A service of a special kind in was held in Lindenhof Park, Bad Schachen, part of the German town of Lindau overlooking Lake Constance on 3 August.

Pastor Margit Walterham and the peace rooms with the pax christi group celebrated a service before the Coventry Pillar, built to recall the destruction of the English city of Coventry in 1940 by German bombers. This devastation and destruction of a city was on an unprecedented scale. It was followed by retaliation with attacks on the cities of Lübeck, Cologne, Rostock, Hamburg and the gruesome climax, the attack on Dresden.

However, the peace pillar also stands for reconciliation. The English city of Coventry is now a twin city of Dresden. The gold-plated dome cross in the Frauenkirche Dresden was installed in the dome of the church in 2004 with British donations. Thus, the “time of thought” was entirely under the sign of remembrance and the lessons of our history.

The service was organised by Barbara and Dr. Dietmar Stoller, Traudl Ball, Gertrud Fersch and the pastor Margit Walterham from the Protestant congregation of St. Stephan Lindau-Insel. The music of the Lindau wind group carried far out on the lake.

Article based on one published in Schwäbische Trauer.