{"id":7061916,"date":"2026-09-20T08:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/blog-post-es-war-immer-so\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T08:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T08:46:31","slug":"blog-post-es-war-immer-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061916","title":{"rendered":"Blog Post | Es War Immer So"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Photo Credit | heimatliebe161 | www.etsy.com\/shop\/heimatliebe161<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\n Living in Germany often feels like you’re stuck in the 1930s or the 1990s, but never quite in the 2020s with the rest of the world. I’ve been trying to understand this for a while now and I’ve
\n decided to explore how Germany’s past continues to shape its future, and why its obsession with stability may be its biggest weakness.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n I’d argue that the early 1990s were Germany’s best years. The wall had just been peacefully dismantled and after all those years of looking for freedom, the East Germans had finally found it. The
\n country was whole again, the economy was booming, and, after the tumultuous decades of the early 20th Century, feeling comfortable and safe made sense. It still makes sense, but the goalposts
\n have moved since 1990. Unfortunately, producing BMWs and Bosch fridges is no longer the path to safety.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n But as the Germans love to say “Es war immer so” (it was always like that). Which is interesting, because for Deutschland, it actually wasn’t immer so. I’m writing this in 2026, so let’s go back
\n just 100 years. In 1926, Germany joined the League of Nations, allowing them to be reintegrated back into the international community following the disaster that was World War I. Then, just three
\n years later, America was hit by the Great Depression. This absolutely devastated Germany’s economy, and sparked the beginning of the most politically unstable period in the country’s
\n history.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n Four years after that, a new Chancellor was appointed. We all know who that was, but just in case there are any thicky dumb dumbs reading this, it’s Hitler. You know, the guy with the most
\n infamous moustache in fashion history. The Austrian fellow who wanted to be a painter but couldn’t get into art school due to his lack of any discernible artistic talent. The guy who went on to
\n become one of history’s greatest mass murderers. Ring any bells yet? Look him up. I’m sure he has a Wikipedia page.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n By 1936, Germany had started to rearm and everyone around them grew quite nervous, because the last time these guys had access to guns and tanks, it didn’t exactly end in peace. Then, out of the
\n blue, Hitler annexed Austria (as punishment for not letting him into art school, I assume). A year later, he invaded Poland. I’m not sure what Poland had done to him. Maybe they were also not
\n fans of terrible landscape paintings.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n And so part two of Germany starting wars they couldn’t win began. This time it lasted 6 years, and 70-85 million people lost their lives globally. The Nazis eventually surrendered, but four years
\n after that, the country was split in two. West Germany became an economic powerhouse, known for its great cars and long-lasting kitchen appliances, while East Germany fell into the hand of the
\n Soviets and set up the most effective spying system the world had ever known. Then, the Soviets built a wall around the western part of Berlin to stop people running away from the Stasi. It was a
\n well-built, proper German wall that stood firm until 1989, when mass protests, a bungled press conference and Nightrider drove in, bringing freedom to the East. These events would be considered a
\n lot for anyone to handle, but it wasn’t over yet. More upheaval was yet to befall the Deutsche Volk.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n\"Vladimir <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\n Between 1990 and 2015, Germany had quite a nice time. It won the much coveted title of Europe’s Biggest Economy every year, introduced some lovely social reforms and kept pace with the other
\n industrial nations. The Mittelstand (small and medium-sized companies) were thriving like they’d never thrived before. The GDP was growing nicely and everything was bobbing along perfectly.
\n Affluence at home had finally given the people the feeling that “we are somebody again”. The country had stability and safety. German cars, white goods and weapons replaced German troops and
\n reconciled the country with its neighbours once more. They even elected a woman chancellor showing the world how progressive and woke they were. Then came the global financial crisis of 2008 and
\n the global refugee crisis of 2015 and the cracks in Germany’s sense of safety began to show.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\n Angela Merkel was crowned queen of “es war immer so” due to her undeniable talent of keeping everything the same and not moving forward into the future with the rest of the world. In 2009,
\n following the Financial Crash of 2008, Frau Merkel, or Mutti, as she was affectionately referred to by her subjects, introduced the Schuldenbremse (debt brake). This was written into the
\n constitution, and limited the federal government’s deficit to 0.35% of GDP, meaning that borrowing money was now almost impossible. This led to chronic underinvestment in essentials, such as
\n digital infrastructure, bridges, trains, housing, schools, hospitals, green energy, pensions, wages – you know, all the things we rely on to survive.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n For over 10 years Germany remained stable. The bridges hadn’t started to collapse and Russian gas was still flowing through the pipes. Then the civil war in Syria erupted creating one of the
\n largest displacement crises in modern history. Approximately 6.7 million people fled Syria and around 750,000 sought refuge in Germany. In 2017, 2 years after the refugee crisis began, the AfD
\n (Alternative for Germany) entered the German parliament as the third biggest party. That’s when German stability began it’s visible descent off the cliff.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n The complete lack of investment, and the over-reliance of the Merkel government on ordinary people to take care of the refugees, pushed the German people to the brink. Extreme anti-muslim
\n rhetoric entered the political mainstream, and Muslim people, whether they were born in German or not, became the scapegoats for everything wrong with the country.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n Then that pesky little virus called Covid-19 entered the chat, and any semblance of reason left the chat. Conspiracy theories took over, creating irreparable rifts in the social fabric. Rifts
\n that have still haven’t healed.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\n Merkel left office in 2021, and in her wake she left behind a country with:\n<\/p>\n