Editing Dresden (section)

===Post-war===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-60015-0002, Dresden, Denkmal Martin Luther, Frauenkirche, Ruine.jpg|thumb|Statue of Protestant reformer [[Martin Luther]] in the ruins after World War II]]

Following his military service the German press photographer and photojournalist [[Richard Peter]] returned to Dresden and began to document the ruined city. Among his best known works ''Blick auf Dresden vom Rathausturm'' (''View of Dresden from the Rathaus Tower''). It has become one of the best known photographs of a ruined post-war Germany following its appearance in 1949 in his book ''Dresden, eine Kamera klagt an'' ("Dresden, a photographic accusation", {{ISBN|3-930195-03-8}}).<ref name="Jähner-2019">{{cite book |last= Jähner |first= Harald |title= Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich 1945–1955 |location= London |publisher= W H Allen |date= 2019 |pages= 23, 28, 29 |type= Paperback |language= EN |isbn= 9780753557877}}</ref>

When a skeleton previously used  as a model for drawing art classes was found in the ruins of the Dresden Art Academy, the photographer [[Edmund Kesting]] with the assistance of Peter posed it in a number of different locations to produce a series of haunting photographic images to give the impression that Death was wandering through the city in search of the dead.<ref name="Jähner-2019"/> Kesting subsequently published them in the book ''Dresdner Totentanz'' (''Dresden's Death Dance'').

The damage from the Allied air raids was so extensive that following the end of the Second World War, a narrow gauge light railway system was constructed to remove the debris, though being makeshift there were frequent derailments. This railway system, which had seven lines, employed 5,000 staff and 40 locomotives, all of which bore women's names. The last train remained in service until 1958, though the last official debris clearance team was only disbanded in 1977.<ref name="Jähner-2019"/>

Rather than repair them, [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany) authorities razed the ruins of many churches, royal buildings and palaces in the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Gothic [[Sophienkirche]], the Alberttheater and the [[Wackerbarth-Palais]] as well as many historic residential buildings. The surroundings of the once lively Prager Straße resembled a wasteland before it was rebuilt in the socialist style at the beginning of the 1960s.

However, the majority of historic buildings were saved or reconstructed. Among them were the Ständehaus (1946), the Augustusbrücke (1949), the Kreuzkirche (completed 1955), the Zwinger (completed 1963), the Catholic Court Church (completed 1965), the Semperoper (completed 1985), the Japanese Palace (completed 1987) and the two largest train stations. Some of this work dragged on for decades, often interrupted by the overall economic situation in the GDR. The ruins of the Frauenkirche were allowed to remain on Neumarkt as a memorial to the war.

While the Theater and Schloßplatz were rebuilt in accordance with the historical model in 1990, the Neumarkt remained completely undeveloped. On the other hand buildings of socialist classicism and spatial design and orientation according to socialist ideals (e.g. Kulturpalast) were built at the Altmarkt.

From 1955 to 1958, a large part of the art treasures looted by the Soviet Union was returned, which meant that from 1960 onwards many state art collections could be opened in reconstructed facilities or interim exhibitions. Important orchestras such as the Staatskapelle performed in alternative venues (for example in the Kulturpalast from 1969). Some cultural institutions were moved out of the city center (for example the state library in Albertstadt). The Outer Neustadt, which was almost undamaged during the war was threatened with demolition in the 1980s following years of neglect, but was preserved following public protests.

To house the homeless large prefabricated housing estates were built on previously undeveloped land In Prohlis and Gorbitz. Damaged housing in the Johannstadt and other areas in the city center were demolished and replaced with large apartment blocks. The villa districts in Blasewitz, Striesen, Kleinzschachwitz, Loschwitz and on the Weißen Hirsch were largely preserved.

Dresden became a major industrial centre of East Germany, with a great deal of research infrastructure. It was the centre of [[Bezirk Dresden]] (Dresden District) between 1952 and 1990. Many of the city's important historic buildings were reconstructed, including the [[Semper Opera House]] and the [[Zwinger Palace]], although the city leaders chose to rebuild large areas of the city in a "socialist modern" style, partly for economic reasons, but also to break away from the city's past as the royal capital of Saxony and a stronghold of the German bourgeoisie.

Until the end of the Cold War, the [[1st Guards Tank Army]] of the Soviet Army and the 7th Panzer Division of the National People's Army were stationed in and around Dresden. Following  reunification in 1989, the Soviet / Russian troops were withdrawn from Germany in the early 1990s and the NVA dissolved in accordance with the provisions of the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany|Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990]].

From 1985 to 1990, the future President of Russia, [[Vladimir Putin]], was stationed in Dresden by the [[KGB]], where he worked for [[Lazar Matveev]], the senior [[KGB]] liaison officer there. On 3 October 1989 (the so-called "battle of Dresden"), a convoy of trains carrying East German refugees from [[Prague]] passed through Dresden on its way to the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]]. Local activists and residents joined in the growing [[civil disobedience]] movement spreading across the German Democratic Republic, by staging demonstrations and demanding the removal of the communist government.