Beneath these differences, however, lies a remarkable parallel: in both countries, the relationship between prosperity, democratic control and the growing influence of market forces on public life evolved in strikingly similar ways in both countries.

Before turning to the subject itself, I would like to begin with a personal recollection. In 1972, less than thirty years after the end of the Second World War, I spent two months in Great Britain. As a young German, I arrived in London with a mixture of curiosity, uncertainty and – if I am honest – a certain sense of shame. I knew very well what terrible crimes Germans had committed against Britain during the war in the name of the German people – and therefore, in my name as well.

I was also aware that these atrocities were still part of living memory for many people. I therefore had no idea what sort of reception to expect and was secretly relieved that, at the age of eighteen, with my long black curly hair, I looked more like an Italian than a German.

Yet contrary to all my fears, I encountered warmth, generosity and sometimes even genuine affection wherever I went. The people I met welcomed me with a kindness I had not expected and which, in a strange way, only deepened my sense of humility. It is one of the reasons why I developed a lasting affection for Great Britain and its people.

Almost thirty years later, during a visit to London in 2001, I accidentally found myself attending a service in a small side chapel of St Paul's Cathedral. The Anglican priest briefly interrupted the service and asked whether he could help me.

When I told him that I was German, he warmly welcomed me and invited me to join the congregation. It was a profoundly Christian act of generosity, and I have never forgotten it – any more than I have forgotten the hymn we all sang together at the end of the service: »The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended.«

Britain in 1945 In 1945 Britain stood among the three principal victors of the Second World War. Yet it had paid an enormous price for that victory, serving for years as the last free bastion of democracy against relentless German aggression.

British cities endured repeated bombing campaigns. Following major attacks on London in September 1940, some 500 German bombers launched the most devastating air raid ever directed against an English city during the night of 14–15 November 1940, leaving Coventry almost completely destroyed.

Thankfully, Britain did not collapse under these horrific crimes committed against its civilian population.

The Nazi regime, however, refused to give up. It developed the world's first large-scale ballistic missile, the »V2« rocket. One of the principal figures behind the project was SS-Sturmbannführer Wernher Magnus Maximillian Freiherr von Braun – a German aristocrat, rocket engineer and member of the SS, the regime's notorious paramilitary criminal organisation.

The »V2« served primarily as a weapon of terror aimed at civilian populations and was an instrument of terror deliberately chosen by the Nazi regime. London alone recorded more than 1,300 rocket impacts.

By 1943 the British had regained control of the skies and dramatically intensified the allied air offensive against Germany. During the final months of the war, cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Würzburg were reduced to ruins by massive bombing campaigns.

Germany in 1945 Germany's industrial centres, transport networks and housing stock had been devastated on a scale that is difficult to imagine today.

Yet most Germans recovered more quickly than many observers had expected from twelve years of Nazi dictatorship, although the intellectual debris of that era continued to haunt parts of society for decades; in some cases until the end of people's lives.

The currency reform came in 1948. The Federal Republic of Germany was founded in 1949. Within little more than a decade, West Germany experienced what later became known as the »Wirtschaftswunder« – the German Economic Miracle.

After near-total destruction, the economy grew at such a remarkable pace during the 1950s that many people genuinely regarded it as miraculous. Full employment and widespread prosperity were the direct consequences.

The Years That Followed Meanwhile Britain remained burdened by war debts, shortages and economic stagnation. Food rationing in Britain did not finally end until 1954.

Pause for a moment
and think about that.

Nine years after defeating fascism, British families were still using ration books and struggling with shortages.

How could this have happened? The answer is more complex than many political myths would have us believe. Britain emerged from the war economically exhausted. It had financed six years of resistance against an aggressor determined to dominate Europe through unprecedented levels of borrowing.

Even after victory, Britain maintained extensive global military commitments. At the same time, it still bore the responsibilities of a worldwide empire that had begun to dissolve but would not reach the height of its decolonisation process until the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1948, Britain also created the National Health Service NHS. The newly established welfare state represented one of the most ambitious social projects in British history. Millions of citizens gained access to medical treatment that had previously been unavailable or beyond the means of ordinary people. It was a remarkable achievement, but it was also really expensive.

Summary: Post-war Britain attempted to rebuild its economy, transform a centrally directed wartime system into a functioning market economy, honour its international obligations and construct a comprehensive welfare state simultaneously. No government on earth can pursue all of these objectives indefinitely without consequences.

West Germany faced an entirely different reality. The country had undoubtedly lost much, but precisely because so much had been destroyed, reconstruction created extraordinary opportunities for growth. Factories were rebuilt. Infrastructure was renewed. Housing was constructed on a massive scale. Millions of citizens worked, saved and invested. The result was an extraordinary economic expansion.

For several decades Britain and Germany followed rather different paths. Today, however, both countries increasingly confront similar questions – questions that are rarely discussed honestly.

Who owns essential infrastructure? Who controls housing? Who benefits from economic growth? Who makes the decisions that shape everyday life? And perhaps most importantly: Which parts of society must never be organised primarily for profit?

Over the past forty years many Western governments have embraced privatisation, deregulation and the growing influence of financial markets. The promise was simple. Markets would deliver efficiency. Competition would lower costs. Private ownership would outperform public institutions. Sometimes this happened. Often it did not.

Britain knows these stories well: railways, utilities, housing and public services. The debate has never truly ended.

Much of it began during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990), who helped make neoliberalism politically respectable across Europe. Her policies, known collectively as »Thatcherism«, promoted free trade, deregulation, privatisation and the dismantling of the trade unions. Under Thatcher, British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways and numerous other major state-owned enterprises were privatised.

Germany embarked upon a remarkably similar path a few years later under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The process continued under the governments of Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel.

The historical circumstances were different. The institutions were different. The political traditions were different. Yet the underlying assumption remained the same: that market forces could solve problems more effectively than democratic institutions.

The consequences of this way of thinking are now visible throughout much of the Western world.

Housing has become increasingly unaffordable. Infrastructure is ageing. Public services are struggling under growing pressure.

Citizens are repeatedly told that there is never enough money - never enough money for pensions - never enough money for hospitals - never enough money for schools. Yet somehow there always seems to be enough money for financial speculation, corporate consolidation and the endless transfer of public assets into private hands.

This contradiction deserves serious examination. Not because markets are inherently evil, but because societies are more than markets.

Citizens are more than consumers and democracies cannot survive indefinitely if their governments lose the ability to shape outcomes in those areas of life that matter most to ordinary people.

This is not merely an economic question, it is a democratic one. How can the state regain democratic control over those institutions that make civilised life possible: housing, health care, education, infrastructure, energy and communication?

The future of democratic societies may well depend upon the answer – more than many politicians are willing to admit.

In Germany as well as in Great Britain.