Angela Merkel was the first woman to hold the chancellorship. She was chancellor from 2005 to 2021 and, according to Forbes magazine, was at times the ‘most powerful woman in the world’. For her critics, she is the one who always demanded too little from citizens and kept the borders open in 2015 instead of closing them. For others, the CDU politician embodied a constant in unstable times during the financial crisis, the flood of refugees and the coronavirus pandemic. The chemist, who entered politics during the peaceful revolution of 1989/1990, has left her mark in terms of language alone. From: ‘We can do it’, to ‘there is no alternative’ or the phrase about the internet, which is ‘new territory’ for everyone. Most recently, the 70-year-old also commented again on current politics and criticised Friedrich Merz for his decision to accept majorities with votes from the AfD. In 2024, Merkel published her autobiography, written together with her long-time office manager Beate Baumann, in which she looks back on her life in two German states.
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