THE Dean of Coventry, the Very Revd John Witcombe, has described standing in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral with the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Friday, as “a precious moment”.
The cathedral and 4300 homes were destroyed, and 568 people were killed, in the air raid on the city from 14 to 15 November 1940.
President Steinmeier’s state visit was the first by a German president in 27 years, and included a royal carriage ride through Windsor and a banquet in Windsor Castle. The President met the Dean five years ago, at a service at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin, to which he had been invited to introduce the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation.
The litany, composed by Canon Joseph Poole in 1958, is said in the cathedral at noon every weekday and around the world by the Community of the Cross of Nails: a worldwide network of churches, peace-building, and reconciliation bodies. Its origin lies in actions taken soon after the raid, when Provost Richard Howard chalked the words “Father, forgive” on the wall of the ruined cathedral, and a cross of charred timbers was set up on an altar of rubble.
The President and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, had expressed a strong desire to visit Coventry; so this was “the fulfilment of a hope for all us to welcome him to the cathedral”, the Dean told the Church Times on Friday.
“To stand in the ruins with any of our many German visitors is a poignant experience, but especially so with the President. As he laid a wreath at the altar, formed of stones from the rubble of the destroyed cathedral, marking a moment of memory for the destruction wrought on our city, it was a precious moment.”
The party went directly from the altar to the Choir of Survivors sculpture by Helmut Heinze, a gift from the Frauenkirche Foundation, Dresden, in 2012. “This sculpture serves as a memorial to those killed in Dresden, uniting us in remembrance of the loss suffered on all sides in war — a sign of reconciliation,” the Dean said.
The President and his party went on to visit the new cathedral, and viewed one of the original crosses formed from nails which fell from the burning roof on the night of the bombing. Replicas of these crosses are now made in a prison workshop in Würzburg, in Germany, and are presented to new members of the Cross of Nails.
A short service of reconciliation included prayers offered from a range of faith traditions. The Dean said: “I led the Lord’s Prayer in the German language — something I’ve chosen to do at major festivals and other significant occasions, as a sign of the reconciliation won for us in Christ, which unites us in prayer for a better future for all.”
He described Coventry and Dresden at that service as “sharing a story shaped by destruction, rebuilding and courageous friendship. Yet our gathering stands for more than the bond between two cities.
“It speaks of the enduring partnership between the United Kingdom and Germany — nations that have walked through the devastations of war, embraced reconciliation, and now stand side by side as advocates for peace in Europe and across the world.”