Modern German history is a useful vantage point for exploring European developments during the 20th century. This lecture will take a look at the German and European contest(s) between democracy and dictatorship and the related tension between freedom and security in changing times under different political regimes up to the present day. Given the profound and paradoxical impact which Germany has had on the trajectories of European history, which role can it, does it, and perhaps must it play in Europe today because of lessons learned from its past and its multiple transformations?