Germany’s Postwar Prosperity Is on the Verge of Reversal

Anniversaries can be painful for Germany, and this year is full of pivotal ones. It’s the centenary of the Treaty of Versailles, which imposed punitive reparations on the country at the end of World War I and laid the foundation for the next conflagration. It marks 75 years since the D-Day invasion, which led to the toppling of the Nazis 11 months later. And it’s 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell. That symbol of the Cold War’s demise is also a reminder of the post-reunification divisions—financial, social, and political—that persist between the country’s east and west.

This year is shaping up to offer another uncomfortable milestone: the moment Europe’s biggest economy is forced to come to terms with its shortcomings. Germany today feels like it’s living out the final days of an era; there’s an air of impending change for which no one seems prepared. The country remains wealthy and politically stable, but it’s hard to escape a sense that Germans are complacent about the threats to the foundations of their prosperity.