There is no such thing as the guilt or innocence of an entire nation. Guilt is, like innocence, not collective but personal. There is discovered or concealed individual guilt. There is guilt which people acknowledge or deny. All of us, whether guilty or not, whether old or young, must accept the past. It is not a case of coming to terms with the past. That is not possible. It cannot be subsequently modified or undone. We are all affected by the consequences and liable for it. We Germans must look truth straight in the eye – without embellishment and without distortion. There can be no reconciliation without remembrance.
–German President Richard von Weizsaecker 1985