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 TimelineGermany Great Britain

1939 Hitler invades Poland 1/9/39. Blitz of Polish cities begins.

Britain & France declare war on Germany 3/9/39

1940 German ‘Blitzkrieg’ defeats France, Belgium and Holland. Germany halted in GB invasion by loss of Battle of Britain.

Rationing starts. Churchill becomes PM. British victory in Battle of Britain. 1st air attacks on Germany on 15/5/40. Blitz on Britain begins 7/9/40

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 – 1940Date 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 – 1941Date 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 – 1941-43Date 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 Exeter1st ‘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 – 1944-45Date 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 – 1942Date Location Damage and casualties23/02/42 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 – 1943Date Location Damage and casualties23/05/43 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 – 1944Date Location Damage and casualties27/01/44 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 – 1945Date 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 raidsGermany 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)

LondonLiverpoolHullCoventry

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

Winston Churchill – Prime Minister of Great Britain at the

end of the war

‘It is against international law to bomb civilians as such and to make deliberate attacks on the civilian population‘ 1939

‘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 city-inferno, 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/0013/001332/133216eb.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, ColumbiaSource: 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 anti-personnel 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=Wa4Ls5dK15M (US voiceover victory in Europe)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWyK9rtRtA (Hamburg Firestorm 1943 no sound)

• http://www.onlinemilitaryeducation.org/posts/10-most-devastating-bombing-campaigns-of-wwii/ (10 most devastating bombings)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9UdYge46FU (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.