For years, the country refused to ponder the enormous suffering of its civilians. It did not question the morality of Allied bombings that ignited 1,000-degree firestorms in cities such as Dresden, where as many as 40,000 civilians died Feb. 13, 1945. But Germans today are articulating a more nuanced view that stretches beyond complicity in Nazism to show that many Germans were victims of the Third Reich -- and of Allied air raids.

"All my life I've had a bad conscience about what the Germans did," said [Sussmilch], who recently published "In the Bunker," her recollections of Berlin under siege. "I felt as if I, myself, had something to do with it. Like many Germans, I believe I will feel guilty in my grave. But even if I would have known, I couldn't have done anything about it. You cannot know the times we were living in then."

RUIN: The sculpture "Guete," or goodness, survived the bombing of Dresden on Feb. 13, 1945, which killed up to 40,000 civilians.; PHOTOGRAPHER: [Richard von Weizsacker] Peter Sen Associated Press; WAR: Waltraud Sussmilch was 14 when Berlin fell in 1945.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Gordon Faehnrich For The Times; FORMER SOLDIER: Reinhold Skoecz says that though he witnessed anti-Semitism daily, he was unaware of Nazi atrocities.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Gordon Faehnrich For The Times