Vees-Gulani, Susanne Icon Dresden

Baroque City, Air War Symbol, Political Token

Icon Dresden explores how memory and politics in Dresden after its 1945 bombing are deeply intertwined with the citys urban history. It highlights the complex origins of Dresdens reputation as an exclusively cultural center, focusing on urban planning, marketing, tourism, and the citys visual archive since the 17th century. Based on this iconic status, a narrative of victimhood arose after its destruction that ignored responsibilities while highlighting the citys innocence. Despite its origin in Nazi propaganda, this narrative influenced postwar political discourse in socialist and post-reunification Germany. Icon Dresden also provides insight into Dresdens role under National Socialism and the GDRs evasive response to this history. It reveals how the strong presence of far-right movements in the city today stems from multiple discourses formed over centuries and communicated from generation to generation.

Drawing on urban, heritage, and tourism studies, visual and memory studies, and environmental psychology, Icon Dresden examines Dresdens history, identity, visual representations, and rebuilding decisions. It exposes the narratives that define its place in German and international memory and how, paradoxically, they support both Dresdens current image as a symbol of peace and reconciliation and its backing of nativist and far-right movements.

Susanne Vees-Gulani is Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Case Western Reserve University.