Today, age 93 and in a nursing home, he is cared for by Oliver Raag, a German geriatric nurse whose grandfather transported disabled Jews and other Germans to a gas chamber.

Raag is one of more than 100 Germans doing volunteer work in Israel at any given time to atone for the deeds of their parents and grandparents.

''The more I learned about that period in German history, the more I wanted to come here to show that there are other Germans who are not like the Nazis,'' said Raag, 30.

The relationship between the Germans and the elderly Israelis is often ambivalent. Some of the survivors still can't bear to hear German spoken, while others say their idealistic young caregivers are a comfort.

The ties between Israel and Germany are also complex.

Germany is one of Israel's most vocal defenders in the European Union and a leading trade partner. Since the 1950s, Germany has paid some $80 billion in reparations to Holocaust survivors worldwide, including some 250,000 living in Israel.

Some Israelis dreaming of settling in Europe are urging parents and grandparents to reclaim their German citizenship, while some older ones still refuse to visit Germany or buy its products.

Tom Segev, an Israeli historian, said the Nazi genocide of some 6 million Jews will shape the German-Israeli relationship for years to come.

''So long as there are Holocaust survivors alive and so long as the Holocaust is part of the biography of many Israelis and many Germans it will be a part of concrete history,'' Segev said.

The biggest German volunteer group, Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, or Aktion Suehnezeichen Friedensdienste, has been in Israel since 1961. Currently, 25 of its volunteers are here.

Another group is Tzedaka, a faith-based foundation funded by German Christians seeking to help heal the wounds inflicted by the Nazis. Tzedaka's projects include Beit Eliezer, a 24-bed nursing home for Holocaust survivors in northern Israel, and an inn in Shavei Tzion where survivors can have free 10-day vacations.

At Beit Eliezer, 40 volunteers cook and clean, as well as feed and bathe the patients. An Israeli doctor and a social worker have paid positions. About two-thirds of the annual $477,000 budget comes from private donors in Germany, and the rest from patient contributions.

Raag was haunted for years by his grandfather's role in transporting disabled Jews and other people to a gas chamber in Germany's Grafeneck Castle, which specialized in killing the mentally and physically handicapped.

Before coming here for about one year, every volunteer attends a monthlong seminar on the Holocaust. Some, like 20-year-old Immanuel Wirth, choose service in Israel in lieu of conscription into the German military, under an agreement between the German government and the volunteer organization.

''The Holocaust is part of our history in Germany, so I wanted to know the people who survived the Holocaust and see how they feel,'' said Wirth, of Stuttgart, who has spent a year at Beit Eliezer.

The survivors have grown old and ''this is really the last chance to help them,'' Wirth said.