Economic miracle, reunification, culture of welcome: In the eyes of most Germans, the seventy years of the Federal Republic are a single success story. Yet we romanticize our history. Already during the years of the economic miracle, the social state began to feel overwhelmed. With reunification, self-doubt regarding German identity did not diminish but rather increased. And the culture of welcome led to a loss of control by the state. Prominent television journalist and author Wolfgang Herles writes the psychogram of a neurotic nation. The fears stemming from the unprocessed traumas of the Germans - Nazi dictatorship, Holocaust, World War, currency devaluation - continue to distort reality today and hinder future-oriented politics. An unconventional history of the Federal Republic and its eight chancellors, from Adenauer to Merkel.