The three days of national commemoration, which the present Chinese leadership decided on last year, reflect that spirit. From now on, victims of the Nanjing Massacre will be commemorated on Dec 13 and China's victory over Japan will be observed on Sept 3. The inclusive nature of these commemorations is remarkable, for they accord dignity to the erstwhile domestic rivals of the Communists, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang. This year's commemoration illustrates that determination too, because it includes Communist and Kuomintang veterans both.

It is also useful to recall former German president Richard von Weizsacker's speech on May 8, 1985. He said that for Germany, too, its surrender to the Allies on May 8, 1945, was a day of liberation, not of defeat, for it made a new, humane future possible. While von Weizsacker said "the vast majority of today's population was either young or had not been born" and hence "cannot be expected to wear a penitential robe" for being German, they could not escape "the grave legacy" their forefathers had left them. Everybody will have to acknowledge the horrors that had been perpetrated, wholeheartedly, honestly and without any conditions. Von Weizsacker's speech was welcomed around Europe because of its unflinching honesty and moral acuity. It restored a measure of trustworthiness to postwar Germany.

East Asia and Europe are different, and WWII played out differently in the two regions, hence one should not be taken as a standard by which to judge the other. It is clear that in East Asia the WWII legacy of hatred is stronger and more divisive than it is in Europe. Reconciliation, though, is hard work, which requires humility and courage in equal measure.

In 1984, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand, then German and French leaders, were finally able to stand together at a war cemetery at Verdun, France, housing the remains of tens of thousands of French and German soldiers. Memorably, they held hands during the minutes of silence and no speeches were delivered.

If von Weizsacker was right in insisting that Germany's surrender was a form of liberation, perhaps it is also true that what we must remember of WWII is that it was a horror for all - a defeat for humanity as a whole - something that must never happen again, and for that we all share a heavy responsibility.

The author is professor of Modern Chinese History, Department of East Asian Studies, Cambridge University.