Germany's president is leading commemorations Thursday marking the 75th anniversary of Dresden's bombing by allied forces at the end of World War II, an event that has become a test for the way the country handles its Nazi past.
Historians say up to 25,000 people perished during the three-day bombardment from February 13-15, 1945, by American and British planes.
That is comparable to the death toll in other large German cities.
But the man-made firestorm, vividly captured by American author Kurt Vonnegut in his book