Angela Merkel (b. 1954)

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Biography

Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German stateswoman and retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office and the only from former East Germany. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018.

Timeline

The story of Angela Merkel, told in moments.

1954 Birth

Born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg, West Germany. Weeks later, her father, a Lutheran pastor, does something unusual: he moves the family east, to Brandenburg in communist East Germany, to take a parish assignment.

Why did your father move the family east into communist territory? What was it like being a pastor s daughter behind the Iron Curtain?

1986 Life

Earns a doctorate in quantum chemistry from the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry in East Berlin. She's a member of the Free German Youth, the state's communist youth organization. She publishes research papers. She waits.

Did quantum chemistry teach you anything about politics? Were you really just waiting all those years in East Berlin?

1989 Event

The Berlin Wall falls. Merkel is 35, a research scientist with no political experience. She walks into the office of a new democratic party within weeks. By the first free East German election in March 1990, she's deputy spokeswoman for the government.

The Wall falls and you walk into a political office within weeks. What triggered that decision? Were you scared or exhilarated?

2005 Event

Sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. First woman. First from the former East. She wins by the slimmest margin, building a grand coalition. Helmut Kohl, her mentor, once dismissed her as "the girl."

How did it feel being dismissed as the girl by Kohl? Did becoming the first female chancellor feel like vindication?

2015 Event

Opens Germany's borders to refugees fleeing Syria. Over a million arrive in a single year. "Wir schaffen das," she says. We can do this. It defines and nearly destroys her chancellorship. She doesn't reverse the decision.

Do you still believe wir schaffen das was the right call? Did a million refugees in one year ever make you doubt yourself?

2021 Legacy

Leaves office after 16 years and four terms. The longest-serving EU leader of her era. She'd navigated the Eurozone crisis, the refugee crisis, COVID-19, and Trump. A quantum chemist who became the most powerful woman in the world by being patient, methodical, and underestimated.

Sixteen years in power. Which crisis tested you the most? Did being underestimated work in your favor?

In Their Own Words (20)

We are in a very serious situation. We must act, and now, to avoid an acute national health emergency

Coronavirus: Germany to impose one-month partial lockdown October 28, 2020, 2020

We can only shape a bright future if we are aware of Germany's enduring responsibility for the ultimate betrayal of all civilised values that was the Shoah.

Angela Merkel's speech about Holocaust (Shoah)., 2017

Climate change is an issue determining our destiny as mankind – it will determine the well-being of all of us.

Cited in: Damian Carrington, "Climate change will determine humanity's destiny, says Angela Merkel", '''', 15 November 2017 (page visited on 15 November 2017)., 2017

Translation: The terror is now part of everyday life in our cities.

Merkel holding a speech in front of German Bundestag on November 23, 2016, "Speech of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel", November 23, 2016., 2016

From my point of view, a completely covered woman has almost no chance of integrating herself in Germany.

Speaking on the Radio Station Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, as quoted in "Angela Merkel says burqa incompatible with integration in society for Muslim women" by Callum Paton, International Business Times (19 August 2016)., 2016