Many Germans referred to the nineteenth century as "die gute alte Zeit" (the good old days) when the country was prosperous and a leading contributor to Western culture. And then there was the post-WWII chancellorship of Konrad Adenauer, a great conservative, the architect of Germany's Economic Miracle that transformed the country into an economic powerhouse.
But the miracle began to fade after Adenauer's death in 1967 when Germany embraced socialism. By 1971, when I was living there, Muslims were already moving into the country as "guest workers."
The good old days…it was, iirc, more the late 19th century until 1914, when European countries dominated the largest part of the globe.
Happy days for most Germans, who enjoyed a prosperity which hadn’t been seen since the mid-1500s. The cities boomed, industry expanded, German patents were valued all over the world, the universities were considered second to none etc. etc. Everything felt modern - electric light, the first automobiles, even the beginnings of aeronautics.
Good times. But this also could be said for Britain, France, even for Russia, if you compare it with the rule of Lenin and Stalin.
And, strangely, most Europeans were unaware of the growth of the mighty nation across the Atlantic…the world was still much less intertwined as it is today, though much more than a century before.