Thousands of Neo-Nazis marched in Dresden, Germany, disrupting the official 60th anniversary commemoration of one of the fiercest Allied bombing raids of the Second World War. Police estimated that at least 3,000 people joined the march in the eastern German city, and that up to 5,000 had attended a Nazi rally earlier. The Neo-Nazis have seized upon a recent and popular German sentiment that Nazis were also “victims” during World War II! They have made significant political gains, particularly in the east.

Dresden had remained largely unscathed during the war, but was destroyed by two waves of British bombers on the night of February 13, 1945, followed by a U.S. wave on the 14th. The official death toll from the bombings was 35,000, although many believe the number to be much higher, as bodies were reduced to ashes in the firestorms that followed.

“We expect an official apology from Britain,” NDP (National Democratic Party - a far-right party, made up largely of Neo-Nazis) leader Udo Voigt told Reuters on the margins of the march.

Last month, the NDP members who sit in the Dresden-based Saxony state parliament walked out of a ceremony commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Source: Reuters News Agency