Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel is a German politician who served as chancellor from 2005 to 2021 and led the Christian Democratic Union from 2000 to 2018.

Eurozone crisis: A sovereign-debt and banking crisis that threatened the euro area, especially from 2010 to 2012. Merkel helped determine Germany’s austerity-focused response to financial distress in Greece and other euro-area states.
East Germany: The German state established in 1949 in the Soviet occupation zone and dissolved during German reunification in 1990. Merkel grew up and began her adult life in the German Democratic Republic.
Joachim Sauer: A German quantum chemist and professor who married Angela Merkel in 1998. Sauer’s scientific career reflects the private and academic world Merkel shared before becoming chancellor.
Gerhard Schröder: A German Social Democratic politician who served as chancellor from 1998 to 2005. Schröder’s earlier government launched reforms that shaped the economic conditions Merkel inherited.
European migrant crisis: A large increase in people arriving in Europe seeking asylum or other forms of protection, especially in 2015. Her decision to admit many asylum seekers became one of the most consequential and contested choices of her chancellorship.
German reunification: The 1990 process that ended Germany’s division and incorporated East Germany into the Federal Republic. Reunification opened Merkel’s route from East German civic activism into national politics.
Ursula von der Leyen: A German politician who served in Merkel’s cabinet and became president of the European Commission in 2019. Von der Leyen held several senior ministries under Merkel before moving to EU leadership.
Christian Democratic Union of Germany: A major German centre-right political party founded in 1945. Merkel’s political identity and chancellorship developed within the party she led for eighteen years.
COVID-19 pandemic: A global pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, beginning in 2019. Merkel’s government coordinated Germany’s public-health restrictions, vaccination effort, and economic support.
Academy of Sciences of the GDR: East Germany’s principal research institution, where Merkel worked as a physicist before entering politics. Her scientific career there preceded her election to the first all-German Bundestag.

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