THE FIEND WHO GOT AWAY

Stand by Merkel, despite this mess

ANGELA Merkel is the last man in Europe.

The German chancellor is also our strongest ally on the continent. And she made one colossal mistake that the continent’s pro-Putin forces wield against her. We shouldn’t help them. Merkel’s tragic decision in 2015 to announce that Germany’s borders were open to refugees from the Middle East ended in a swift retraction, but the damage had been done. Germany and much of northern Europe faced a flood of some genuine refugees, many economic migrants, assorted criminals and an unknown number of terrorist infiltrators who threatened to swamp societies and their legal systems.

Alarmed by Muslim immigration themselves, many American conservatives vilified Merkel, forgetting that she often has been the sole grown-up in European politics, repeatedly saving the continent from itself, bailing out wastrel states — and leading the free world’s resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasions of Ukraine. Stalwart, she has herded the yowling Euro-cats to keep sanctions in place.

Now, in the wake of the Berlin Christmas-market attack, we hear gleeful predictions from some American commentators that the Merkel government will fall and she’ll be destroyed. Ain’t gonna happen. Germany’s government is far more stable than Italy’s or even the United Kingdom’s. More vitally, Merkel is the best the Germans have. No other figure on the political scene approaches her stature and gravitas. She has remained — and will remain — the most trusted German pol, despite the immigration mess.

As for that grave mistake of opening Germany’s borders — however briefly — it has to be understood through the lens of German history and the character of Frau Merkel. Given its hideous past, Germany strives to be a dogooder nation, ever anxious for a pat on the back. Thus, in NATO, Germany contributes support troops to off-campus endeavors, but won’t pull triggers. (Should we really be outraged by a pacifist Germany, after all the damned trouble we had in the past?)

Merkel’s background is crucial, too. She’s the daughter of a Lutheran pastor from the former East Germany, where devout Christianity had a cost, and she manifests the traditional values of Prussian Lutheranism. We saw that first in her sternness during the Greek financial crisis: A godly household practices thrift and takes responsibility. So Merkel was reluctant to reward Greek profligacy.

But as a believing Christian, she also embraced Christ’s message to comfort the distressed and dispossessed. That announcement of open borders — unusually impulsive for the disciplined chancellor — has to be viewed in the light of internalized Christian doctrine. By the way: Merkel’s party is the

Christian Democratic Union. Its sister party is the Christian Social Union (in Bavaria). Just as we are admonished to take the name “Islamic State” at face value, perhaps we should pay attention to party names, too. Even in largely secular Germany, faith’s legacy has power.

We also get Europe’s far-right parties wrong, focusing exclusively on their anti-immigrant stances. But France’s National Front, Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland, Austria’s Freedom Party and the rest of them are also fiercely anti-American and pro-Putin. (The fact that Putin has provided generous funding helps.)

It’s time we all did our homework. Before sending Frau Merkel to the stake.

Personally, I disagree with Germany’s mindlessly liberal immigration policy. Immigration must be transactional: If you come to my country, you are obligated to observe my values, learn my language and integrate. But howls that Merkel has blood on her hands are disgraceful. The blood’s on the hands of the terrorists.

Can Merkel be blamed for the terror attacks in France? In Belgium? In Britain? Fanatical Islam is the problem, not the finest chancellor Germany’s had since Konrad Adenauer six decades ago.

Chancellor Merkel is our ally and our friend. She deserves our support, not uninformed insults.

At a time when Vladimir Putin threatens — perhaps assisted by American folly — to break NATO and disrupt the longest period of peace in all of Europe’s history, she really is the last man on the continent.