History Is History

During the night of Febuary 13^th 1945, the allies led by the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and Marshal Arthur “Bomber” Harris, destroyed the historic city of Dresden, taking between 35 and 60 thousand lives. Among the participants in the bombing raid were Canadian airmen who, acting upon the orders of their British superior, dropped thousands of tons of incendiary bombs onto innocent civilians and refugees. These are historical facts.

The bombing of Dresden first made it into RAF military plans in early 1944 because of nearby railway yards and an intelligence report pointing to the city as a point of passage for Axis troops. In fall of that year, American flying fortresses from the 8^th USAAF eight air force targeted and razed the yards, so the initial RAF plan to bomb the city heart was dropped. It was only reactivated in 1945 on the advice of Winston Churchill who wanted to give Stalin a demonstration of Allied strength. RAF briefing notes justified the bombing as a way of showing "the Russians, when they arrive, what Bomber Command can do." These are also historical facts.

Last Wednesday, the Canadian War Museum succumbed to pressure from Veterans of the Canadian Bombing Command who wanted the 67-word description of the bombing of Dresden changed. The text had been written by a group of historians, but the veterans objected to it saying that "the value and morality of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany remains bitterly contested," and contrasting the 600,000 German civilian deaths with the statement that "the raids resulted in only small reductions of German war production”. The Museum has agreed to adjust the wording in the panel to reflect the veterans’ demands, and has promised to have the new panel installed by October.

The Veterans of the Canadian Forces who risked their lives as part of the British led Bomber Command are heroes. They obeyed the orders of their superiors faithfully and acted in the name of their country and in the name of freedom and human rights. That they participated in the bombing of Dresden, or of other European cities, takes nothing away from this immense courage and heroism. Canadians must never forget the incredible sacrifice made by these veterans who, in the name of their country and of human rights, risked their lives on every sortie.

In their name, Canadians have erected a number of war memorials across the country for new generations of Canadians to acknowledge and remember the sacrifice of our Second World War heroes. But the Canadian War Museum is not one of those places. In the words of great Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan “a museum is not a war memorial. It should allow the public to make up their own minds."

The mandate of the Canadian War Museum is “Educate, Preserve, Remember”. When the museum gives in to pressure from angry veterans and manipulates history to suit their view, it does not educate –it misleads-, it does not preserve -it manipulates- and does not remember –it forgets-.