It's not only Putin who courts Germany. It takes two to tango. Germany, being probably the most reasonable and responsible country in Europe, also has a problem. Germany is tied to losers like PIGS, lazies like France and socialists like UK. Those are not markets, those are just sinkholes for money. Germany needs partners, and Russia at this point in time is *less* socialist than most of the Europe. Sure, there is still plenty of government control over certain things, there is corruption - but there are also resources, markets, lots of educated workers, and access to Asia. Russia wouldn't be Germany's first choice in a well functioning EU, but since EU is on its deathbed Russia looks pretty good.
With regard to the prospect of a new war between Russia and Germany, that lesson had been learned well. Russia and Germany are comparable in power, and Hitler's worst mistake is that he went against USSR. If only he joined forces with Stalin, as he was supposed to do, he'd own the world. So it is quite possible that there will be a new axis of power forming within a decade or two, Germany - Russia - China. If that happens, this axis will be ruling the planet unopposed.
Germany will fall apart with the rest of Europe.
The world will look like this:
A new Soviet Union (currently Russia/CIS) being first in power, folled by Red China, and a greater Latin American state, ran from Havana.
Europe will be incapable of acting, with Poland and the rest of the East being reabsorbed into the Russian/neo-Soviet orbit by force.