For a brief moment, a sense of quiet sympathy could be felt in Berlin's often unforgiving political arena: On Monday morning, Bärbel Bas , Germany's labor minister and the co-leader of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) announced her resignation from all government and party positions. The 58-year-old politician cited a personal tragedy as the reason for her decision : "Following the death of my stepdaughter, I have come to realize that I need time to work through my grief," Bas wrote in a statement.

Bas also wrote that sustained criticism from the conservative governing parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), had contributed to her decision to step down.…