In the 20th century, Germany, more than any other country on earth, brought misery, hardship, and destruction upon the nations and peoples of the world.

The land of Martin Luther and Zinzendorff, of the Reformation and Pietism, the land where printing originated, which gave rise to over 100 years of unceasing prayer and provided decisive impetus for the modern missionary movement, suddenly plunged into a frenzy of anti-divine activity that remains incomprehensible to historians to this day.

How could it be that “Germany, the nation of culture,” became the world’s greatest aggressor in the 20th century? Why did the very country that was then the most industrialized in all of Europe—the country that likely had the world’s most exemplary health care, pension, and social welfare systems at the time, and which boasted a thoroughly flourishing intellectual and cultural life—become such a great scourge to humanity within just a few years?

To answer this question, we must understand the spiritual contexts underlying the visible events. Events of historical significance do not happen “just like that”; rather, they are the result of processes and shifts in power in the spiritual realm.