets in
Poland, Belgium, Holland and France.
Germany began the air war on British military targets in July 1940
German bombers accidentally dropped bombs in London in August 1940.
Churchill ordered the RAF to bomb Berlin in retaliation
After a decisive night on September 15th, Britain won the Battle of Britain in
October 1940 to postpone Hitler’s plan of a land invasion of Britain.
Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to begin the ‘Blitzkrieg’ and Britain’s major industrial
cities were bombed, but only at night, quickly and devastatingly.
Hitler moved his focus to USSR
USA joined Britain after the attacks on Pearl Harbour in 1941 and together they
continued to bombard Germany throughout the war
Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command
in 1942 and changed the focus of the bombing
USA and Britain targeted not just military and industrial targets but civilian centres
(‘area bombing’) focusing on ‘morale of the enemy civilians’.
RAF vs the Luftwaffe
• The British RAF took on the German Luftwaffe
over the skies of Britain, France, Belgium,
Holland and Germany.
• Thousands of planes made journeys and many
from both sides were shot down.
• The most famous planes that came to
symbolise the war in the skies were the
Messerschmitt and the Spitfire
German Messerschmitt 109
British Spitfire Mark IV
Is that a fair choice of photographs?
• I see these two photos so often. The
Messerschmitt with its pilot invisible, a
machine going about its ruthless business –
dropping bombs on Britain. And then there’s
the picture of the Spitfire, cockpit open and a
smiling, friendly, British face for all to see. He
looks harmless doesn’t he? But he wasn’t. I
remember the firestorms…
That’s a fair point, Lotte…
• The Luftwaffe also contained a pilot who was
just as capable of being a smiling, friendly
face. In war, we tend to think of the
opposition as ‘other’, ‘foreign’, ‘the enemy’.
But, as Lotte points out, German and British
pilots were all doing exactly the same job –
dropping bombs. And all of them were human
beings. We must never forget that. But can we
leave the firestorms until a bit later?
Thank you
• That is important to remember. Our
government made the decisions, our fathers,
brothers and sons had to do the work.
• Now, please carry on, Mr Lowe. But don’t
forget the firestorms…
I won’t. Thank you. So, to the detail
• It’s difficult to really understand the volume of
attacks, bombs, journeys and casualties
without looking at the air war in more detail.
• In Britain we often talk about the impact of
the Blitz because it was the most concentrated
attacks we’ve known in hundreds of years.
• However, the air raids from both sides
continued throughout the war.
The Blitz in Britain – 1940
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
07/09/40
London
335 tons explosives. 430 killed, 1600 injured
15/10/40
London
BBC bombed. 430 killed. 250 000 made homeless
15/11/40
Coventry
449 bombers attack. 554 killed, 850 seriously injured
26/11/40
Bristol
City is ‘completely destroyed’. 1229 killed
28/11/40
Liverpool
169 killed in a school.
30/11/40
Southampton
476 tons explosives. Much of city levelled.
15/12/40
Sheffield
2 nights bombing. 660 killed, 40 000 made homeless.
21/12/40
Wirral
365 killed many due to direct hits on air raid shelters
23/12/40
Manchester
684 killed. Hitler claims ‘entire city was destroyed’
30/12/40
London
2nd Great Fire of London. Major destruction.
The Blitz in Britain – 1941
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
11/01/41
London
111 killed in the ticket hall of Bank tube station
21/02/41
Swansea
Swansea’s 2nd air raid. 270 killed.
11/03/41
Portsmouth
750 killed.
13/03/41
Clydebank
Worst losses in Scotland. 528 killed.
21/03/41
Plymouth
300 tons explosives, 2000 incendiary canisters
15/04/41
Belfast
180 bombers arrived, killing nearly 1000 people
16/04/41
London
712 bombers, 2000 tons high explosives, 9000
incendiary canisters, 2000 fires, 1000 people killed
29/04/41
Plymouth
8 nights bombs kills 1000, makes 30 000 homeless
07/05/41
Greenock
2 nights of bombing leaves 280 killed, 1200 injured
11/05/41
London
Most destructive day. 1436 civilians killed
16/05/41
Blitz ends as Luftwaffe mainly reassigned to Russia
Air raids on Britain – 1941-43
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
01/06/41
Manchester
111 bombers attack in night raid
27/07/41
London
1st raid in 10 weeks, heavy bombing
21/01/42
London/ports
400 bombers attach ports in Southern England
24/04/42
Exeter
1st ‘Baedeker’ raid
1st of retaliation raids on historic towns and cities,
following RAF bombing of Lubeck
24/06/42
Birmingham
1st of a series of night raids against Birmingham
20/01/43
London
Daylight raid hits school. Kills 44 children, 1 teacher
17/05/43
Cardiff
Luftwaffe carry out night raid
30/05/43
Torquay
20 children killed when bomb hits church
09/07/43
East Grinstead
12 die in ‘hit and run’ bombing on cinema
15/08/43
Portsmouth
Heaviest attack in 2 years by 91 German planes
Air raids on Britain – 1944-45
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
21/01/44
Southeast England
Heaviest Luftwaffe raid of 90 planes: ‘Mini blitz’
24/03/44
London
90 medium bombers attack
13/06/44
Swanscombe, Kent
1st V1 flying bomb (doodlebug) launched
16/06/44
England
95 V1s launched
02/08/44
England
5340 Doodlebugs launched so far, killing 4735 and
injuring 14000. 17 000 homes completely destroyed
06/09/44
‘Battle of London’ won as V1 attacks cease
08/09/44
England
1st of V2 bombs launched from Holland
03/03/45
RAF air fields
27 air fields attacked by 100 luftwaffe. Last air
attack on Britain of war.
27/03/45
Orpington, Kent
1115th and last V2 attack on England
27/04/45
England
2754 killed by V2 bombs, 6523 seriously injured
Allied air raids on Germany – 1940/41
Date
Location
Damage and Casualties
04/09/39
Rhineland
First ‘leaflet bombs’ dropped.
15/05/40
‘Bomber Command’ begins its air raids
24/07/40
British allow use of phosphorus ‘fire platelets’
13/08/40
Munster
Dortmund-Ems canal bridge destroyed
16/11/40
Hamburg
Serious damage and 26 killed in harbour area
17/12/40
Mannheim
140 bombers destroyed 240 buildings. 34 killed
02/03/41
Cologne
Heaviest raid yet by RAF bombers
09/04/41
Kiel
Heavy raid to try to knock out port
15/05/41
Cuxhaven
Nights raids also on Hanover and Berlin
12/06/41
Ruhr
1st of 20 consecutive night raids
02/09/41
Bremen
Only 19 nights missed in August & September raids
Allied air raids on Germany – 1942
Date
Location
23/02/42
Damage and casualties
Bomber Harris put in charge of ‘Bomber Squadron’
28/03/42
Lubeck
Heavy raid on historic (not industrial) town
23/04/42
Rostock
142 bombers
31/05/42
Cologne
‘Millenium’ raid
1046 bombers, dropping 1455 tons of explosive,
destroys 600 acres of built-up area, 486 killed,
59 000 made homeless
06/06/42
A bomb dropped 13 months ago explodes, killing 19
25/06/42
Bremen
3rd 1000 bomber raid. 27 acres of inner city razed.
28/08/42
Nuremberg
4000 killed, 10 000 homes destroyed
11/09/42
Dusseldorf
Heavy raid
Allied air raids on Germany – 1943
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
23/05/43
Dortmund
2000 tons of explosives are dropped
29/05/43
Wuppertal
719 bombers, 1900 tons explosives, 2450 killed
24/07/43
Hamburg
‘Op. Gomorrah’
746 bombers, 2,300 tons, 48 minutes. Tonnage same
as Germans dropped in 5 heaviest raids on London.
25/07/43
Essen
2000 tons explosives dropped.
28/07/43
Hamburg
722 bombers. 9 sq miles alight. Million evacuated.
More bombs and same casualties (50 000) in
Hamburg than on London in whole Blitz.
23/08/43
Berlin
727 bombers drop 1700 tons. Smoke 20 000 ft high.
07/10/43
Stuttgart
1700 killed, 18 000 made homeless
03/11/43
Dusseldorf
2000 tons of explosives dropped in 27 minutes
22/11/43
Berlin
2300 tons of dropped in 30 minutes. 8-10 000 killed
03/12/43
Leipzig
1500 killed, 40 000 made homeless
11/12/43
Emden
1000 killed, 12 000 made homeless
Allied air raids on Germany – 1944
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
27/01/44
Berlin
13th raid on Berlin leaves 6000 dead
19/02/44
Leipzig
2300 tons of bombs dropped
15/03/44
Stuttgart
3000 tons of bombs dropped from 863 bombers
22/04/44
Brunswick
‘J’ Bomb used for 1st time – liquid incendiary
18/07/44
4500 bombers drop 7000 tons on German defences
08/08/44
Caen
3462 tons dropped on the German lines
16/11/44
Aachen
A record 5689 tons dropped in one day
21/11/44
Merseburg
Synthetic fuel producing plants destroyed
Allied air raids on Germany – 1945
Date
Location
Damage and casualties
03/02/45
Berlin
937 bombers kill more than 25 000 civilians
14/02/45
Dresden
1200 bombers over 2 nights create a fire-bomb
holocaust killing between 35 000 – 135 000 people
02/03/45
Mannheim
300 bombers create a devastating ‘firestorm’
12/03/45
Dortmund
Record set for 4851 tons dropped in a day
14/03/45
Bielefield
1st drop of 22 000lb ‘Grand Slam’ bomb that destroys
the Bielefield viaduct
23/03/45
Hildesheim
300 bomber raid against small town with little
military or industrial significance
04/04/45
Kiel
Over 2 nights, 1150 bombers attack the city
02/05/45
Kiel
Last ever ‘Bomber Command’ attack launched.
Bombing of Germany map
Bombing of Germany – in summary
• In World War II, over half a million tons of high
explosive, incendiaries and fragmentation bombs were
dropped in area raids on German cities. The raids left:
– more than 7 million people homeless;
– approximately 600,000 civilians dead and
– approximately 850,000 civilians injured.
• Allied Air Forces raids also destroyed or heavily
damaged
– 3,600,000 dwelling units
– Approximately 20 % of the total housing stock, and
– 45 percent of the housing stock in the large cities.
Statistics of air raids
Germany
Britain
Civilian air raid deaths
543 000
60 400
Cities attacked 1939-45
61
33
Homes destroyed
3.6 million (20% of total)
1.5 million
People made homeless
7.5 million
No accurate info: at least
1.5 million
Worst affected cities
Berlin (70% destroyed)
Dresden (75% destroyed)
London
Liverpool
Hull
Coventry
So why all the fuss?
• Most of the discussion about the air raids centres
on the AIMS of the air raids.
• In modern warfare, air raids aim to destroy or
disrupt industrial or military targets. So a
successful raid will interrupt the production of
weapons, or damage the roads/trains so that
resources can’t get through.
• In WW2, air raids started to target civilian
centres. So city centres were attacked so that
morale was affected.
Excuse me, Mr Lowe…
• I hate to say it but, well, that doesn’t sound
very British. I thought you Brits were
advocates of fair play, abiding by the rules,
strong moral code.
That’s certainly what we often say
• The British have always prided themselves on
exactly these principles. So it’s worth having a
look at two quotations from the two British
Prime Ministers who were in power during the
war…
Neville Chamberlain – Prime Minister
of Great Britain at the start of the war
‘It is against international law to bomb
civilians as such and to make deliberate
attacks on the civilian population‘ 1939
Winston Churchill – Prime
Minister of Great Britain at the
end of the war
‘To achieve the extirpation of Nazi
tyranny there are no lengths of
violence to which we will not go.’
1943
Britain’s change of strategy
• “In March 1942 Churchill’s War Cabinet adopted the ‘Lindemann
plan’, whereby civilian targeting became official. Working-class
homes were preferred to upper-class because they were closer
together, and so a greater flesh-incineration-per-bomb could be
achieved. The Jewish German émigré Professor Frederick
Lindemann, Churchill's friend and scientific advisor had by then
become Lord Cherwell. He submitted a plan to the War Cabinet on
March 30th urging that German working-class houses be targeted in
preference to military objectives, the latter being harder to hit.
Middle-class homes had too much space around them, he
explained. He was not prosecuted for a ghastly new war-crime,
hitherto undreamt-of. Thereby all cities and town over 50,000
inhabitants could be destroyed, or at least brought to ruin. The War
Cabinet realised that no inkling of this must reach the public.” How
Britain Pioneered City Bombing
Targeting a historic city that was filled
with refugees and injured
•
"On 13th February 1945 I was a navigator on one of the Lancaster bombers which
devastated Dresden. I well remember the briefing by our Group Captain. We were
told that the Red Army was thrusting towards Dresden and that the town would be
crowded with refugees and that the center of the town would be full of women
and children. Our aiming point would be the market place.
I recall that we were somewhat uneasy, but we did as we were told. We
accordingly bombed the target and on our way back our wireless operator picked
up a German broadcast accusing the RAF of terror tactics, and that 65,000 civilians
had died. We dismissed this as German propaganda.
The penny didn't drop until a few weeks later when my squadron received a visit
from the Crown Film Unit who were making the wartime propaganda films. There
was a mock briefing, with one notable difference. The same Group Captain now
said, 'as the market place would be filled with women and children on no account
would we bomb the center of the town. Instead, our aiming point would be a vital
railway junction to the east.
I can categorically confirm that the Dresden raid was a black mark on Britain's war
record. The aircrews on my squadron were convinced that this wicked act was not
instigated by our much-respected guvnor 'Butch' Harris but by Churchill. I have
waited 29 years to say this, and it still worries me." [2001] TERROR BOMBING: THE
CRIME OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Michael Walsh
That’s quite a change in policy
• How could everything change so much in four
years?
• Well, Lotte, I suppose we have always justified it
by saying that we had to stop what the Nazis
were doing with the extermination of the Jews by
any means necessary.
• But I was a little girl just trying to live her life.
Why bomb me?
• That’s difficult to answer, Lotte. So let’s have a
look at the impact of this change in strategy.
The impact of this change
• ‘All German towns and cities above 50,000 population were from
50% to 80% destroyed. Dresden with a population larger than that
of Liverpool was incinerated with an estimated 135,000 civilian
inhabitants burned and buried in the ruins. Hamburg was totally
destroyed and 70,000 civilians died in the most appalling
circumstances. Cologne with a population greater than Glasgow's
was turned into a moonscape. As Hamburg burned the winds
feeding the three-mile high flames reached twice hurricane speed
to exceed 150 miles per hour. On the outskirts of the city trees
three feet in diameter were sucked from the ground by the
supernatural forces of these winds and hurled miles into the cityinferno, as were vehicles, men, women and children.’
• [2001] TERROR BOMBING: THE CRIME OF THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY by Michael Walsh
That’s very difficult for me to read
• I lost my mother in a bombing raid. She thought she would be safe
in the air raid shelter, but no one is safe in a firestorm.
• Statistically I was now one of 13 million orphans in Europe at the
end of the war, but in reality my sister Ruth took care of me, she
brought me up like a mother.
• Every time I see a building being knocked down in the city, it
reminds me of the war.
• Nothing is permanent, that’s what I learned. We can build cities and
destroy them and build them again. But can we go from being
civilised to becoming savages and then become civilized again?
It’s a question that’s often asked, Lotte
• If we look around us at the world today, it’s
difficult to say that yes, we have returned to
being civilised. War is never far away.
• But we must keep going, the story must be
told, the facts uncovered.
Types of bombs
• There were 3 common types of bombs used in air
raids:
– Explosive bombs that blew up on impact
– Incendiary bombs that set fire to anything flammable
where it landed
– Time-delayed bombs that could be set to any time
after impact to explode.
• The ‘Blockbuster’ bombs were huge explosive
bombs that had the power to destroy whole
streets or large buildings
British stockpiles of 1000lb bombs
‘Blockbuster’ bomb
Sizes of ‘Blockbuster’ bombs
Incendiary bomb
How time-delayed bombs work
Yes, and when they combined…
• …That’s what led to the firestorms.
• I know, Lotte, but let’s just continue with the
British bombing raids for a little while longer. I
need to introduce everyone to one very
important man…
Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris
Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris
• One man who is often blamed for the amount of destruction and
suffering that the Germans suffered is ‘Bomber’ Harris.
• He became Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command in 1942
• Under his command the bombing policy changed. He co-ordinated
‘area bombing’. Civilian centres were bombed to attack the
infrastructure of towns and cities, and to attack morale
• His first major policy was The Thousand Bomber Raid where he
used 1000 planes dropping a mix of explosives and incendiaries to
devastate areas
• He was convinced that this would break German morale and
decisively win the war. It didn’t. It rarely destroyed weapons
factories and is widely believed to have strengthened the Germans’
resolve to win.
‘Bomber’ Harris on trial
• Bomber Harris: "Dresden? There is not such a place any longer." "I
want to point out, that besides Essen, we never actually considered
any particular industrial sites as targets. The destruction of
industrial sites always was some sort of bonus for us. Our real
targets always were the inner cities.“
• "The destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers,
and the disruption of civilized community life throughout
Germany [is the goal]. ... It should be emphasized that the
destruction of houses, public utilities, transport and lives; the
creation of a refugee problem on an unprecedented scale; and the
breakdown of morale both at home and at the battle fronts by
fear of extended and intensified bombing are accepted and
intended aims of our bombing policy. They are not by-products of
attempts to hit factories."
So Britain did terrible things?
• It can be seen that way. But let’s not forget….
• Hitler invaded Poland to start the war. He wanted
to expand his empire. Britain wanted to defend
Europe.
• Hitler had already begun bombing civilian centres
before Britain ever bombed a city.
• Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust:
– The Holocaust killed 11 million people, 6 million of
which were Jews
– 2/3 of the Jewish people in the world were killed
– An estimated 1.1 million children were killed
It has been claimed that Hitler didn’t
want to bomb Britain
• “Nor do I accept the view that Hitler had a soft spot for the
British and the British Empire. In 1945, while I was with an
Intelligence Section of SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters
Allied Expeditionary Force], I read the original German
document of the plan for Operation Sea Lion the German
invasion of Britain as well as the German directives for the
occupation of Britain. These stipulated that anyone over
the age of twelve who insulted a member of the German
occupation forces was to be subject to the death penalty,
and all males between the ages of 17 and 45 who were not
working in war-related industries in the United Kingdom
could be sent to Germany and Poland to work as forced
labor [sic] in preparation for the German attack against the
USSR.”
Doug Collins US prisoner-of-war in Germany
So it was our fault?
• Finding fault is never easy and not always useful.
• Soldiers are bound by law to carry out the orders given
to them by the commanding officers. These orders are
given as a way of carrying out the aims of the leaders
of the country: Hitler and Chamberlain/Churchill
• Churchill saw Britain’s role as keeping the peace in
Europe
• Hitler believed that he was making the world a better
place for his countrymen and women
• In war, it is difficult to stay composed and rational
• There was fighting all over the world and orders got
lost and misinterpreted
And perhaps most importantly..
• We need to consider the following:
– What do we mean when we say ‘the Germans’?
– There were 13 million orphans in Europe at the
end of the war, many of them in Germany. Was it
their fault?
– ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’
– War legitimises murder. Why do we accept some
types of murder over others? What do you think is
acceptable in war?
They are very good points, Mr Lowe
• As a 76 year-old German, I know now exactly
what my nation did. I know how many people
it killed, exterminated. And I am deeply,
deeply ashamed. But I didn’t kill anyone.
Neither did anyone I know. And I know how
much I suffered. So was it my fault?
• Now they must know about the firestorms…
Yes, Lotte, they must. So, what is a
firestorm?
• Firestorms are caused when a number of small fires
converge into a single blaze, creating a huge conflagration
which in turn sucks in oxygen at high speeds and at very
high temperatures. In Hamburg, the conflagration
eventually enveloped 4 1/2 square miles, developed 100
mph winds, and reached temperatures of at least 600 to
800 degrees Centigrade (other firestorms have been said to
generate temperatures of 1,500 to 2,000 degrees
Centigrade). By way of comparison it should be noted that
start-up temperatures for crematoria are between 600 and
700 degrees Centigrade. [I262] Defending Against the Allied
Bombing Campaign: Air Raid Shelters and Gas Protection in
Germany, 1939-1945, by Samuel Crowell
Those are the facts…
• But can you imagine what it was like to
experience one? You probably can’t and that’s
why we tell you about one in our play…
• So let’s show you now what the bombs and
the firestorms actually did to my country.
Frankfurt before and after
Destruction of Frankfurt
Christmas in Frankfurt
That looks awful, Lotte
• But we could show you photographs of many
English cities that were similarly destroyed.
Why do you think it was worse for you?
• Because we lost the war. We were broke, we
were defeated, our leader was dead and we
were discovering what had been done by our
country. Because so many of us were orphans.
So how did you all recover, once the
war ended?
• My sister Ruth, never talked about the war
after it ended. We were too busy trying to
survive. When you have no shoes and shelter
you don’t have time to think about the past.
• Do you remember the UNESCO report?
• I do, Lotte.
“The Children of Europe” - UNESCO
• Straight after the war, the United Nations was formed
to try to preserve world peace
• UNESCO was formed on November 4th 1946
• UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation
• Its purpose is to encourage peace and justice through
nations working together in educational, scientific and
cultural work
• David Seymour (or Chim to give him his Polish name)
was a war photographer. In 1948 he was asked to travel
through Europe and take photographs of the 13 million
war orphans. This became “Children of Europe”
“We, too, shall be grown-up people in a few years. Do not
abandon us a second time and make us lose forever our faith
in the ideals for which you fought.”
“With the love, help and understanding of grown-ups,
some of us have already begun to build a secure and
happy life – to regain a part of our lost childhood – in
classrooms under the trees, in playgrounds among the
ruins – but still only some of us.”
“We will even re-build or own schools”
“Teachers do their very best. You can
count on them – and on us – but you
must give us a fair chance”
UNESCO report – Children of Europe
• See the full report here…
• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001
332/133216eb.pdf
Memorial to orphans, Hamburg
So Lotte, how do you cope?
• How do you recover from the guilt, from knowing
that whilst you did nothing wrong, your country
certainly did?
• It’s been difficult. After many years of finding it
hard to even mention him, we started asking, can
we joke about Hitler? The English can and maybe
our younger generation feel distant enough to be
able to do that. I think the biggest weapon
against fascism is humour, it just doesn’t sit
comfortably with some people.
And can you still see the impact today?
• Yes, and in the most unlikely places.
• Such as?
• School uniforms . We are still cautious as a
nation. Our children don’t wear school uniforms
because many people see it as an echo of the
fascist doctrine to make everyone look the same.
• That’s fascinating. Does it still upset you?
• My war doesn’t, not any more. But these new
wars do. Why haven’t we learnt anything? Why
does a new generation have to suffer?
It still happens today
Yes Lotte, it does. These are current
wars:
• As of May 2014, there are still 13 wars ongoing in
the world.
• There are wars between:
• Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan/Pakistan, Iraq/Turkey, Sudan/South
Sudan
• There are civil wars (where groups of people from
the same nation fight each other) in:
– Syria, Yemen, Somalia, D.R. Congo, Nigeria, India,
Burma, Thailand, Columbia
Source: http://www.internationalrelations.com/wars-in-progress/
Unexploded WW2 bombs
• And this is what really upsets me. In Germany,
an average of 15 bombs are discovered every
day – but you know about that now. That’s
where our story starts. And every time one of
these bombs is found, there is danger, stress,
upheaval. But once again, the world hasn’t
learnt anything. Because the amount of
unexploded bombs in Germany is nothing
compared to the number of unexploded land
mines.
Land mines
• Land mines are devices that are hidden under ground and
that are triggered when something drives over it or
someone or something steps on it.
• They lead to blindness, amputation, appalling shrapnel
wounds and death
• Land mines from the 1st World War are still killing people
today but millions more have been planted since.
• Following campaigns by many charities, the use of antipersonnel land mines has been banned by a treaty since
1997. There are now calls for the end of anti-vehicle mines
• 150 countries have so far signed up to the treaty
Casualties of land mines
• Between 1999 and 2009, there were 73 576
casualties of land mines. Of these, 17 876 were
killed. However, this number only includes
recorded cases so the true number will be much
higher
• Land mines are indiscriminate – they do not care
whether its victim is a legitimate military target
or a civilian.
• Between 70 – 85% of land mine casualties are
civilians. 32% were children
Land mine statistics
• Estimates:
–
–
–
–
–
110 million mines still active across 70 countries
Every month 2000 people are killed or maimed
Anti-personnel mines cost between $3 - $30
They cost $300 - $1000 to clear
Estimated cost of removing all the world’s mines is
$33 billion
– Buried land mines can remain active for 50 years
– It has cost $750 million for amputations to the
250 000 victims so far
So your paintings are lessons, Lotte?
• You create art as a way of teaching people
about the horrors of war?
• Often, yes. If we all suffered during World War
2, I can cope with that. It’s gone, it’s history.
But surely it should have taught us something.
Taught us that there are no winners in a war.
That the children, especially, are the biggest
losers. I just keeping thinking about the Angel
of History.
Walter Benjamin: The Angel of History
The Angel of History quotation
Links
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/21771713
(Children’s drawings of war)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa4Ls5dK1
5M (US voiceover victory in Europe)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWyK9rtR
tA (Hamburg Firestorm 1943 no sound)
• http://www.onlinemilitaryeducation.org/posts/1
0-most-devastating-bombing-campaigns-of-wwii/
(10 most devastating bombings)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9UdYge46F
U (Footage of German city destruction)
Thank you, Lotte.
• I teach my students every year about World
War 2 and yet it’s always difficult for me to
understand how it impacted on the Germans.
• There’s that phrase again, Mr Lowe, ‘the
Germans’. If there’s one thing I would like you
to remember when you teach in the future,
it’s that there’s no such thing as ‘the Germans’
or ‘the British’. It’s just ‘people’.
• Thank you Lotte, I will remember that.
So now that Lotte has gone…
• We can start to think in a little more depth
about the performance itself and how it has
been put together.
• The approach to theatre making that the
company draws on is heavily influenced by a
German theatre practitioner who was alive
and making work during the Second World
War. Let me introduce him:
The performance
• Was devised by The Blahs with Theatrehaus Ensemble from
Frankfurt.
• Is a participatory performance. The ‘audience’ are also a
part of the cast and the story.
• Can be enjoyed from a number of perspectives:
– as a Drama student observing the storytelling techniques;
– as a German student trying to follow the German language used
in the piece;
– as a History student understanding the perspective of the losing
side;
– as a PSHCE student grappling with the ethical dilemmas within.
– Or as a human being enjoying a lifelong journey to explore and
understand a complicated world.
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht (1898 – 1956)
• A German actor and director who grew up in
the shadow of the 1st World War
• He was quick to spot the theatre of the rise of
Nazism in 1930s Germany
• Believed theatre should be a place where
debate and learning should take place. Saw
theatre as a vehicle for social change
• Developed a style of theatre called ‘Epic’
theatre
Epic theatre
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Episodic rather than linear
Archetypal characters rather than fully drawn
Often ‘allegorical’ stories
Realistic but not naturalistic
Dealt with the political not the personal
Had a social message at its heart
Used ‘Verfremdungseffekt’
Verfremdungseffekt
• Verfremdungseffekt is often translated as
‘making strange’ or sometimes ‘alienation’. Its
purpose was to constantly remind the
audience that they were watching a fiction
and to not get emotionally involved with the
characters
• By the end of his career, Brecht had developed
an array of methods to achieve the effect
Verfremdungseffekt techniques
•
•
•
•
•
Use of titles, placards and banners
Use of song
Multi-roling (an actor playing more than 1 role)
Symbolic/representational costumes and set
Breaking the 4th wall (talking directly to the
audience, often out of character)
• Revealing the lights, wings and mechanics of the
theatre
• An open-ended epilogue (asking the audience
difficult questions before they leave)
Brecht and our performance
• We did not set out to make a Brechtian
performance but Brecht’s influence was so great
on European theatre that we now use some of his
techniques without thinking. In fact we have used
some of these techniques for different reasons.
• How many of his techniques can you spot in our
show? Why do you think we might have used
these techniques? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of involving an audience? What
are the challenges?
That’s all folks!
• I hope you enjoyed the performance, getting
involved, being a part of the story. And I hope
that you’ve found this work, and Lotte’s
contributions useful and interesting. I’ve
certainly enjoyed meeting Lotte and learning
from her.