Yes, Albert Speer was quite clear that Hitler believed that the heroic Germans were already long since dead on the eastern front when he passed him the order to annihilate Germany's infrastructure, and that the utter ravaging of Germany was effectively a necessary act. If "Deutchland Ist Hitler, und Hitler Ist Deutchland", then if Hitler is about to die... then Germany must die as well.
In fairness with regard to Dresden, the Nazis did bump up those numbers. They intentionally multiplied the number of deaths by 10 to get to an asserted 202,040 dead which was immediately used as a propaganda tool. So, it was being used as a propaganda tool during the war. David Irving, Nazi & German apologists, and western National Socialists simply ran with the propaganda number that was created.
Yes, Albert Speer was quite clear that Hitler believed that the heroic Germans were already long since dead on the eastern front when he passed him the order to annihilate Germany's infrastructure, and that the utter ravaging of Germany was effectively a necessary act. If "Deutchland Ist Hitler, und Hitler Ist Deutchland", then if Hitler is about to die... then Germany must die as well.
In fairness with regard to Dresden, the Nazis did bump up those numbers. They intentionally multiplied the number of deaths by 10 to get to an asserted 202,040 dead which was immediately used as a propaganda tool. So, it was being used as a propaganda tool during the war. David Irving, Nazi & German apologists, and western National Socialists simply ran with the propaganda number that was created.