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Timeline of Dresden and Coventry events

By Eric Lucas, Special to The Los Angeles Times
10:58 AM PST, December 19, 2007

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1938: Nazis destroy Semper Synagogue in Dresden.

July and August 1940: Small German air raids on Coventry kill several dozen people in this heavily industrial English city.

Nov. 14, 1940: The German Luftwaffe bombs Coventry in a 10-hour raid. About 60,000 buildings are damaged or destroyed, including the 14th century Coventry Cathedral. Nearly 600 people are killed.

April 8 to 10, 1941: Coventry is bombed again during the Easter week raids. Scores are killed.

Oct. 7, 1944: Dresden is bombed in a daytime raid.

Jan. 16, 1945: Dresden is bombed again.

Feb. 13 and 14, 1945: British and American forces lead a bombing raid on Dresden that creates a firestorm. Tens of thousands are killed. Some sources suggest the total was more than 100,000, but those may be inaccurate.

Feb. 15, 1945: Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, collapses.

March 2, 1945: Dresden railyards are bombed.

April 17, 1945: Dresden railyards are bombed again.

1956: Dresden and Coventry enter a sister-city relationship.

1969: Novelist Kurt Vonnegut's dark "Slaughterhouse-Five" is published; it draws on his experience as a prisoner during the Allied bombing of Dresden.

November 2004: A concert in Berlin, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II, raises money for the reconstruction of Frauenkirche.

Feb. 13, 2005: Cross of nails recovered from Coventry Cathedral is given to the Frauenkirche. It is made by Alan Smith, the son of one of the men who led the raid on Dresden.

October 2005: The baroque dome of Frauenkirche again dominates the skyline of Dresden.