Among the most controversial issues pertaining to death and destruction during World War II was the famous British-American raid on Dresden, just a few months before the end of the war. It is clear the day plus night assault produced a firestorm that killed thousands of people who were crammed into the city as German civilians fled both Russian and American-British troops. Many far-right groups cite the figure of up to 500,000 deaths in order to justify the killing of millions of people by Nazi troops in order to assert there were “atrocities on both sides.” An official group, the Dresden Historians’ Commission, after years of research concludes about 25,000 died during the air raids. It also concluded the number of refugees who fled the area and later die was much lower than previously believed.
War is hell. People die. But, there is a difference when death occurs during a military operation and when it is a well designed plan by a government to kill each and every person who is part of a group.
Perhaps, this commission might be a model to finally resolve the issue of how many Armenians died in Turkey over 90 years ago.