As World War II drew to a close, the United States briefly entertained one of the most draconian postwar ideas in its history – the Morgenthau Plan. Proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, the plan envisioned a demilitarized, dismembered, and deindustrialized Germany, stripped of its factories and reduced to a pastoral state. The assumption was that Europe did not need a strong industrial Germany – a premise as dangerous as it was misguided. Fortunately, geopolitical reality soon intervened. With the Cold War’s onset, Washington and its allies quickly reversed course. Germany’s economic recovery became essential, and the Marshall Plan replaced Morgenthau’s vision with one of reconstruction and prosperity.

For decades, this turn of events symbolized Germany’s remarkable rebirth – the transformation from wartime devastation into one of the world’s great industrial powers. But now, nearly eighty years later, the ghost of Morgenthau seems to have returned. Only this time, the policy of deindustrialization is not being imposed by victors from abroad but carried out voluntarily by German leaders themselves. Through a combination of misguided energy decisions, bureaucratic excess, and ideological rigidity, Germany appears to be orchestrating its own economic suffocation – a process that some have aptly called “self-Morgenthauing.”

Germany’s post–Cold War promise was clear: reunification, modernization, and full integration into a peaceful, prosperous Europe. Yet, after three decades, the country’s trajectory looks increasingly grim. Once the economic engine of the European Union, Germany is now mired in its longest period of stagnation since the Second World War. Industrial output is shrinking, investment is fleeing, and confidence in the government’s ability to manage the crisis has collapsed.

The story of BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer, offers a striking illustration of Germany’s malaise. Founded in 1865, BASF’s Ludwigshafen plant was long considered a monument to German industrial might – a vast, intricately connected complex embodying the nation’s engineering genius and work ethic. Today, it stands as a symbol of decline. The company continues to thrive globally, but “everywhere except Germany,” as former CEO Martin Brudermüller bluntly admitted in 2024. The Ludwigshafen site, once a cornerstone of........

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