"The daughter of an East Germany pastor is being politically punished also because by showing sympathy to masses of emigrants she broke the golden rule of realpolitik that too much leaning to one side inevitably causes a boomerang effect."

This is what Germany got with the nationalistic AfD party and Sunday's election in Hesse pointed to Merkel's responsibility.

But she is definitely not the only one to blame and when it comes to federal-level arguments, others should probably step down before her. However, Merkel did not wish to further divide her CDU from her sister party CSU ahead of the election in Bavaria.

Merkel will at least go down in history as the one who saved the countries on the Balkan route, including Slovenia from refugees.

If she stays on until the end of her term as chancellor, she might also boast the longest tenure in the after-war period, thus exceeding the father of modern Germany Konrad Adenauer if not also Helmut Kohl, the chancellor of the German reunification.

Politically, she will leave behind the legacy of her unique pragmatic and moral "Merkel method", although her successors will not necessarily appreciate it, Delo says under The Twilight of German Political Titan.