The world of Germany’s Iron Chancellor

Stefan Kornelius devotes much of this lively, detailed biography to Angela Merkel’s life in East Germany, the former German Domocratic Republic (established in the Russian zone after the war), exploring the influence that reviled but often poorly understood place had on her career, her personality, and her political outlook.

State socialism, German-style, was repressive and authoritarian, but it also had positive characteristics. The regime was tolerant of religious belief, and placed no obstacles in the way of Merkel, a parson’s daughter.  (In the Soviet Union, by contrast, citizens who practised a religion marked themselves out for harassment).

Her self-confidence, ambition, and long-standing sense of her equality with men reflect her education and the high professional standing she achieved as a scientist under socialism. The GDR shaped her in other ways. Her guardedness is typical of a citizen of a country in which outspokenness and risk-taking were discouraged.

But the abiding influence of East Germany was to leave her suspicious of ideologies, and pat solutions. She is at heart a pragmatist, a technocrat. 

Like most East Germans she was happy to say good riddance to the old system, with its censorship and surveillance. She enthusiastically supported German reunification. The young, highly intelligent Christian woman caught the eye of CDU leader Helmut Kohl, whose political patronage put her on the fast track to power.  

It is a fascinating story, and Kornelius tells it well. The author is the prize-winning editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and has long been close to Merkel and her circle of advisors.

As an authorised biographer, he does not subject Merkel to searching analysis. This is not a criticism: it will be for someone else to give the final verdict on Angela Merkel, for her political career surely has years to run. This very much an interim report, but a much needed one.

Angela Merkel has many decisions to take, many challenges to face. History will judge her. It will judge her badly, if she fails to save the single European currency, give new democratic impetus to the European Union, and keep Britain in the club. That last may well be a hard task.

Interractions 

A specialist in international affairs, Kornelius offers many revealing anecdotes about the interractions of the world’s leaders in these years of unprecedented economic and financial turmoil. One of these accounts, concerning Vladimir Putin, lingers in the mind. The Russian leader, having learnt that Merkel is dog-averse, sent a black Labrador bounding at her during a summit. Merkel, characteristically, kept her calm. 

We should not expect bold initiatives from this cautious woman. As Kornelius makes clear, she is against risky initiatives such as Eurobonds, or debt forgiveness. She is a gradualist, and a conservative; she is haunted by memories of the collapse of a political and economic system in 1989, and the chaos that ensued. If Merkel remains our guide, more years of austerity lie ahead for Europe.