The question of Ms. Merkel’s sudden turn is important, because in the 10 years she has governed Germany, she has become our mascot. She is an icon, she is our new normal; she is venerated and identified with at the same time.

People are impressed with her inhuman workload and the way she has maneuvered Germany into a new position of power in the European Union. And then, every summer, when she goes on vacation to the Alps, blurry photographs appear in the tabloids; Ms. Merkel with her hair in a mess, wearing a puffy jacket and hiking boots, a middle-aged woman struggling to keep up with her slightly fitter middle-aged husband.

Merkel is Germany. Germany is Merkel. Which means: If this is the end of irony for her, it’s the end of irony for all of us.

The country is re-politicizing. Irony and political disinterest seem like luxuries we can no longer afford, decadence from a golden age that has now passed. A new sense of urgency reigns. Optimists accuse the pessimists of racism; the pessimists accuse the optimists of naïveté.

In a way, Ms. Merkel has struck just the right tone. However, for the first time in years, she is losing support. According to a major survey conducted last week, only 45 percent of all Germans think that Germany can manage the current influx of refugees — at the end of September, 50 percent thought so. And while 70 percent think Ms. Merkel is doing a good job altogether, only 46 approve of her management of the refugee crisis.

In the weeks since the first flush of pro-refugee warmth, Germany’s political class has hastened to reverse the impression that the country will take in everybody. The Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of Ms. Merkel’s conservatives, and her minister of homeland affairs, Thomas de Maizière, have pushed for the introduction of “transit zones” at the borders, from which those migrants originating from countries considered safe can be sent back swiftly. After weeks of open attacks from the ranks of her own party, the chancellor has given in to restore intraparty peace.

At the very moment Ms. Merkel has started to follow her heart, she is losing the hearts and minds of her voters. Maybe there still is some irony left in Germany after all.