Life in Berlin means living with history, especially the legacy of the city's Nazi past. The years 1933 to 1945, when Berlin was the capital of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich—Berliners call it the "brown past"— continue to define the city. Berlin was the center of planning for the conquest of Europe and the killing of Jews and other minorities in the Holocaust. Though some Berliners resisted the Nazis, many supported them and participated in their crimes.

The Nazi Era

As World War II progressed, Berlin and Berliners began to suffer. The British made their first bombing raid on the city in August 1940, and bombing from the air continued for the next five years, increasing dramatically after the United States entered the war. Then in April 1945, the Soviet Red Army got close enough to begin shelling the city, and their troops soon...