'Angela Merkel: The Authorized Biography' by Stefan Kornelius (Alma Books Ltd, 2014, available from the publisher for £7.99 + P&P, or £5.99 on Amazon Kindle)
For those who have but a sketchy knowledge of European politics, this is a well-written book which will educate the reader. It describes the Chancellor of Germany and the eight turbulent years she has spent as the most powerful woman in Europe.
A Brilliant Student
The biography details Merkel's childhood, spent in East Germany (GDR) where she grew up the daughter of Horst Kasner, the founder and Head of the Pastoral College in the town of Templin. She is portrayed as a brilliant student, a serious young woman with a biting sense of humour.
At school she excelled in Russian and mathematics, and learnt to "keep quiet" during the GDR period. "It was one of our survival strategies", she said many years later. Using church channels to gain access to the highest authorities, Angela's father paved the way for her to begin studying physics at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig in 1973.
Following further studies at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, in 1974 she met her first husband – Ulrich Merkel – during an exchange programme to Leningrad and Moscow. They married in 1977. Four years later the marriage broke down but Angela retained her husband's name - a surname which has become a household name in international politics.
For those who have but a sketchy knowledge of European politics, this is a well-written book that will educate the reader.
Rise to Power
As a young East German, knowing that the GDR was collapsing and now working politically in the Democratic Awakening Party, Angela had three aims: a unified Germany, a market economy and to sit in the Bundestag (German Parliament).
Kornelius tells how she set about realising her ambitions with dedication, hard work and a great sense of timing, catching the political eye of her future mentor and political hero – Helmut Kohl. After the Berlin Wall came down, he offered Merkel the post of Women and Youth and she was sworn into the Bundestag on 18 January 1991. She quickly rose through the political ranks. In the 2005 federal election she defeated Gerhard Schroder to become the first female Chancellor of Germany.
Behind the Credentials
Beyond the details of her life to date, the book also asks deeper questions: what makes Merkel tick? What are the foundations of her beliefs? How does she manage the coalitions that she heads up? How do her relationships with foreign countries play out?
She is portrayed by Kornelius as pragmatic, analytical, discreet, logical and a workaholic, who takes the time to assemble all the possible facts pertaining to problems before working her way steadily, step by step, to solve them. One of her favourite maxims is a simple one: "If you say you are going to do something, then you must do it".
Kornelius portrays Merkel as pragmatic, analytical, discreet, logical and a workaholic.
Connection with Israel
The biography does not shy away from discussing Merkel's strong connection with Israel. Her understanding of German history is inextricably bound up with the Shoah (Holocaust), when the Germans sought the annihilation of the Jews.
Consequently, her policy towards Israel, her love of the country and her support for the Jewish way of life is firm and binding. Whenever Merkel speaks of Israel, it is always in the context of German responsibility and guilt. Crucially, she recognises the Jewish character of the State of Israel.
Looking Forward
First released in 2013, this biography understandably argues that the greatest crisis of Merkel's political career to date is the Euro and its economic traumas - rather than the more recent migration issue. Nevertheless, it provides an illuminating guide to how Merkel may well steer the course into the future. Highly recommended.
