As it happens, some (including me) think it's a good recommended maximum length for an article for readability - there should be a compelling reason to go over six thousand words. But considerations like 172's (subject requires it, article is really good) still get past. So if the Germany article should get by even being over 32k, the nominator would probably have to convince people the subject required it for proper coverage. (Which I can well see being likely.)
In this case, the issue is more complex than just the 32k limit. Regardless, and without getting into extreme detail, brevity is being strongly encouraged on the article, which is already well over 32K, and seems to be getting larger with every edit. The argument from the person most strongly arguing against limiting the size seems to me to mostly be "These are facts, and the United States article is even bigger, that's not fair".
Jay.