Abend - Sonnenuntergang hinter der Dresdener Hofkirche by Caspar David Friedrich. Both spires have been reconstructed since 1945

Sixty-five years ago today, the citizens of Dresden – the Baroque capital of the German region of Saxony – were going through what must have been the ultimate terror. After two nights of bombing, they found themselves in the middle of a firestorm, where the air in the city was hot enough to burn skin and the thirsty flames consumed the oxygen from miles around, making it a hellish inferno.

I have always believed that war makes the unthinkable thinkable and cast no blame on the RAF, USAF, Churchill or Arthur Harris for the decision to bomb the town. The historical revisionism of some (funding by the government in this instance) – to try and prove that Dresden was known to be an insignficant target and bombed for the sake of its cultural value, is as pointless as it is regressive. We mustn’t forget that London, Coventry and other British cities suffered equally.

Among my favourite artists is the German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, whose contemplative landscapes include several interpretations of Dresden, his native town. Every time I look at them, they seem to reflect nostalgically on a landscape since destroyed; even though Friedrich could never have imagined what would happen to the landmarks he knew so well. In that context the picture seems to be a representation of how time, technology and politics change all of us – not only in the course of our lifetimes but from one era to the next.

I’m certainly not here to say that it was right or wrong to bomb Dresden – it was necessary to fight a total war in order to rid Europe of one of its most evil regimes. But it is right to remember Dresden and everything – lives, culture, art, human spirit and endeavour – that was lost 65 years ago.

And to understand that in 1945 it only took two nights to obliterate 700 years of Saxony’s history. Now it would probably take two hours.