Deutschland class belongs in the cruiser role

Is it fair to compare the Deutschland class with ordinary heavy cruisers?

Yes. The useful comparison is role-based, and Germany's cruiser choices ultimately have to be read against its wider challenge to British naval power.

The Deutschland class should still be compared against heavy cruisers because that was the role the ships were meant to fill, even if their legal and design path was unusual. German naval programs repeatedly drifted toward countering the Royal Navy because Britain held the global naval position Germany wanted to challenge. A sketch of earlier Chinese, Iberian, Dutch, French, and British maritime prominence places the two world wars within a wider transition that ultimately elevated the United States. Ship classification here connects to strategic ambition and great-power succession rather than standing as an isolated design curiosity.