At least 35,000 people were killed in the firebombing of Dresden in February 1945.
Once upon a time, Dresden was one of Europe's most beautiful cities, a Baroque jewel of garden terraces, stone staircases, and sweeping promenades. But 60 years ago, the eastern German city once known as the "Florence on the Elbe" was turned into an apocalyptic inferno. Tens of thousands of civilians -- the exact number remains unclear -- were killed as British and, to a lesser extent, American warplanes pummeled the city with incendiary bombs in a bid to break the morale of the German people and hasten the demise of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Six decades later, with the extreme right gaining ground in the east of the country, Germans are now engaged in a painful debate about the nature of their wartime losses -- a debate that erupted in the streets of Dresden on 13 February.
