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Opera singer Irmgard Seefried sings an aria from Madame Butterfly amongst the ruins of the opera House.
'From the outskirts of Vienna hundreds of shabby people were plodding toward the centre of the city. Whole families, children, kerchiefed grandmas, limping men alike, were leaning forward under colossal burdens of forest firewood, resting their loads on walls' edges but hastening on to reach home before nightfall. [...] This is the only fuel Vienna will have this winter. [...] The Opera had burned after bombing. The flames sucked air from the staircases and halls and roared out the open roof fireplace fashion. The auditorium and stage are gutted, the Royal vcentre box was scraped clean by flame, but the retiring room behind is unscorched and fully furnished. The marble staricases are unstained by heat.'
(Text by Lee Miller. Extract published British Vogue, November 1945)
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