Dear Friends of Dresden:



Dresden and the entire Elbe valley 

are suffering from a catastrophic 

flood. 



Dozens of people have died, tens 

of thousands are now homeless.  

Hospitals had to be evacuated. 

The rail links to Dresden have 

been interrupted. Many roads and 

all bridges across the Elbe are 

impassable. Sewage processing 

plants have been destroyed. 

Hundreds of thousands of people 

can only drink bottled water. 

There is a great danger of an 

outbreak of diseases.





The tremendous renovation work 

that has been accomplished since 

the unification has been undone.   

The estimated damage is in the 

tens of billions of dollars. 



The resources that have been put 

into the reconstruction of the 

cultural heritage of Dresden and 

other historic cities of the Elbe 

valley will no longer be 

available, as the humanitarian 

aspects of the catastrophe will 

consume all resources for a long 

time to come.

 

The Frauenkirche, whose rebuilding 

has been one of the major efforts 

of Friends of Dresden, Inc., is 

surrounded by water, but as far as 

one knows, no damage has been done 

to the foundation 

Overview of the Semper Opera House and the Zwinger Gallery

However, as donations from Germany 

were the principal source of funds 

for the reconstruction, the $25 

million dollars that are still 

needed to complete the 

reconstruction by 2005 will be 

impossible to raise in Germany, 

because of the huge damage of this 

catastrophe to the German economy. 

Unless money can be raised in the 

USA and other European countries, 

the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche 

and Dresden’s other architectural 

treasures will have to be put on 

hold.



Please help! 

Donations to Friends of Dresden, 

Inc. are tax-deductible.



Donations for general relief 

efforts in Saxony may be sent to:  

German Flood Relief Fund

c/o Embassy of the Federal 

Republic of Germany

4645 Resevoir Road NW

Washington, DC  20007



Or go to Join page to donate 
online



More photos flood.htm