Angela Merkel is one of the most popular women in politics. Since 2000, she has been the leader of the German Christian Democratic Union party. And since 2005, Merkel has been the Federal Chancellor of Germany. What was a woman politician like when she was young?
Childhood and adolescence of Angela Merkel
The full name of the recognized leader of Germany is Angel Dorothea Merkel. She was born in 1954 in Hamburg. The girl's family has Polish roots. Grandfather once served as a police officer in Poznan, was a participant in the First World War and the Soviet-Polish War. Angela's father studied theology at the Universities of Hamburg and Heidelberg. Mom taught English and Latin.
Some time after the birth of Angels, who became the eldest child in the family, her parents moved to the GDR. Father, Horst Kasner, found a place in the Lutheran church in Perleberg. In 1957, the family moved to the small town of Templin. Angela has a brother, Marcus, and a sister, Irena. The children did not go to the extended day school: they spent their free time at home. Mother, Gerlinda, herself was engaged in raising children.
Quiet, calm and modest girl, Angela always studied well. Teachers noted her ability to exact sciences and foreign languages. Best of all, the girl was given mathematics and Russian. Behind the shoulders of the future leader of Germany is a secondary polytechnic school. Like all children of socialist Germany, Angela was a member of the pioneer organization, but left the organization of her own free will a year after joining. Later she joined the Union of Free German Youth, where she was actively involved in agitation and propaganda activities. In 1973, Angela graduated with honors from high school and entered the physics department of the University of Leipzig.
Merkel studied well at the university. At the same time, she was an active participant in political events in the youth union. In the photographs of that time, it was already difficult for her to recognize the quiet and inconspicuous girl of previous years. In her youth, she loved to dance. Already in these years, the girl began to seriously think about a political career, but then she could not be called a member of the opposition.
In 1977, Angela married Ulrich Merkel, her fellow student. After completing their studies, the young couple moved to East Berlin, where the young woman physicist worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Academy of Sciences. But the marriage was short-lived: already in 1982, the young couple broke up.
Career in politics
Angela Merkel became a politician at the very end of the 1980s. Increasingly, she could be seen among those who determined the political life of Germany. The destruction of the Berlin Wall had a huge impact on Angela. It was at that time that Chancellor Helmut Kohl noticed her. He was in dire need of fresh and young helpers who could represent the new federal states that became part of a unified Germany. Dr. Merkel fits perfectly into his team.
Angela conscientiously coped with the new duties of a politician. She held meetings with fishermen in the Baltic, not hesitating to visit pubs for this. Agitating people, Angela did not skimp on loud statements and promises. They listened to her attentively, believed her, actively voted for her candidacy. The main advantage of a young woman politician was the ability to listen to others. The result was the victory of Angels in the first all-German elections. She began to represent one of the German districts in the Bundestag. At the age of 36, Angela became Federal Minister for Women and Youth Affairs, joining the government of Helmut Kohl. When inviting Angela into politics, Kohl rightly believed that she would be able to captivate and lead German women.
In 1994, Merkel became head of the German Ministry of the Environment. She initiated the first UN conference on climate issues, made valuable proposals to reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere. But four years later Kohl lost the election to Gerhard Schroeder. Angela, at one time devoted to Kolya (she was even called "Kolya's girl"), hastened to dissociate herself from her former patron and even became the head of a movement that pursued the goal of removing the ex-chancellor from the highest post in the CDU party. Subsequently, Merkel was elected the leader of this particular party.
Entering adulthood, Angela Merkel rose to power with German tenacity. It was her qualities of a leader, manifested in her youth, that allowed her to lead one of the most influential parties in the country. In 2005, Angela became the first female chancellor of the new Germany. By this time she was 51 years old. Having shown herself to be a skillful and self-possessed leader, Merkel has increased her authority and strengthened Germany's position in the international arena.
