Editing Bombing of Dresden (section)

====As a war crime====
{{See also|British war crimes|United States war crimes}}
According to [[Gregory Stanton]], lawyer and president of [[Genocide Watch]]:
{{blockquote|... every human being having the capacity for both good and evil. The Nazi Holocaust was among the most evil genocides in history. But the Allies' firebombing of Dresden and nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also war crimes – and as [[Leo Kuper]] and [[Eric Markusen]] have argued, also acts of genocide. We are all capable of evil and must be restrained by law from committing it.<ref name="Stanton-1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.genocidewatch.org/HOWWECANPREVENTGENOCIDE.htm|title=How Can We Prevent Genocide: Building An International Campaign to End Genocide|last=Stanton|first=Gregory|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005226/http://www.genocidewatch.org/HOWWECANPREVENTGENOCIDE.htm|archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref>}}

Historian [[Donald Bloxham]] states, "The bombing of Dresden on 13–14 February 1945 was a war crime".{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|p=180}} He further argues there was a strong ''[[prima facie]]'' case for trying Winston Churchill among others and a theoretical case Churchill could have been found guilty. "This should be a sobering thought. If, however it is also a startling one, this is probably less the result of widespread understanding of the nuance of international law and more because in the popular mind 'war criminal', like 'paedophile' or 'terrorist', has developed into a moral rather than a legal categorisation".{{sfn|Addison|Crang|2006|p=180}}

German author [[Günter Grass]] is one of several intellectuals and commentators who have also called the bombing a war crime.<ref name=Elliott>Elliott, Michael. [http://www.time.com/time/europe/etan/story.html Europe: Then And Now] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907171902/http://www.time.com/time/europe/etan/story.html|date=7 September 2009}}, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' Europe, 10 August 2003. Retrieved 26 February 2005.</ref>

Proponents of this position argue that the devastation from firebombing was greater than anything that could be justified by [[military necessity]] alone, and this establishes a ''[[prima facie]]'' case. The Allies were aware of the effects of firebombing, as British cities had been subject to them during [[the Blitz]].{{efn|Longmate describes a 22 September 1941 memorandum prepared by the British Air Ministry's Directorate of Bombing Operations that puts numbers to this analysis {{harv|Longmate|1983|p=122}}.}} Proponents disagree that Dresden had a military garrison and claim that most of the industry was in the outskirts and not in the targeted city centre,<ref name=GG20051026>Gerda Gericke (lucas) [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1265990,00.html The Destruction of Dresden's Frauenkirche] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216141745/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1265990,00.html|date=16 December 2008}} ''[[Deutsche Welle]]'', 26 October 2005.</ref> and that the cultural significance of the city should have precluded the Allies from bombing it.

British historian [[Antony Beevor]] wrote that Dresden was considered relatively safe, having been spared previous RAF night attacks, and that at the time of the raids there were up to 300,000 refugees in the area [[Flight and evacuation of German civilians during the end of World War II|seeking sanctuary]] from the advancing [[Red Army]] from the [[Eastern Front (WWII)|Eastern Front]].{{sfn|Beevor|2002|p=83}}