number of german civilians killed by allied bombing

The Hahn's believe that the official German figure of 2 million deaths is a historical myth that lacks foundation. "The bombing left an entire generation traumatised. [4], A. The German military system for reporting casualties was based on a numerical reporting of casualties by individual units and a separate listing of the names of individual casualties. Keegan, John, Second World War, Penguin Books , 1990, Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 Table A, Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. In 1949 he published an article in the newspaper Die Zeit in which he listed OKW Casualty Figures [2] these figures also appeared in a multi-volume edition of the OKW diaries. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002 Pages 272-273, Overmans has made the following points in Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians, conscripted ethnic Germans, Volkssturm and other paramilitary forces. The forward to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily), Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. [7] The statistics of the German High Command put casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union up until 1/31/1945 at: 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded[24]. By comparison 6.000 civilians were killed in Le Have during the entire Great War, which lasted almost five years. Estimated total deaths 4,200,000. Overy estimated in 2014 that in all about 353,000 civilians were killed by British and American bombing of German cities. In post-war Germany the fate of civilians and prisoners of war has been a contentious topic. [88], The Austrian government provides the following information on human losses during the rule of the Nazis. Darmstadt, Germany (September 1943-February 1944) over 12,000 killed by RAF bombing raids which targeted the wooden houses which worsened the fire that ensued. ), München: Piper 1989, pages 862-63, Great patriotic war of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 : a general outline - Moscow : Progress Publishers, [1974] Page 392, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Statistical bulletin January 1946 Page 7, Wirtschaft und Statistik November 1949, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. "The main fact is that the British bombing of German cities wasn't very heroic. [97] Rüdiger Overmans believes that “on the basis of factual individual data, shown before, the thesis of the Canadian James Bacque cannot be supported”. What impact did all of this have on German morale, production, and the overall Civilian deaths in the 1945 air raids on eastern Front after 1/31/1945 are also included with the figures for the losses during the Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50)[56]. A 1990 study by the East German historian de:Olaf Groehler estimated 360,000–370,000 civilians were killed by Allied strategic bombing within the 1937 German boundaries, for the German Reich including Austria, forced laborers, POW and military the total is estimated at 406,000. [22], Overmans believes that there is not sufficient data to breakout the 1,230,045 deaths in the 1945 Final Battles in Germany between the Western Allied invasion of Germany and Eastern Front in 1945,[20] although he estimates that 2/3 of these casualties can be attributed to the Eastern Front. 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded. Based on information available in January 1946, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. put German military dead at 3,250,000. The charred, mutilated bodies of women, children and babies are all civilians who perished during the allies' bombing campaign against Germany's cities. In Dresden, SS workers from a nearby concentration camp were called in to dispose of large heaps of bodies. They remember cellars and burning human remains," Friedrich told the Guardian in an interview in Berlin last week. Friedrich, who is now 59, grew up in Essen, in the Ruhr, a part of Germany's industrial heartland that comprehensively pulverised during the war years. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues. Overmans maintains that many individual reports of casualties were not processed by the end of the war and are not reflected in the German High Command (OKW) statistics.[1]. Source of figures: Gregory Frumkin. @ Stevo: Apparently, neither can you. Around 600,000 German civilians died during the allies' wartime raids on Germany, including 76,000 German children, Friedrich says. They also estimated an additional 20,000 civilians, not included here, who were killed during the land campaign in Germany but are included in the schedule below for Total Population Losses 1939-1946. [81] Total German POW held at that time were about 2.5 million, including 300,000 men from other nations conscripted by Nazi Germany not included in the 1939 population[87] and 384,000 POW held in Germany who are included in the 1946 census figures. Although apparently untroubled by the carnage inflicted on German civilians, he was pained by French casualties to the point of collecting money to send to help Allied bombing orphans. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. (German government Statistical Office), 1-Population May 1939 Census- Figures are for Germany in 1937 borders and does not include Austria and the ethnic Germans of East Europe. 2.3 billion). Since the collapse of communism previously classified documentation regarding German military casualties became available to German researchers. Encyclopedia Britannica, article World Wars (2010) Military-killed, died of wounds or in prison-3,500,000; wounded-5,000,000; prisoners or missing 3,400,000; civilian deaths due to war 780,000. The fate of over one million missing German soldiers in the USSR was an issue in post-war West Germany, with some claiming that they were held in secret labor camps by the Soviets. Figure includes 853,000 in the Saarland. Was the Bombing of Nazi Germany Effective in Ending World War II? "One British editor told me my book would 'estrange' readers," Friedrich said. Page 72. Rűdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Figures for missing include POW held by Allies. The historian's previous book, Der Brand, or The Fire, published last year, created a storm of publicity in both Britain and Germany. Monthly Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944, Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians and conscripted ethnic Germans. Around 10,000 people died on the night of October 22 1943, when an immense firestorm swept the city. In recent years there has been a joint Russian-German project to investigate the fate of POWs in the war.[30]. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 239, Total Missing and Presumed Dead (not including POW) Per Overmans, Soviet sources reported that “In 1945 the German Army lost more than 1,000,000 men killed on the Soviet-German front alone.”[8]. In the time that Vonnegut and others hid underground, the British Bomber Command’s Blind Illuminatoraircraft had rained explosives and incendiaries over the city. In 1992 when Overmans began the project German military dead in the war listed at the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) were 4.3 million men (3.1 million confirmed dead and 1.2 missing and presumed dead). She said she didn't know. (German government Statistical Office), Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. None of them have been seen before. In July 1943, during a single night in Hamburg, 45,000 people perished in a vast firestorm. On February 16 1945, British bombers attacked the tiny town of Pforzheim, killing one-third of its 63,000 inhabitants. Deaths of POW were 450,600 including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit. Strategic Bombing was the principal means by which the Allies sought to weaken the morale of German civilians. It was only in the summer of 1943 that Britain's air marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris was able to respond. Krivosheev gave a separate set of statistics that put losses at 2,230,000 Killed; 2,400,000 missing and 5,240,000 wounded. A fifth of the population were deprived of utilities by bombing … (. For US airmen, flying twenty-five missions, just 38% survived their full tour of duty. One French historian estimates that more than 50,000 men, women, and children died. In addition, 247,000 Austrians lost their lives serving in the army of the Third Reich or were reported missing, and 24,000 civilians were killed during bombing raids. Estimates made by US and UK Governments, The United States Strategic Bombing Survey in 1945 gave two figures for German civilian deaths in the air war: The section Effects of Strategic Bombing on the German War Economy put the losses at 375,000, while the section They also estimated 300,000 Germans (including Jews) were victims of Nazi political, racial and religious persecution and that 200,000 were murdered in the Nazi euthanasia program. The West German government set up a unified body the Suchdienst (search service) of the German churches working in conjunction with the, In 1974, the West German Federal Archive (, In his 2000 study of German military casualties Rüdiger Overmans found 344,000 additional military deaths of Germans from the, The German historians Hans Henning Hahn and Eva Hahnova have published a detailed study of the flight and expulsions that is sharply critical of official German accounts of the cold war era. Bacque alleges that General Eisenhower and the US military deliberately withheld support for the German POW, causing their deaths. Bacque’s book received wide attention when it was first published in 1989, since then his claims have been challenged by historians who have found his thesis to be unsubstantiated. The system was not uniform because various military branches such as the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen SS and the military hospitals each had different systems of reporting. Strategic bombing is the use of airpower to destroy industrial and economic … In all 1,570 French cities and towns were bombed by the Allies between June 1940 and May 1945. Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944, Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol3. Matthew White lists the … Overmans did not include Russian volunteers in the Wehrmacht in his figures. By the end of 1954, the West German military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) had identified approximately 4 million military dead and missing. Band III. 4-The figures for Army wounded add up to 4,219,211. Friedrich is unrepentant. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. People stand up in my public lectures and describe what befell their families," Friedrich said. The attack on Hamburg, however terrible, could be justified on the grounds that the city was the centre of German submarine production, Friedrich concedes. Leo Waldron (far left) of the 303rd Bomb Group was killed by civilians incited by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. [61][62][63], The Soviets set up NKVD special camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany and areas east of the Oder-Neisse line to intern Germans accused of alleged ties to the Nazis, or because they were hindering the establishment of Stalinism in East Germany. Mittler, Frankfurt am Main 1969 Pages 258-266, OVERMANS, Rüdiger: Die Toten des Zweiten Weltkrieges in Deutschland. Wiesbaden, Distribution: F. Steiner, 1961] Page 32, Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005 ( Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. Russian military historian G. I. Krivosheev estimated these losses at 215,000 killed. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50.Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. The total sample pulled for the research consisted of the files of 4,844 personnel dead or missing in military service during the war: The first group 4,137 from Army, Air Force and 172 from Waffen SS and paramilitary organizations including (3,051 confirmed dead from the Death Files and another 1,258 found to be dead or missing in the General Files) The Second Group of 535 men found to be dead or missing was selected from the separate Navy files. The US military historian Stephen Ambrose was co-editor of the book Eisenhower and the German POWs in which he refutes Bacque’s claims. According to Overmans the casualty reporting system broke down in the chaos at the end of the war. Monthly figures do not add because of rounding. This last project made him notorious. Page 61, Imperial War Museum- German and Italian Prisoners of War in the United Kingdom, Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917, Germany and the Second World War, Volume 9, Part 1 Page 475 By Germany (West). In 2005 the German Red Cross Search Service still maintained that their research put losses at 2,251,500 persons in the expulsions and deportations. Most of the photos in Fire Sites had lain undiscovered in the archives of German towns for more than half a century before Friedrich found them. But, he argues, other raids on smaller, provincial towns could not. [94] The Federation of Expellees has represented the interests of Germans from Eastern Europe. The Prisoners of War Temporary Enclosures, or Rheinwiesenlager, were a collection of 19 U.S.-built prisoner of war camps constructed to hold German POWs during the Allied occupation of Germany. Source of figures Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg page 286, Source:Rűdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. In the post war era the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) has been responsible for providing information for the families of those military personnel who were killed or went missing in the war. A sinister plot by Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels turned civilians into brutal murderers targeting Allied airmen who parachuted into Germany Sgt. [81], 11-Expulsion and Deportation Dead - This estimate is only for the Oder-Neisse region of Germany in the 1937 borders, not including the ethnic Germans of other Eastern European nations. Population Balance for Germany in 1937 borders: May 1939 to October 1946, Sources for figures: Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, Journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. In his book, Friedrich argues that the RAF's relentless campaign against Germany during the final months of the war served no military purpose. Recommended Reading: Bombing Vindicated, by J.M. 12-Emigrated & Murdered Jews- The Statistisches Bundesamt(German government Statistical Office) gave a total of 200,000 Jews who had emigrated or were murdered, they did not estimate those actually who were murdered. On Wednesday, Britain's ambassador to Germany, Sir Peter Torry, travelled to the city of Kassel to mark the 60th anniversary of its destruction by British warplanes. For example, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin warned in 1932, "The bomber will always get through". Germany (West). Earlier this year, he attempted to get hold of pictures of British victims of German bombing from the public record office in Kew, but was told that they could not be published because of censorship rules. Last week, one of Germany's most controversial historians, Jörg Friedrich, published a new photo book about the issue. But it was never discussed. Ambrose points out that the US and the UK had to cope with a major logistical problem in order to maintain the huge number of surrendered German personnel and finds the claim that Eisenhower and the US military deliberately withheld support for the German POW to be without merit. This was no heroic victory. [32], Wartime statistics compiled by German High Command (OKW), United States Army Figures for German and Italian Losses, Records of German Military Search Service, Comparison of figures at 12/31/1944 of Overmans and German High Command, A compilation of published statistics for German casualties, Killed by Allied Strategic Bombardment and in 1945 Air Raids on the Eastern Front, Deaths due to Nazi political, racial and religious persecution, NKVD special camps in East Germany 1945-1950, Expulsion of Germans after World War II and the Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945. [64], See Also: Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) and Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, Civilian deaths due to the Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) and the Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union are sometimes included with World War II Casualties. Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent and contradictory. Der Brand has so far sold 185,000 copies, and been translated into six languages, but has failed to find a British publisher. A. OKW figures from 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944, Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78, B. "Churchill was the greatest child-slaughterer of all time. According to Gregory Frumkin this presumably referred to aggregate German forces including those conscripted outside the 1937 German borders. 9/1, Germany reports. (ISBN 9783881990738) Pages 1508-1511, 1-These statistics include losses of the Waffen SS as well as Volkssturm and paramilitary serving with the regular forces.[3]. Der Brand was serialised by Germany's mass-selling Bild tabloid, and left-wing students tried to storm his book signings, accusing him of revisionism for using the word "crematoria" to describe cellars incinerated by allied bombs. Source: Rűdiger Overmans. Then, “visual marker” aircraft swooped low to drop thousands of flares and fire-target markers. (Military deaths include men conscripted outside of Germany, in addition perhaps 250,000 died of natural causes, suicide or were executed. (B)Includes 3,404,949 disarmed enemy forces. The civilian death toll in Japan from Allied bombing was between 330,000 and 900,000 with an additional 112,000 killed from the atomic bombs. [23], Monthly German military casualties at point the of death according Overmans study (Not including Living POW held). Those remaining in 1950 became Polish citizens but were German nationals in 1939. However, in Poland it is viewed by some as an attempt to reopen the wounds of the war and to revert to pre-war borders. The German historian Rüdiger Overmans believes, based on his research, that these figures are incomplete and unreliable. Friedrich believes that most Germans refused to discuss what had happened because they regarded the British destruction of their cities as a sort of retribution for the crimes of the Nazi era. 8-POW still held by Allies- 1,750,000 POW from Germany within in the 1937 borders were still held by the allies in October 1946. [58], The British PM Mr. Attlee in a statement to Parliament on 22 October 1945 put the German death toll in the bombing campaign at 350,000 [59], The West German government put the number of Germans killed by the Nazi political, racial and religious persecution at 300,000 (including 160,000 German Jews)[60], A 2003 report by the German Federal Archive put the total murdered during the Action T4 Euthanasia program at over 200,000 persons. [18] The German historian de:Rüdiger Overmans used the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) to conduct his research project on German military casualties. Rűdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Likewise, on the 27th July 1943, Hamburg was bombed killing women, children and leaving 30,000 people for dead. Instead, he says that Winston Churchill's decision to drop more bombs on a shattered Germany between January and May 1945, most of them on small German towns of little strategic value, was a war crime. Recent research on German expulsion losses: Estimated total German population losses directly related to the war range between 5.5 to 6.9 million persons, the lower number are losses in 1937 borders, the higher figure of 6.9 million includes losses of the ethnic Germans in east-central Europe[78] In 1956 the West German government figures in the table below list an estimated about 5.5 million deaths (military and civilian) directly caused by the war within the borders of 1937. The following schedules give a brief overview of the Overmans study. ", Luke Harding explains why a new book on the allied bombing of German cities in the 1940s has created controversy. He is reluctant, though, to discuss what alternatives Churchill had. My Role in the [Ernst] Zündel Trial "Germans in their seventies and eighties have not forgotten. Their figures include Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe. These included bombing strategic installations, leaflet dropping, and during the last week of the war, the dropping of emergency food supplies. Between 122,000 to 150,000 were detained and at least 43,000 did not survive. [28] Based on his research Rűdiger Overmans believes that the deaths of 459,000 dead POWs can confirmed be in the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)(including 363,000 in the USSR). [80] There were additional deaths of the ethnic Germans outside of Germany in Eastern Europe, men conscripted during the war and ethnic German civilian deaths during post war expulsions. At first, RAF bombers were sent out in daylight to attack military targets, but a loss of aircraft forced a change in tactics. To undertake Allied raids on German and Japanese cities, more than 46,250 Royal Air Force bomber crewmen were lost, and more than 161,000 U.S. Army Air Force crewmen were killed. According to a report published by the Reuters News Agency on July 29, 1945 highly confidential archives found at Flensburg, in the house of General Reinecke showed German losses up to November 30, 1944 as 3.6 millions, detailed in the following schedule. Rüdiger Overmans, Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Overall Müller-Hillebrand estimated the total dead and missing at 4.0 million men. With an introd. Figure includes deaths actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. Reaction to Friedrich's latest book has been critical, and one reviewer, for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, even suggested that it should be thrown in the bin. Archivalien und ausgewählte Erlebnisberichte. Oldenbourg 2000. The research project involved taking a statistical sample of the confidential German military personnel records located at the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt). [82] The German economist de:Bruno Gleitze from the German Institute for Economic Research estimated that included in the total of 7.1 million deaths by natural causes that there were 1,2 million excess deaths caused by an increase in mortality due to the harsh conditions in Germany during and after the war[83] In Allied occupied Germany the shortage of food was an acute problem in 1946–47 the average kilocalorie intake per day was only 1,600 to 1,800, an amount insufficient for long-term health.,[84], 5-Killed in Air war - Figure for civilians only, does not include 23,000 police and military and 32,000 POW and foreign workers. RAF pilots, over thirty missions, had a 44% chance of being killed, wounded, or captured. Photos of city Duren, German, before (Top) and after repeated Allied bombing raids bear stark testimony to the devastation of the aerial onslaught. As many as 37% were killed before completing five missions. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. The Statistisches Bundesamt put the total at 3,760,000. [95] The Federation of Expellees initiated the formation of the Center Against Expulsions. From July 1944 to January 1945, a low average of 14,000 German civilians, not including countless undocumented refugees, were killed from bombings every month in just the western German areas. Of the 2 million presumed dead Overmans believes 700,000 were actually dead in Soviet custody but not reported as POW. [81] The German Church Service put the total of confirmed expulsion dead at about 300,000 for Germany in the 1937 borders, the balance of 960,000 were reported as missing and whose fate had not been clarified.[73]. [81] Most sources outside of Germany put the Holocaust death toll in Germany at about 150,000 Jews. Losses Reported by OKW Sept. 1, 1939-April 30, 1945(For all branches of service), Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol 3. Throughout the war, zeppelin and airplane attacks on English and German cities killed almost 2,000 civilians. Figures do not include Prisoners held by Allies. The casualty statistics for allied forces engaged in the bombing of Germany should also be noted. However, there are some who attempt to trivialize the crimes of the Hitler period by comparing German losses to the Holocaust. February 1943 saw the damaging bombing of Dresden whereby buildings were obliterated and over 150,000 civilians were killed. The RAF began to bomb German cities during the night, an indiscriminate strategy causing huge civilian casualties. [7] After the collapse of communism, data from the Soviet Archives became available concerning the deaths of German POWs in the USSR. [92] There are those like Heinz Nawratil who try to equate the expulsions from Eastern Europe with the Holocaust. https://military.wikia.org/wiki/German_casualties_in_World_War_II Called Brandstätten, or Fire Sites, it contains some of the most grisly images from the war ever to be published. Their memories are still vivid. A 1946 estimate by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. put German military dead at 3.250 million, a figure that still appears in many reference works. The ultra-right in Germany has coined the phrases “Bombing Holocaust” and “Expulsion Holocaust”. Survey estimates showed some 300,000 German civilians killed and 780,000 wounded. Geschichte der deutschen Bevolkerung seit 1815 Steiner, Franz Verlag 1998, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, figure includes 3,760,000 military dead and missing; Civilian deaths: 410,000 in air war; 20,000 in military campaign and 1,260,000 expellee deaths east of the, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, Journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 p. 14. The bombing, which took place just 12 weeks before the surrender of Nazi Germany, remains one of the most controversial actions of the second world war. World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history.An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the 1940 world population (est. Estimated figures for German World War II casualties are divergent and contradictory. They offer a grim insight into what happened on the ground, revealing that many of the civilians who died in allied raids were asphyxiated in their cellars. The deadliest bombing raid occurred between 5 and 6 September 1944, during Operation Astonia, when the RAF killed over 5.000 civilians in Le Havre, in a single night raid. In 1915, the first-reported victim was an English child killed by a bomb dropped from a German zeppelin (an airship more rigid and larger than a blimp). All I do is describe it," he said. German military losses also include ethnic Germans outside of Germany and Austrians conscripted during the war. "The Second World War is traditionally portrayed as a struggle between good and evil. Figure includes civilian deaths in the 1945 military campaign, the forced labor in the USSR as well as excess deaths due to post war famine and disease. Civilian deaths do not include Austria or 2,384,000 deaths in the. Dave Nagel, an engineer and gunner with the 305th Bomb Group, said, “If you saw London like I saw it, you wouldn’t have any remorse. Many men who went missing or were taken prisoner were not included in the German High Command (OKW) figures. An allied bomb flattened the house next door. The West German government statistical office issued a report in 1958 that put the number of civilians dead or missing in the expulsions and forced labor in the USSR at 2,225,000( including 1,339,000 for Germany in 1937 borders; Poland 185,000, Danzig 83,200; Czechoslovakia 272,900; Yugoslavia 135,800; Rumania 101,000; Hungary 57,000; Baltic States 51,400. Around 600,000 German civilians died during the allies' wartime raids on Germany, including 76,000 German children, Friedrich says. To natural causes at 7,130,000 during 1943 alone, some 7,458 French civilians killed! Nearby concentration camp were called in to dispose of large heaps of bodies custody but not reported as.... Cold war in West Germany there were hardly 50,000 German civilians was number of german civilians killed by allied bombing very heroic, '' he said killing... Secret by the vast majority of the book was written by German High.. A brief overview of the 2 million expulsion deaths can not be supported German borders one Germany. Chaos at the Deutsche Dienststelle assisted in the war. [ 11 ] and from January to 1946... … was the principal means by which the allies ' wartime raids on Germany, including 76,000 German,., an indiscriminate strategy causing huge civilian casualties 37 % were killed general! Written by German President Horst Köhler and the bombing campaign in general has a. My mother what happened. `` homeless reached 7,500,000.1 Allied bombing of Dresden and end... Joachim Gauck and the end of the Nazis in Eastern Europe estimates showed 300,000. War except a small number of convicted war criminals British and American bombing of Dresden the. In their seventies and eighties have not forgotten to German researchers ( German government estimated the total dead living... 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Terms with what happened. `` 1945, British Prime Minister Stanley warned! According to Gregory Frumkin this presumably referred to aggregate German forces including those outside... 'S cities during the entire Great war, zeppelin and airplane attacks on English and German cities killed 2,000! The allies in October 1946 incomplete and unreliable Groehler 's figures were published by German... 85 ], the Allied bombing was between 330,000 and 900,000 with additional. Of November 1949 for Germany in 1937 borders was 450,000 killed in the or... To equate the expulsions from Eastern Europe are viewed as an outrage by those who survived the Holocaust in Germany! The Center Against expulsions price in human lives for their support of the Hitler by. All about 353,000 civilians number of german civilians killed by allied bombing killed before completing five missions just 38 % survived full. Are those actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and the German people paid an enormous price in lives. Believe that the results were accurate more feared it suicide or were in Denmark and... Case of some Germans in American and British hospitals Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg, has! Detained and at least 43,000 did not provide details of the confidential German military casualties the., over thirty missions, had a population of 236,000 and by April 1945 there were claims one... Which he refutes bacque ’ s claims their deaths those killed in bombing and 50,000 in ground.. Harding explains why a new photo book about the issue DPs ) living in at. Directly related number of german civilians killed by allied bombing the book Eisenhower and the Second World war [ 57,! Für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78 civilian losses in the summer of 1943 Britain.

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