23/3/2023
No leader of the post WW2 stage has protected liberal democracy as she did. She was a divorced Protestant from East Germany living with her male lover. She got things done quickly without boasting of her achievements.
2009 She appointed a gay foreign minister. She had a scientific ability to break down problems to component part and a ravenous apatite for work.
1919 After the end of WW1 Weimer was the Capital of High German Culture and deputies gather there to form the Weimer Republic with a Hugo Preuss a Jewish lawyer who drafted a liberal constitution.
1943 Hamburg was flattened by a fire storm killing 40,000 inhabitants. Born here in 1954
1948 Marshall plan allocated $15 billion to finance the rebuilding of West Germany while the East was stripped of factories and wealth by the soviet dictatorship.
1949 Socialist East Germany was a Russian satelite and in 1953 the workers revolted. The same brutal patter was seen in Hungary 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Ukraine in 2014.
1953 the Leipzig University was renamed Karl Marx University.
1954The family lived in Hamburg but her pastor father Horst Kasner was asked to move to East Germany to run a parish there.
1961 The border with West Germany was closed in a desperate attempt to salvage Communist East Germany.
Her mother was an English teacher who was not allowed to teach English but taught her a serviceable English.
In Communist society religion became a private sphere, but she understood that the weakest of the society must not be wronged. She won the Russian Language Olympics and a trip to Moscow. She was admitted to a secondary school instead of a technical school unusual for a clergyman's child.
1969 Heard on the radio clandestinely Andrei Sakharov's essay on the danger of Moscow's arms race.
She received the top honors in mathematics and physics and Russian at the Templin Gymnasium.
1973 Started studies in Physics at Leipzig university. City of Bach, von Schiller, Goethe, Max Beckmann.
Heidrich Boll won the Nobel prize for literature but you had to get permission to read his book in the East. Leipzig university was the altered little since Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner Werner Heisenberg and Gustav Hertz. out of 70 freshmen there were only 7 women. They also had to study Marxist Leninism and English material had to be translated into Russian and only then could they see it.
1974 aged twenty she met Ulrich Merkel and they married to be able to get an apartment, while she did her masters. Her Masters thesis was "Aspects of Nuclear Physics and it was published in the English journal Chemical Physics.
1977 the fictional US TV drama Holocaust was watched by 20 million Germans and opened a national debate.
1981 she was enthusiastic about her visit to Poland with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement.
1986 received PhD is physics in Berlin and did scientific research on a shoestring budget and divorced Ulrich. When She was approached by the Stasi to become an informer she told them that she was a chatterbox and could not keep secrets so got out of it.
1991 Gorbochev came to power in the Kremlin when the Soviet economy was suffering from the long war in Afghanistan.
On the 40th anniversary of the WW2 she was stunned to hear a recording of West German President Richard von Weizsackers blunt reckoning of the holocaust, 22 million Russians had died fighting fascist and East Germany saw her self as a victims not perpetrator of war crimes. Only communist victims were talked about and that Jews were usually friends of the communists. The Shoah would be central to her leadership and conviction of Germanies debt to the Jews.
1989 In a televised press the spokesment was asked when could free trave begin to the West he answered "Sofort" immediatly. Churchill 1946 Iron Curtain with Gorbochev tacit agreement fell, and bananas suddenly became available in East Germany.
Angela now wanted a new career. The planned economy of East Germany was now unable to compete and you had the ten-ten generation, Ten years too old to reinvent themselves and ten years to young for a pension.
Instead of a dead end lab job that would not lead to a Nobel Prize she joined a new East German party the Democratisher Aufbruch (DA) of Democratic Awakening. At the first meeting she saw that new computors had arrived and she opened them and set them up. Germany was now Europes biggest county and Britian and France had to be convinced that they did not pose an economic threat.
1990 she resigned her academic job to work full time in politics as the DA spokesperson. Few Est German politician were fmale and most men wer found to be Stasi informers. 1991 took her place in the cabinet next to Helmut kohl knowing that tokenism had got her there.
Bonn became the German Capital after WW2 as it was near Konrad Adenauer home. it is known as the birthplace of Beethoven. Kissinger called on her and they had a lot in common as both had to reinvent themselves in strange new lands, and she was Germanies youngest minister at 36 and she had a presence. She later campaigned for and won a seat in the Bundestag in Mecklenburg Vorpommern.
She visited Israel and later as Chancellor would return to visit many times.
1994 Clinton and Kohl walked from West to East through the Brandenburg Gate, this followed Kennedys 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" and Reagans plea "Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall" in 1987.
1994 she got the environment portfolio, and took English classes to improve her speech. In 1995 160 nations came to Berlins Natural History Museum for the UN Climate Conference. The Berlin Mandate was signed and 2 years later this led to the Kyoto Protocol.
When an article criticized a Government Minister for living in sin in 1998 she married Joachim Sauer.
1998 Helmut Kohl after 16 years in power was defeated through a financial scandal.
2000 Merkle became the CDUs chairman elected without opposition. That year Berlin became the Federal Republics official capital
2005 Chancellor Gerhard Schroder call for early election and Angela Merkel was the first female chancellor and was sworn in at the Reichstag building. There are 16 Lander in the that make up Germany. She had a visceral loathing of dictators and she wanted to make Germany strong enough to stand up to Russia. She felt that inspiring a crowd is a dangerous gift and prefers to be an uninspiring wise costodian of the liberal West.
She avoided public media, and she had no flatterers on her staff. Konrad Adenauer tied Germany destiny to the west when he became leader of a ruined nation. The chancellery houses 500 civil servants and a hundred policy advisors.
2008 She visited the Knesset and spoke in German and met holocaust survivors. She had a good relationship with Ehud Olmert but gave up having a productive partnership once Bibi was PM in 2009.
2009 she rebuked the Pope a German for reinstating 4 excommunicated Holocaust denying bishops and the Bishops in question were re excommunicated.
1986 Chernobyl in the Soviet Union and with 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, she decide on an immediate phase out of nuclear energy. Joseph Stiglitz a Nobel prize winner pointed out that Nuclear energy gets government subsidies.
She had a great bond with George W Bush and a commitment to a trans Atlantic relationship, and was invited to Bushes Crawford Ranch. She was present at the World Cup soccer in Germany.
2007 G8 summit in Heiligendamm Germany she got Bush to publicly recognize climate change. However opposed Bushes plans to offer Ukraine and Georgia NATO membership. She said never hate you enemies it effects your judgement.
Putin was a KGB officer in Dresden and his object was to blackmail and lure scientists and businessmen to be recruits for the Soviets. When the Berlin wall fell he phoned and Moscow was silent of what to do. They had to burn all the Stasia and KGB records, this took 4 days at their headquarter and drive with his wife and daughters to Russia. Angela Merkel had hitchhiked to parts of the Soviets that were closed to foreigners. She knew the Soviets and in her Putin had met his match. he could not use his tricks with her. He is believed to be one of the worlds wealthiest men.Putins older brother had died in the Nazi siege of Leningrad.
In 2001 Putin spoke in German to the Bundestag pledging that Russia wanted to be a friendly European nation, the Parlament stood up and cheered while Angela barely clapped, she knew about the KGB and loyalties that others did not.
2006Anna Politikovskaya was shot in her apartment lift on Putin's 54th birthday, and when Putin met her at Dresden Castle she told him that this murder must be solved. Putin released disinformation to weaken Angela electoral chances. He wants to better Stalin 34years holding power.
Angela intervened when Alexei Navalny collapsed brought him to Germany and visited him.
She declined to cancel the Nord Stream 2 pipeline knowing that Ukraine would be the biggest loser but said the advantages outweigh the disadvantages - big business.
She traded with China which was a big market for German cars but by meeting the Dalai Lama in Berlin started getting a cold shoulder by the Chinese.
When in Washington she wanted to meet Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan and Senators Susan Collins and Dianne Feinstein and Melinda Gates.
Unlike Merkel, Margaret Thatcher's closest aides were all men. She had a good grasp on minutiae and was always trong in substance not talk she spent many hours with Australia's PM Kevin Rudd.
2018 in Israel she met Israel business leaders and got a honorary doctorate from Haifa University.
Ronald Reagan and George H W bush were her heroes for enabling German unification. Initially she was skeptical of Obama as he was able to touch people with his speeches. She liked Obamas Affordable Care Act. Putin Erdogan Netanyahu and later Trump she considered world trouble makers.
She got on well with Obama and both had read Yuval Harari's book Sapiens. She always said wars have unintended consequences and seldom solve problems.
America's whistle blower took a gift of pages of classified documents to the Washington Post and it showed that Angela's private phone was tapped by the US intelligence cooling the relationship.
2008 The financial crises caused discord in Europe where 5 million lost their jobs .Germany has a system that workers go onto short time rather than losing their jobs. Half of Greek youth were unemployed. She was not prepared to give a bailout till she saw responsible behavior of the Greek Government. Note the German word skuld means both debt and guilt, she did not want to support a dependency culture in Greece. Both Italy's Berlusconi and Greece's Papandreou had to accept Eu monitors supervising the countries finances , they had no choice. Higher taxes and spending cuts in exchange for a 3rd bailout. The extreme Right wing party AfD Alternative fur Deutschland was founded as a result this.
2008 Russian invasion of Georgia.
2013 Chemical weapons were used in Damascus and American needed Germany's support.
Ukraine had suffered badly under Hitler's Holocaust and later under Stalin Holodomor the collectivization and famine .
2014 after having a puppet government held in place by Moscow, Ukraine was on the brink of signing a wide ranging political and economic agreement with Europe, but when Yanukovych refused and his troops opened fire on demonstrators in Kiev, he fled to Moscow. Putin grabbed Crimea and the Donbas. Europe started investing in helping Ukraine develop its army.
Angela was Obama's contact in Europe and they were on the phone continuously She flew 38 trips trying to deal with Putin's lies.
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Angela announced that there would be no G8 summit in Sochi and that Russia was no longer a member of the club. Flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Airlines flight was hit by and antiaircraft missile killing all 298 passengers son route to an AIDS conference. Angela eventually got a cease fire agreement from Putin but had no illusions of it poor value. Sanction by European business began, but Putin's oil and gas revenue appeared safe.
2015 Germany became the moral centre of the world when Germany received a million Syrian Refugees even Hungary who blocked the path agreed to allow the mass of humans to pass through Keleti station. Very different from the Avion Convention of 1938 of 32 nation that decided to do nothing about the Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler. The Tempelhof airport (Build for the 1961 Berlin blockade) housed thousands and half the refugees were under 25 and they were quickly absorbed into Germany. Refugees fleeing become very loyal to host countries, very different from economic migrants. Thousands of volunteers helped and this strengthened the German economy, when half of them were either employed or joined job training. This also resulted in Erdogan of Turkey agreeing to absorb refugees and closing the border.
2016 Brexit was bitter for Angela as in provided 40% of Europes defence budget and good new for Putin.
2017 to 2021 When Trump won the US election the Russian Parliament jumped for joy.
Obama came to Berlin and spend hours meeting Angela that she must now be the leader of the Free world. If she left the field Trump, Putin and Xi would have a free hand and she had to keep the Western Alliance united. She thus stood for a forth term, she also said that Trump will not change when he gets into power and will deliver on his promises. Trump had fake Time magazine covers printed of him as Man of the Year till Time threatened to sue. She said I never though we could destroy the West from the inside, when he tried to destroy NATO. She knew she could not lecture this "half page man" but she was able to woo Ivanka Trump at the Women 20 summit.
Germany increased her Defence budget by 40%
From the Treaty of Augsburg in 1555 gave70 years peace which ended with the 30 Years War 1616 -1648 70 year is because few people have personal recollections of war and these wars decimated European populations.
China rose showing that a autocracy can become a major economic power. This now is an illusion.
Shimon Stein a former Israeli ambassador became one of her close friend and advisors and he retired in Germany. The AfD also objected to the fact that there was a stage that 80% of Berlins students spoke a first language other than German. Women of the East benefitted better than men and supported AfD far less. More should have been done in retraining Ossies (East Germans) East Germany had become an appendix, perhaps the Federal Republic should have changed its name. Many refugees came from places where they hated Jews and this could change the delicate balance.
After WW2 Germany received 11 million German speaking refugees and she insisted "we are a nation of refugees"
2018 Angela gave up the chairmanship of the CDU Christian Democratic Union to have time to deal with foreign matters.
France is the only Weater democracy that holds military parades on Bastille Day. America and Germany frown on this. French German partnership were always the cornerstone of Europe and she managed well with Macron.
2020 March the Covid crises. As a scientist she was equipped to deal with this challenge she understood well the 1919 Spanish Flu epidemic. German hospital never overflowed and Germany suffered a third of what France did.
German companies kept their workers on their payroll with government help . Germanys GDP suffered only 6% drop as opposed to France 10 to 13 %. A historic Euro 50 billion had the support of both France and Germany made available the worse hit Europeans.
1790 agreement between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson federalized the debts of American states. Europe now was working together to deal with debt.
2012 Xi Jinpings new constitution made clear his priority of absolute power. She understood that China was keen to a agreement with Europe which Trump spent 4 years abusing it, and Europe managed without American help.
Angela role never became her identity, she never left her rent controlled apartment in central Berlin.
2021 Jan 6th she was shattered by the Trump mob in Washington. The big lie of the stolen election reminded her of the Big Lie of Germany being "stabbed in the back "by Communist and Jews after WW1. She was considered the world s most honest politician.
Asked what should be printed on her epitaph she answered "She Tried"
Federal Republic of Germany
- Konrad Adenauer (1949–63) 14 years
- Ludwig Erhard (1963–66) 3
- Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966–69) 3
- Willy Brandt (1969–74) 5
- Helmut Schmidt (1974–82) 8
- Helmut Kohl (1982–98) 16
- Gerhard Schröder (1998–2005) 7
- Angela Merkel (2005–21) 16years
- Olaf Scholz (2021– )East Germany DDR
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