It should be pointed out and understood that when a domain enters Redemption period, in every TLD, the inflated cost to redeem it is imposed by the registry itself, not the registrar.

So the point where the normal cost is $6.95 but it cost over $100 or $200 is not because the registrar is gouging you, but because the registry is charging the registrar minimum $100 or so, and then the registrar would also apply their own markup, which is pretty standard.

Also - all registrars are contractually obligated to send out multiple notifications to the admin contact email, and even though this wouldn't necessarily apply to .DE (because it's overseen by DENIC, not ICANN) - most registrars use the same notifcation workflow across all TLDs. Usually something like 90, 60, 30, 10 days and -5 days.

I will say that the rule in .DE that you can't renew past T-5 is pretty weird though.