Why would the Soviet Union have preserved Churches?

Question

I recently went to Dresden where a guide told me that the Soviet Union was convinced to preserve certain buildings..including churches...Why would a communist government rebuild something that is not communist.

Answer 1

Because the church long predated communism. Communism had to remain in control using a mix of fear, cojoling and rewarding the loyal. Destroying the churches could have united a large majority of the Germans against the communist regime and brought it down much sooner. Poland was the same way, they had the only Warsaw Pact Army with chaplains, religion is a powerful force. Even in the Soviet Union, where the Orthodox Church was associated with Tsarist oppression, there was a tough time bringing all of the churches to heel. It's a powerful force among many that simply transcends government.

Answer 2

Even Communist regimes can’t consistently disregard public opinion with impunity: if they cannot manipulate or force their subjects to conform to their ideology, Communists make concessions. That does not mean that the Communist agenda changes. It just means that holding onto power sometimes takes precedence over Marxist ideology. Many examples of this: perhaps the most significant was Russia’s temporary reversion to quasi-Capitalism, the “New Economic Policy”, when Lenin’s initial dogmatic socialism failed.

Overall, Communist regimes have been consistent in trying to undermine and supplant the hold that religion - whatever religion: Christian, Muslim, Buddhist – has among their subjects. Communist tolerance toward religion has always been based on an unequal concordat: “We’ll let you keep your religion ... unless we can get away with banning it.”

In Dresden, no matter what your guide said, the Communists did NOTHING positive to restore historic churches that had been destroyed in WW2. At most, the regime stood aside to allow the citizens to rebuild for themselves.

Dresden's greatest baroque church, the Frauenkirche was destroyed in the February 1945 air raids. The Communists wanted to bulldoze the remains and turn it into a car parking lot. But popular protests were so strong that the regime just left the Frauenkirche as a pile of rubble – for 45 years! It wasn’t until the Communists were thrown out in 1989 that any work on restoring the Frauenkirche began.

Kreuzkirche (Dresden’s oldest church) was rebuilt under the Communists (although not BY the Communists – they just allowed it to be done).

The Communists also allowed (but did not support) the rebuilding of the main structure of the Catholic Cathedral (Katholische Hofkirche); but its interior was not restored until after the fall of Communism.

Answer 3

It is part of their proof that they were right both to overthrow the rule of the Tsar, and to belittle and undermine the power of the Church. The richness and vastness of the restored churches, and the restored old royal palaces, clearly show to everybody how much wealth must have been taken from the common people to build them. Therefore, they form a justification for their revolution and for the godless regime which followed.

Answer 4

Historic buildings and churches are part of our heritage even if they were build by people who's beliefs we do not share. Christian countries preserve pagan temples, and Saddam Hussein rebuild Babylon.