German Banks Catch the Euro Bug LONDON - Germany's European partners might be forgiven if they experienced a momentary spasm of Schadenfreude on Wednesday when Moody's downgraded a half-dozen German banks. After months of being lectured by Chancellor Angela Merkel about the virtues of fiscal probity and sound finances, her fellow leaders might welcome the chance to remind her that Germany is not immune to the euro crisis that is swamping the most vulnerable of them. Moody's one-notch downgrades, which included Commerzbank, the country's second largest bank, were signals that the contagion from ailing euro economies such as Greece and Spain might be spreading faster and farther than even pessimists in the markets had assumed. "Today's rating actions are driven by the increased risk of further shocks emanating from the euro area debt crisis, in combination with the banks" limited loss-absorption capacity," the U.S.-based ratings agency said. Ms. Merkel's firm stance on bailouts to ailing European states and their struggling financial institutions seems so far to have reflected the mood of her fellow Germans. They are weary of being asked to pick up the bill for their less provident and less industrious neighbors. As my colleagues Jack Ewing and James Kanter note in an article from Frankfurt, Germany's financial capital, Europe's largest economy has so far been impervious to the problems confronting the rest of the euro zone. But they also quote economists as saying that, with Germany conducting most of its trade with other European countries, it cannot remain aloof forever. Echoes of that argument are now being heard at home. As Nicholas Kulish wrote from Berlin on Monday: "Nervousness within Germany, where record-low unemployment and borrowing rates have preserved a calm at the eye of the financial storm, has also begun to grow." Some of that nervousness was apparent in a recent article in Germany's Der Spiegel in which journalist Stefan Kaiser warned that the good times for Germany were coming to an end: Germany's booming economy and plummeting unemployment has [sic] long insulated the country from the euro crisis on Europe's periphery. Those times, however, are coming to an end. The German economy is now showing it is vulnerable after all, and Chancellor Merkel will now be forced to make sacrifices. Mr. Kaiser points to a recent share slump and declining export orders to conclude that Germany could no longer enjoy the luxury of staying out of the crisis facing other parts of the euro zone. "When investors lose their trust in the euro zone and take their money out of Europe, Germany too will feel the effects," he writes. But will Germany and Mrs. Merkel rise to the challenge? Joschka Fisher, a former foreign minister and Green Party leader, recently accused his fellow Germans of failing to live up to their pan-European responsibilities by cleaving to austerity-enforcing policies. Mrs. Merkel was pouring fuel on the flames of the crisis, he claimed. "Germany destroyed itself - and the European order - twice during the 20th century, and then convinced the West that it had drawn the right conclusions," Mr. Fischer wrote. It would be both tragic and ironic if a restored Germany, by peaceful means and with the best of intentions, brought about the ruin of the European order a third time. The latest evidence of euro zone contagion reaching German banks may mean Germany has to step in, if not to save Europe, then at least to save itself.