Reading with former Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany for 16 years and shaped German and international politics and society during this time. In her memoirs, written together with her long-time political advisor Beate Baumann, she looks back on life in two German states: 35 years in the GDR, 35 years in reunified Germany.

She talks about her childhood, youth and studies in the GDR, as well as the year 1989, when the wall fell and her political career began. It reports on meetings and discussions with international political decision makers and, based on significant national, European and international turning points, vividly and precisely traces how decisions were made that shape our time. Her book offers an insight into the inner realm of political power — and is a resolute plea for freedom.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 2005 to 2021, was the first woman in the most powerful office that the country has to award. Born in 1954 in Hamburg, grew up in the GDR, where she studied physics and received her doctorate, she was elected to the German Bundestag in 1990. From 1991 to 1994 she was Federal Minister for Women and Youth, from 1994 to 1998 Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, from 2000 to 2018 Chair of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. She ended her active political career in 2021.