Germany has one of the most paradoxical historical paths in Europe. A country that in the 20th century experienced two world wars, National Socialism, its division into two states and the Cold War, managed to unite, build one of the strongest economies in the world and become the main economic engine of the European Union.
Now Germany is once again facing political dislocation.
The story of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris is particularly indicative of the last years of the Third Reich. As head of the Abwehr, he found himself in a complex conflict with the growing apparatus of the SS, Gestapo and SD. The German Historical Museum points to his connections with various circles of resistance and his attempts to prevent or limit some of Hitler's policies. In 1944 he was removed from his post, after the assassination attempt on July 20 he was arrested, and in April 1945 he was executed in Flossenbürg.
This happened on April 9, 1945 - just a few weeks before Germany's surrender. The fall of the wall on November 9, 1989 remains one of the great symbols of the 20th century. However, it was not enough to become a national holiday. Germany chose October 3 - the date on which in 1990 the unification became a legal fact. The reason is not accidental. November 9 also brings another, much darker memory - the date of the pogroms against the Jews in 1938. Thus, German history itself shows how difficult it is to celebrate the present without remembering the past.
Unification became possible also because Moscow did not send tanks this time. Mikhail Gorbachev's policies changed the balance of power in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin abandoned its previous willingness to use force to preserve socialist regimes. Mass peaceful protests began in East Germany, and the system proved incapable of holding its own population together.
It is difficult to find a stronger historical symbol of how late a system sometimes realizes that it has already lost its way.
After the war, Germany was divided. The FRG and the GDR became two different models - one in the Western democratic and market world, the other in the Soviet system. The Berlin Wall separated people physically, but the real border was political, economic and ideological.
In 1989, the wall fell, and on October 3, 1990, Germany became one country again. The unification was not just symbolic. West Germany took on enormous financial costs for the integration of the eastern provinces. The initial "German Unity Fund" alone was 115 billion German marks, and subsequent funding is even more significant.
The result is a country that today has the largest economy in the European Union - in 2025, German GDP will be around 4.5 trillion euros, or 23.8% of the EU economy.
Germany has managed to overcome the division between East and West, but has not been able to finally overcome all the dividing lines within its own society.
In the last decade, migration has become one of the strongest political issues. In 2015, Angela Merkel famously said "Wir schaffen das" (We will do it) in connection with the refugee crisis. Merkel herself later admitted that the debate over migration had divided and polarized German society.
It was in this environment that the “Alternative for Germany“ was born and grew.
This process should not be seen as a literal repetition of National Socialism. Historical comparison has its limits. Today's Germany is a democratic state with institutions, a constitutional order and political pluralism. But there is a disturbing similarity to many moments in European history: when society has accumulated enough fears, disappointments and a sense of loss of control, national identity once again begins to become a major political tool.
The very dynamics of the AfD show how strong this process is. In the parliamentary elections in February 2025, the party won 152 out of 630 seats in the Bundestag. And migration is among the central themes in its political proposals and parliamentary initiatives.
The difference with the 1930s is enormous. But the lesson from that time is also enormous.
Back then, the enemy was gradually constructed as an internal problem that had to be eliminated. Now the political conflict is much more complex and different, and refugees and migrants have become one of the main symbols of concerns about security, cultural identity and border control.
This does not mean that every criticism of migration policy is nationalist or radical. On the contrary - issues of borders, integration, crime, the social system and the capacity of the state are completely legitimate political topics.
The problem begins when a complex social problem is turned into a universal explanation for everything.
And Germany is no exception here. France, Italy, Spain and other European countries are also experiencing strong political disputes over migration. This shows that the phenomenon is not German, but European.
History, however, does not repeat itself mechanically.
It is not necessary for a new Hitler to appear in Europe for nationalist ideas to return. It is not necessary for there to be a new world war for society to start thinking in terms of “us“ and “them“ again. It is not necessary for a dictatorship to be called into question the liberal consensus on which Europe built its post-war order.
And that is precisely why Germany is such an important example.
It has shown that a state can be destroyed, divided and then rebuilt. He showed that economic success can be achieved after a national catastrophe. He showed that a wall that had divided a people for decades could fall overnight.
But now Germany must show something else - that democracy can withstand the fears that prosperity itself has failed to eliminate.
Because the greatest danger for Europe today may not be the return of the past in its original form. But the return of old political instincts under new names.
Canaris died at a time when the Third Reich was already practically falling apart, but the regime continued to punish its opponents until its last days. Germany after 1945 did the opposite - is building a system that must prevent such a political catastrophe from happening again.
Whether this system will withstand the new wave of nationalism, migration fears and public discontent is the question for Germany today.
And perhaps this is precisely the real lesson of German history: history does not repeat itself. But people sometimes start repeating the way they thought before it.