Obama's trip to Germany has been shrouded in history. First, he visited Dresden, site of one of the most aggressive and controversial bombings of the Allied campaign in WWII. Historians dispute the actual death toll, but most concur that somewhere in the order of 25,000 lives where claimed. While much of the city is restored, signs of the devastation are still evident in many of the city's most celebrated structures.

This afternoon, Obama visited Buchenwald, a concentration camp that his great uncle was involved in liberating. Obama has spoken of his uncle numerous times, alluding to the emotional struggle he endured upon returning home after witnessing such horrors. It's fitting that he will soon be visiting injured veterans at Landstuhl, many of whom will likely return with unseen scars.

Touring the camp with Chancellor Merkel and two Buchenwald survivors - Bertrand Herz and writer and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel - Obama placed a long-stemmed white rose at two memorial slabs. They visited Little Camp where Wiesel was held for a time, and read the history of the camp from plaques. At Little Camp, bodies lay in the open, there was no sanitation and prisoners were forced to use food bowls as latrines. Obama later visited the crematorium.

Merkel, Obama and Wiesel each gave moving remarks in front of a clocktower which is permanently frozen at 3:15, the hour of liberation. "I will not forget what I have seen here today," Obama said. "This places teaches us that we must be ever vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time, that we must reject the false comfort that others' suffering is not our problem and commit ourselves to resisting those who would subjugate others to serve their own interests." He then spoke of small freedoms thriving amongst the despair of the camp and the unassailable hopefulness of many holocaust survivors who, despite their terrifying ordeals, maintained a belief that humanity could rise above tragedy. "Surrounded by death they willed themselves to hold fast to life. In their hearts they still had faith that evil would not triumph in the end; that while history is unknowable it arches towards progress, and that the world would one day remember them," he said.

Also in his remarks, Obama admonished holocaust deniers. "To this day, there are those who insist that the Holocaust never happened -- a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful. This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts; a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history," he said. His harsh words likely aimed at Iranian President Ahmadinejad who has called the holocaust a "myth".

 Wiesel spoke stirringly of his father, who died at Buchenwald. Calling it a way of visiting his father's grave, Wiesel recounted his father's suffering and his own fear in his father's dying moments. "Mr. President, we have such high hopes for you because you, with your moral vision of history, will be able and compelled to change this world into a better place, where people will stop waging war," Wiesel said. He spoke of the importance of sites like Buchenwald.  "Memory must bring people together rather than set them apart," he said.

(You can find the full remarks from Merkel, Obama and Wiesel here. They are quite compelling and worth the read.)

Earlier in the day, ABC's Jake Tapper, foreshadowing the afternoon's events, asked the President what the refrain "never again" meant to him, particularly in light of the genocide occuring in Darfur. "I think "never again" means that the international community has a obligation, even when it's inconvenient, to act when genocide is occurring," the President replied. He went on to outline, somewhat vaguely, the actions his administration has taken with regard to Darfur. He rightly noted that Darfur hasn't received much press attention of late, so many of his actions have gone unnoticed. Still, the brevity of his answer on Darfur likely left anti-genocide advocates wanting. 

The President continued his frank rhetoric on Middle East Peace in the historic city of Dresden in eastern Germany this morning. "I think the moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises; we have to reject violence," he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Dresden Castle, a 700 year old stone palace that was restored in the 1960s. Obama echoed his tough talk from yesterday's Cairo speech, stating that Palestinians must "get serious" about diminishing violence and Israel would have to take "some difficult steps." Merkel said that Obama's speech had "opened up also the door to the Arab world again," and that Obama's young Presidency represented a "unique opportunity" to restart negotiations. Obama reiterated his belief that the United States cannot solve the problems between Israel and Palestine, but that it work hard, in partnership with Middle East leaders, to bring about the conditions that would foster peace. "I'm under no illusions that whatever statements I've put forward somehow are going to supplant the need to do that work," he said.

Asked about prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, neither leader indicated progress. Merkel was a vocal critic of the facility during the Bush administration, but has since been relatively silent, particularly on the question of whether Germany would be willing to take detainees. Obama said that he hasn't sought a "hard commitment " from Germany, nor have they offered one. 

The leaders spoke briefly about climate change. Both were hopeful about the possibility of an agreement in Copenhagen, but neither spoke specifically about what an agreement would contain. Obama, it would appear, has taken comfort from the progress of the Waxman-Markey bill, which he supports but did little to shape. "We are seeing progress in Congress around energy legislation that would set up for the first time in the United States a cap and trade system.  That process is moving forward in ways that I think if you had asked political experts two or three months ago would have seemed impossible," he said. "So I'm actually more optimistic than I was about America being able to take leadership on this issue, joining Europe, which over the last several years has been ahead of us on this issue."

Our favorites this morning from around the web:

Bin Laden running out of physical options
In video form, Osama bin Laden is still alive and vocal. But considering the increase in U.S. troops in the region and the Pakistani push to dissolve al Qaeda's hierarchy, analysts say bin Laden and the ranks of the organization are feeling increasing strain to keep finding places to hide. (NPR)

Cyclone force key enviro factor on Pacific islanders
Rising sea level is a long-term problem for Pacific island states. In the mean time, increased frequency and force of cyclones poses a more immediate threat to agriculture systems around the coast. Not quite the distant future, states like Micronesia and Fiji are scrambling to maintain food supply now. (Reuters)

Beginning to solve the abortion debate
One of the age-old unsolved ideological debates -- abortion -- gains new attention after the murder of an abortion surgeon in Wichita. It's far from an easy debate to solve. Slate offers four tips on Obama to bring the two sides together over common ground. (Slate)

Where to put released Gitmo detainees?
It's a popular idea in the U.S. and around the world to close the Gitmo detention center, as Obama vowed to do by January. But where would detainees go? When the Washington Times asked a sampling of America's governors if they would take them, none said yes. (Washington Times)

The dirty parts about clean coal
Who knows if carbon capture and storage to burn "clean coal" would actually work? Eugene Robinson argues that considering the cost and general arduousness of the process, the focus should be on solving the problem differently, rather than burying it. (WaPo)