Germany has reached its last stage of grief over the US

For a long time, Germany was in denial that its decades-long relationship with the US had changed. Not anymore.

Even though it happened almost 80 years ago, my German grandmother-in-law Rositha still remembers her first encounter with Americans: when they dropped chocolate from the sky.

In 1948, she and other children would gather below as US Army pilots dispensed bags of sweets, sometimes tied to tiny parachutes.

Berlin was divided, and the Soviets had attempted to cut off all Western access to the city’s American sector. In response, the US launched the Berlin Airlift — providing not only food and fuel, but also small gestures of goodwill, including treats for the youngest residents.

The so-called “candy bomber” operation belonged to the beginning of an enduring eight-decade partnership between the US and Germany -- one which was, by and large, stable. America became known not just as a military power, but also a source of security and hope for many people, Rositha included. The American soldiers, she told me nostalgically, “basically saved us.”

That helping spirit was also seen in the harsh wint…