Dresdeners around the world

After the Nazis had seized power, thousands of Dresden Jews had to leave their city, their country, in a word: their home. They emigrated to many different countries of the world where they tried to make themselves a new home.
To many of them this was a thorny road, and they were often overcome by a yearning for their real home.

After the political changes in the early 1990s, the city administration received more and more letters from senders all over the world. They all had a similar concern: As former citizens of Dresden they felt the desire to regain contact with their roots. Many of them also wished to see their home town once more after 50 or 60 years.

Some years later, this wish came true first for ten of them. They were invited to visit Dresden.

The first letters

Just after the Berlin Wall had come down the first of the former Dresdeners contacted the Lord Mayor of their former home town. Letters from Israel, The United Kingdom, Chile, the USA, Peru, South Africa and Australia gave insights into moving biographies and fates.

People who had been expelled from Dresden during the Nazi regime tried to regain contact with their roots decades later. Almost all the letter-writers indicated the heartfelt desire to see their place of birth again.

Following the example of West German towns, the city of Dresden began to take an interest in its former citizens who were scattered across every continent.Addresses were collected, and contacts were established and maintained.

All those whose addresses had been traced by the end of 1992 received cards from the Lord Mayor Dr. Herbert Wagner with good wishes for the New Year from their old home town.

The Lord Mayor's invitation

After careful preparation the city administration invited a first group of former Dresdeners to spend six days in their birthplace in Mai 1994.
The joy of those invited could be felt in the letters they wrote to accept the invitation: »May I say that during my long life I have written and received a great many letters. Yet hardly ever, or even never, have I received a letter whose content came as such a surprise as your invitation! Even now I hardly dare to believe that I will after all be able to see my dear Dresden once again«, wrote 87-year-old Johannes Haberkorn from Santiago de Chile.

Back in the Dresden of their childhood

Since then the city administration has received about ten former Dresdeners every year. Deeply moved, they recollect the Dresden of their childhood and youth, talk about their bygone school years and rediscover the city.
The itinerary includes all those places which are likely to be part of every visitor's memory: the Zwinger, the Semper Opera, the Picture Gallery, the Saxon Switzerland, Pillnitz and many more.

The guests are also taken to the Jewish cemetery, where some of the graves of their parents, grandparents and other relatives are to be found. Many of the former Dresdeners see the last resting-places of their family members for the first time and are deeply moved.

Enthusiastic reactions

Irene Marks (Montréal, Canada):

»Originally I had decided never to return to Dresden so as not to be reminded of the Nazi period. I must admit that I am now glad to have been there. It was almost like meeting an old friend.«

Lea Green & Sara Orenbuch (Palestine):

»We cannot forget the short but wonderful time you gave us, and it will always remain in our memories. We thank you once again, and no words can express how wonderful it was.«

Johannes Haberkorn (Santiago de Chile):

»Being together with a group of Jewish people who are deeply marked by a cruel fate and who now have sufficient strength of character to follow the city's invitation was an unexpected and highly appreciated gift for my personal development.«
»Although I have been living in Chile for more than 60 years now, in this wonderful land with its people who are so friendly to the Germans, I feel even today as close to my dear birth place and home town Dresden as in those days back in January 1935 when I embarked on my great adventure.«

Willy & Elisabeth Weiger (USA):

»The mere thought that we were on our way back to our place of birth, where we had spent our youth and, after our marriage, our first years as a young family, caused us a feeling of inner excitement such as we had never known before.«

Harry Natowitz (Offenbach):

»Now I'm back to the daily routine, but things are not the same as before, for I spent a wonderful week in Dresden.«

Kurt Natowitz (Argentina):

»We shall always remember with pleasure the programme of outings and sightseeing tours. In our case this was only topped by a family reunion of three cousins from different continents and a friend from my youth whom I had believed to be dead.«

Horst & Hella Weiss (South Africa):

»Today I can say that in the beginning I was not sure whether it would be good to let Horst relive that anxious time which he endured when he left Dresden. Even today, 60 years later, the unhappy memories return. Nevertheless we are both very happy to have come. This is probably the most moving thing: the return to one's place of birth, to the places of one's childhood, the finding of one's roots.«