Angela Merkel gives little-known insights in memoir

Former Chancellor Angela Merkel has always kept her private life private. In her memoir, she gives some hitherto little-known insights.

Meatballs, bear meat and a couple of strong men. If you look through the roughly 740 pages of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s memoir, you will find that, in addition to her political legacy, there are also some small details that make Merkel well-known. It's also clear how important a role her close friend and co-author Beate Baumann played in the 70-year-old's political life. On Tuesday evening, the former CDU leader hopes to present her book, titled “Freedom: Memories 1954-2021,” at Berlin's Deutsches Theater, moderated by journalist Anne Weir.

Some personal things in Angela Merkel’s life:

Used to be a barmaid

Merkel describes herself this way. But no, she hasn't hidden her shady past so far. Instead, she tells how her seminar group while studying physics in Leipzig began organizing disco parties once or twice a week in the university corridors. “I sell drinks, so I'm a barmaid in a sense. It gives me a lot of joy and a little extra money.”

Was a squatter in the past

In fact, this is just an empty apartment, but Merkel actually lives in it. Here's how it happened: In the spring of 1981, she separated from her first husband, Ulrich Merkel, and initially moved in with a colleague. One day, an acquaintance revealed to her that an apartment in Templena Strasse in Berlin was unoccupied. «My friends convinced me to live in this apartment. This was never going to be easy for me, but I had no choice; I couldn't live with my colleagues indefinitely, something had to be done. “The future prime minister didn't live a lavish life. “I basically took furniture out of bulk junk and gave it a little paint. I slept on a wooden pallet with a mattress on top. The standard of living was extremely modest, but I still felt comfortable. “

Merkel asked her neighbors how much they paid in rent. She then transferred the money exactly to the city's housing authority. “Nobody refused to take the money.” She soon tried to legalize her illegal tenancy – which proved not to be easy, but ultimately succeeded in a roundabout way.

Joachim Sauer

Merkel said of her second husband: “We both loved nature and travel. It was through him that I really got to know and understand the music of Richard Wagner.” The timing of their marriage also had a political dimension , as the book clearly points out: “Since 1990 For years, I have been criticized in conservative circles within my party for living in a non-marital relationship as a divorced woman because I wanted to avoid the impression that I was married for professional reasons. Him and I waited until after the CDU opposition to take this step, and then the time came. “We got married on December 30, 1998. “

Merkel with Obama and Saul.Photo credit: AP/AP

meatball…

Merkel ended her first day as chancellor on November 22, 2005, with a party where sausages, potatoes and coleslaw, meatballs and drinks were ordered from the chancellor's kitchen. Even after the big farewell tattoo on December 2, 2021, a group of people met again in the Chancellery: “Just like 16 years ago, there were sausages, meatballs and potato salad,” Merkel wrote. “A circle is closed.”

… Soup…

As chancellor for all Germans, “I had to give everything, be available and accessible, and also have to deal with the fire before it developed into a storm,” Merkel recalled. But there are enough moments every day to draw strength from. “Chicken, potato or lentil soup is great on the days after a jet-lagged trip abroad, or after a late night.”

…bear meat…

At German-Russian government consultations in Tomsk, Siberia in April 2006, Merkel not only described her dream of traveling on the Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, but also her desire to cross one of Siberia's major rivers by boat , German Russian President Vladimir Putin of knowledge (“His German is better than my Russian”), as well as culinary details: “For a meal, I could choose between a classic steak and a steak from the French cuisine. “I chose brown bear and decided to take the risk,” said the former prime minister. The bear meat tasted “very good, rich, like game.”

…and sandwiches with music

In comparison, the events of her school days were less bizarre. «Class starts at half past seven. I got up at around 6.15am for breakfast with just a sandwich in my hand and a cup of tea or music, no time to sit down,” the former chancellor wrote of her childhood at her parents' rectory. And: “There’s dinner at 6 p.m., mainly sandwiches, but sometimes cherry or blueberry semolina. “

Make a hairstyle with hair

When Merkel writes about her makeup artist, it becomes clear how important her public appearances are to her. “She stayed with me for countless hours – to this day. She successfully styled my hair,” she said of Petra Keller, who had previously gained experience in the television industry .

The secret to colorful blazers

Some of Merkel's experiences in East Germany still resonate today. The East smelled strongly of abrasive cleaners, floor wax and turpentine, she wrote. The smell still lingers in her nose to this day. “In general, for me, official East Germany is the embodiment of tastelessness. Only imitations, not real natural materials, never in pleasant colors.” This has consequences: “Perhaps my current taste for color The preference for blazers also goes back to my initial experience of often missing the strong colors of everyday life in East Germany.”

“Kayros”: God of Opportunities

Under the subtitle “Out of the Square,” Merkel introduced a small sculpture by the sculptor Thomas Jastram that she purchased in 2019. She placed the small piece of art wrapped in bubble wrap on a shelf in her office, out of sight of incoming visitors. She decided to take the statue to her former prime minister's office one day, “so that I would only put it out for everyone to see once I take office, and until then it will remain wrapped in the corner of a shelf;”

Jastram created the 42 cm high sculpture “Kayros” in bronze in 2017, representing the god of opportunity “Kayros”. “I let go at the right time,” Merkel wrote, describing the background to her decision not to run in the party leadership race in December 2018 and to not run as a candidate for chancellor in the 2021 federal election.

Trembling in the national anthem

Merkel went public with a phenomenon that generated headlines and speculation as her 16-year tenure as chancellor came to an end. On June 18, 2019, during the inauguration visit of the new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin, at the end of the military honors ceremony, her thighs began to tremble slightly. When the national anthem was played, tremors spread throughout my body. A few days later, the “process” was repeated. Later, on a similar occasion, she just sat in a chair and listened to the national anthem.

Zelensky and Merkel in Berlin in 2019.Image source: Associated Press

Physicists dispassionately report that there are no neurological or internal findings. “The response of my autonomic nervous system obviously needs to be understood in a different way.” An osteopath explained to her: “My body is releasing long-term accumulated tension, not only after my mother died in the spring, but I almost There is no time to mourn and in the process of giving up my position,” Merkel ended the paragraph with her typical words: “It would actually be good news – if my body had not decided to let this process take place in public. That’s it.”

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