A true story about the firestorm in Dresden, based on previously unknown letters from Ida Kästner to her son Erich. A gripping narrative and a stirring testimony from that time. From February 13 to 15, 1945, American and British bombers unleashed an inferno in Dresden. During this time, a desperate mother in Dresden wrote postcards and letters to her son in Berlin: Ida Kästner, the mother of Erich Kästner. Meanwhile, a young American soldier sits in a basement in Dresden as a German prisoner of war. It is Kurt Vonnegut, who would later write one of the greatest war novels ever, 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' about his experiences in Dresden. The internationally renowned Kästner expert Sven Hanuschek has now compiled this volume based on the letters of Ida and Erich Kästner, which are published here for the first time, along with Kurt's experiences.