Flowers laid in front of a memorial stone at Dresden's Heidefriedhof cemetery. Photograph: Uwe Meinhold/AFP/Getty Images
The attempt by 5,000 neo-Nazis to exploit yesterday's 60th anniversary of the British bombing of Dresden received short shrift in today's German press, but no agreement on how best to tackle the rise of the far-right in the country.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung optimistically bills yesterday's turnout by 60,000 citizens to mourn the dead of the February 14 bombing raid as "Dresden Sets An Example Against Right Wing Extremism – Tens of Thousands on The Streets" and the Frankfurter Rundschau headlines it: "Rembering in Dresden – Nazis booed" whilst the Berlin-based Der Tagesspiegel more cautiously reports "5,000 Nazis Disrupt Remembrance In Dresden", but insists that the white rose symbols carried by the city's mourners overcame the hatred of the far-right.
Die Welt calls the counter-demonstration by the far-right "a complete flop", with columnist Matthias Kamann commenting: "Whilst 5,000 right-wing radicals were making themselves look ridiculous, countless people in Dresden and beyond did what is self-evident for every German capable of feeling sympathy: they mourned the bombing vicitims. They found the appropriate tone, free of moral relativism, full of the wish for reconciliation. This kind of remembrance cannot be 'overshadowed' by NPD marches. For the right-wing radicals, the 13 February was a complete flop."
The British ambassador to Berlin, Sir Peter Torry, yesterday gave a conciliatory interview to Tagesspiegel saying that for the British too, Dresden was a symbol, and that not enough Britons are fully aware of the sufferings of the German people at the end of world war two.
It was Sir Peter, of course, who had to steer the Queen through the diplomatic minefield of demands from the tabloid paper Bild for a royal apology during the state visit last November. Although the monarch stopped well short of saying sorry, she was the guest of honour at a charity concert raising funds for the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche - Dresden's cathedral destroyed in the Allied bombing raid.
