Germany's Zeitenwende is being put to the test in Lithuania

As Berlin builds its first permanent brigade-sized formation abroad since the Second World War, German soldiers on NATO’s eastern flank are being welcomed not as symbols, but as protectors.

It’s not a scene you often see in Germany: complete strangers buying coffee for Bundeswehr soldiers in uniform as a gesture of gratitude.

But this, according to Lithuanian foreign-policy analyst Linas Kojala, is exactly what is happening in cafés in his country’s capital, Vilnius.

“People are welcoming [the Bundeswehr] with open arms,” Kojala, CEO of the …