Sunday's crunch elections in Germany are coming at perhaps the most pivotal moment since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Back then, it was about making a success of reunification. Now comes a reckoning over the German model that ensued. Under threat is the kind of global free trade that powers Germany's export-driven economy. Instead we're seeing Donald Trump's tariffs, a Russian aggression that's inching closer in not-so-far-off Ukraine and an ageing population that needs to replenish its workforce, but doesn't want more migrants.

Seizing on the mood of a nation in recession is the far-right AfD, which polls suggest could finish second behind the Christian Democrats. With the US vice president last Friday passing up a chance to meet the incumbent centre-left chancellor Olaf Scholz, instead seeing AfD leader Alice Weidel on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, voters are wondering if the usual warnings of foreign election meddling concern this time the United States more than usual suspect Russia.

The pressure is on in a nation where lead candidates know they that can't bash their rivals too hard. After all, they know that come Monday morning when the ballots are counted, they might have to call them for coalition-building. Could this election be different? If so, how?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

Watch moreA model in crisis: Germans head to polls amid economic downturn