Annotation: The concept of a "special path" can be considered one of the "eternal" yet distinctly "Russian" scenarios of national identification. In this collection, we aim to dispel this illusion by pointing to the relatively recent genesis and intellectual trajectory of the Sonderweg idiom. Texts by leading German and English historians, published in Russian for the first time and exploring the history of pre-war Germany from the perspective of the Nazi catastrophe, open up new possibilities for the productive use of the "special path" metaphor—as a basis for modern historiographical methodology. The comparative method helps to identify the uniqueness and commonality of each compared object, thereby eliminating the teleologism of the macro-narrative. We offer readers a range of historical cases and theoretical debates—from the idea of salvation in medieval Russia to the "uniqueness" in modern political culture, from disputes around the Nazi catastrophe to critiques of the "Sonderweg" historiography in the 1980s. Reflecting on the concept of "specialness" in Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the USA, Switzerland, and Romania allows us to redefine the issues surrounding the traumatic birth of modernity.