2525 - Dresden, Saxony, Germany

Dresden was severely damaged and almost destroyed by American and British bombing raids in 1945. Dresden was a major communications hub and manufacturing centre with 127 factories and major workshops. The German military designated it asa  defensive strongpoint, in order to slow down the Soviet Red Army.

The bombing of Dresden remains controversial part of Allied history. Between February 13-15, 773 Royal Air Force Lancasters dropped 1181 tons of incendiary bombs and almost 1500 tons of high explosive bombs. They targeted rail yards at the centre of the city. The high explosive bombs damaged buildings and exposed their wooden skeletons. The incendiary bombs ignited the wood. The Nazi's reported 200 000 dead. German historians in 2010 estimated the dead to be between 18 000 to 25 000. 

One man, a major Nazi museum director and art dealer, used the bombings to cover up and hide a large collection of artwork that had been stolen by the Nazis. It was estimated to be worth over a billion dollars. Hildebrand Gurlitt claimed that the artwork was destroyed in the bombing. 

After the war, Gurlitt became the Director of Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia. He died in 1956 in a car accident. His son, Cornelius Gurlitt, inherited the art after his mother died in 1968. When Cornelius was short on cash, he would sell the odd painting from his father's collection. 

He was caught in 2010 after being stopped on a train between Austria and Germany with 9000 Euros. The police suspected he was involved in black market art fraud and detained him. After getting a warrant, the police searched his house and found 1406 works of art worth tens of millions of Euros. The collection had works by Renoir, Matisse, Otto Dix, and many other famous artists. The collection was confiscated. After time in court, Gurlitt finally agreed to return the looted art back to the families they were stolen from. 

When Gurlitt died in 2014, he had bequethed the collection to a small museum in Switzerland, the Museum of Fine Art Bern (Kunstmuseum Bern). Gurlitt stipulated that the museum would have to research the ownership of the art and make appropriate restitution. The museum agreed to do this, but the will was challenged by one of Gurlitt's cousins, but the will stood. Much of the art has been returned to the heirs of the original owners. Art that hasn't been returned as of yet because they are still researching for the proper owners, has been displayed and put on shows.