Witness to the bombing of Dresden part 14 of 14

[ElayneKevaux660]

hiya bin so geil

[Gary190tube]

It's terrible what happened but Dresden was a legitimate target. At the time it was very much "it's us or them."

[Phedrus1975]

@alanheath2; My grandfather was initially part of the BEF (2/51 Seaforth Highlanders) which was evacuated from Dunkirk, with the overwhelming majority of his unit captured at St. Valery. Later he was 'absorbed' into an MP unit and served in North Africa, Madagascar, Beruit and Iraq. Left the Army in 1946 after 11 years service.

[Phedrus1975]

@ alanheath2 ; I will give them a go, consider me subscribed! My grandfather served with 2/51 Highlanders during WW2, and never spoke about it. It was only after I joined the RAF that he began talking about his experiences. Difficult to image the pressures of that time, and impossible and wrong to judge.

[alanheath]

@Phedrus1975 Thanks for subscribing! I can well understand your father not wanting to talk about it. Do you know where he served?

[Phedrus1975]

@ Alanheath2: No offence meant. Found the whole series of videos enjoyable and intriguing, and felt the lady was being very dignified with a very 'diplomatic' answer, instead of something controversial or salacious. Interesting series of videos though, thank you.

[alanheath3]

@Phedrus1975 If you are interested, I have similar material with interviews of Sobibór death camp escapees on my alanheath channel.

I am very pleased you liked it.

Frau Schmidt unfortunately died five months after this was filmed. I saw her daughter though last week in Nuremburg.

[Phedrus1975]

I didn't mean to offend with my earlier post, I am merely making an observation that it is what's known in the business as a 'closed' question, intended to give a specific reply. I very much doubt it to be intentional or contrived, just an observation...

[alanheath3]

@Phedrus1975 As an interrogation or questioning technique (which incidentally also works with sales) we ask leading questions in order to get the person to give the contrary answer. I don't think I have ever done this on film but I do it all the time when speaking to eye witnesses, especially of Nazi acts of terror. The point of this is check the veracity of the witness by giving a leading question which is incorrect but may be commonly held belief.

[Phedrus1975]

@ alanheath3: just my opinion. She answered the question to the effect that 'Dresden survived' but the following question was to the effect of 'How do YOU feel about the bombing?' She is hardly likely to reply 'delighted', is she? I just got the impression from the interview that she found the question uncomfortable. Just my opinion...

[alanheath3]

@Phedrus1975 That is OK. Sometimes I get a bit defensive as I receive a lot of abuse from all sides

[Phedrus1975]

Frau Schmidt answered the question of the Dresden Bombing with dignity and diplomacy, despite attempts by the interviewer to 'lead' her answers.

[alanheath3]

@Phedrus1975 I suppose you can back up your claim that I tried to lead her answers.

[j0andc0]

Tragic and wrong it all is but Dresden was at war, just as heavy and involved as berlin, in war a legitimate target.

But compensation? No way. Not unless you protest against the german side also.

[j0andc0]

I feel for the woman, as i do with all civilians in war, but i'm sick of people talking of Dresden like it was the only blitz.

Will Mr Heath be doing compensation fights for the people of London who endured constant bombings for 57 nights straight through with thousands killed.

Or Coventry where Germans caused a fire storm destroying 60,000 buildings and killing 100s of civilians again.

Or Greenock which german attacks aimed at the ship yards, but again the innocents suffered there instead.

[alanheath]

In the first place I am not doing compensation fights for anyone.

In the second, this film is about Dresden. It is not about London, Coventry or Greenock.

I have got lots of films about other aspects of WW2 which I suggest you at least look at the titles of before making insinuations about me.

[j0andc0]

Dont be sensitive man, but why press her on what she thought of the bombings?

It came over favourably for dresden thats all.