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Fascination With German Leader's More Private Side Merkel Offers a Peek Into Her Private Life
(3 days later)
BERLIN — Throughout Angela Merkel’s rise to power and tenure as German chancellor, she has kept a tight lid on her personal life to an extent hard to conjure in the modern social media age. But every four years, the election cycle cracks the door open, and one finds Ms. Merkel regaling small groups — and, by extension, millions of German voters — with tales of tending bar or hunting for goods in the sparsely stocked stores of the Communist East where she grew up, or summoning up tales from her first trip to the United States. BERLIN — Throughout her rise to power and as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel has kept her personal life strictly private, to an extent that is hard to achieve in the age of social media.
Early this month, the often stern chancellor joined a group hosted by the women’s magazine Brigitte, where she kicked back, dropped the poker face she so often adopts in public and showed off her dry wit and self-deprecating humor. But every four years, the election cycle cracks the door open a bit, and Ms. Merkel, whose meetings with European leaders about the state of the continent’s economy are widely reported, can be found regaling small groups — and, by extension, millions of German voters — with tales of hunting for goods in the sparsely stocked stores of Communist East Germany, where she grew up, or mixing cherry juice with vodka as a barmaid at university parties.
Last week, she was at a Berlin movie theater for a screening she had requested of the classic East German film “The Legend of Paul and Paula,” a 1973 movie that, with phantasmagorical scenes and rock music amid East German drabness, gave hope back then to Ms. Merkel’s generation that something might change in their bleak society. Even the exchanges with European leaders have lately acquired a family touch. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain was invited to bring not only his wife, Samantha, but also their children for a country weekend with Ms. Merkel and her husband.
“If you only saw the system, then you really couldn’t laugh,” she recalled for the audience afterward. The often stern chancellor recently joined a group organized by the women’s magazine Brigitte, where she kicked back, dropped the poker face she so often adopts in public and showed off her dry wit and self-deprecating humor.
One of the raft of new books that have hit German bookstores in this election year — Ms. Merkel is seeking a third four-year term in September — claims that the future chancellor once was a “secretary for agitation and propaganda” in the Communist youth organization of East Germany. She was at a Berlin movie theater this month for a screening she had requested of the classic East German film “The Legend of Paul and Paula,” a 1973 movie that, with phantasmagorical scenes and rock music, gave hope to Ms. Merkel’s generation that something might change in their bleak society.
The chancellor, who has waved away the assertion, has always insisted that she never hid any elements of her past. “If you only saw the system, then you really couldn’t laugh,” she told the audience afterward.
But the flap around her political roots reflects the untiring fascination with the inner workings of a woman who has risen to the top of Europe’s leading country by maintaining an image of deep personal integrity and a guarded private life. One of the half-dozen new books that have hit German bookstores in this election year claims that Ms. Merkel, who is seeking a third four-year term in September, was once a “secretary for agitation and propaganda” in East Germany’s Communist youth organization.
Letting that guard drop almost seems part of the self-control for which she is noted. So, at the Brigitte discussion, she suddenly became the young woman from the lake-speckled Uckermark region northeast of Berlin, fascinated by the overwhelming friendliness she encountered on her first trip to the United States after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Ms. Merkel has dismissed that assertion, in keeping with her insistence that she has never hidden any elements of her past.
Ms. Merkel beamed as she recalled a San Diego sales clerk asking “How are you?” with such cheerful insistence that she simply had to abandon her normal mumbled response. But the flap over her political roots reflects the German public’s untiring fascination with the personal side of a woman who has risen to the top in Europe’s leading country and become one of nation’s most beloved public figures — with a 65 percent approval rating — by maintaining an image of deep personal integrity and a tightly guarded private life.
“I was forced out of my Uckermärkische stubbornness to come up with a happy ‘Great!”’ she said, to howls of laughter and applause. She is often praised for her common-sense approach to life, which comes across in her politics. When asked during the Brigitte gathering about her habit of standing with her thumbs and forefingers pressed together — a position the German press has named “the chancellor rhombus” — Ms. Merkel brushed aside any suggestion that she had even thought about it as a kind of serious pose.
Although she frequently gives interviews, and there are several dozen biographies and articles documenting her rise to power and two terms in office, Ms. Merkel guards her privacy.
So paparazzi photos from her Easter vacation in Italy, showing her in her bathing suit, or helping her step-grandchild to climb a rock — the equivalent of images released by the White House of President Barack Obama with his family on the beaches of Hawaii — instantly became headline news in Germany.
Government officials insisted that Ms. Merkel and her rarely seen husband, the scientist Joachim Sauer, were aghast at this invasion of privacy.
Yet, with less than six months until the vote, Ms. Merkel, who heads the center-right Christian Democratic Union, is suddenly spending as much time telling tales of mixing cherry juice with vodka as a barmaid at university parties, as she is meeting European leaders or grappling with domestic issues of Germany’s aging population or energy transformation.
Indeed, even the exchanges with European leaders have acquired a family touch — with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain invited to bring not only his wife, Samantha, but also their children for a country weekend with Ms. Merkel and her husband.
Ms. Merkel is one of Germany's most beloved public figures, with an overall approval rating of 65 percent. She is often praised for her common-sense approach to life, which comes across in her politics. Accordingly, when asked during the meeting hosted by Brigitte about her habit of standing with her thumbs and forefingers pressed together — a position the German press has dubbed “the chancellor rhombus” — Ms. Merkel brushed aside any idea that she had thought about it, or consulted someone else.
“It came from the question of what to do with the arms” when posing for a photograph, Ms. Merkel said. “Although it does, perhaps, reveal a certain love of symmetry.”“It came from the question of what to do with the arms” when posing for a photograph, Ms. Merkel said. “Although it does, perhaps, reveal a certain love of symmetry.”
A half-dozen books analyzing the chancellor’s career have hit the German market recently. One, “The Chancellor and Her World,” seeks to examine the chancellor through her foreign policies, delving into the history of her Polish grandfather; another, “The Wavering Artist,” professes to give an insider’s look at how she really functions. Even her quadrennial dropping of her guard seems part of the self-control for which she is noted. So, at the Brigitte discussion, Ms. Merkel suddenly became the young woman from the lake-speckled Uckermärk region northeast of Berlin, fascinated by the overwhelming friendliness she encountered when she first visited the United States after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The book that has caused the greatest stir, however, is “The First Life of Angela M.,” which hit bookstores this past week, in which the authors cite interviews with former colleagues and peers who claim she served as secretary for agitation and propaganda for the East German youth organization. The chancellor beamed as she recalled a sales clerk in San Diego asking “How are you?” so cheerfully that she simply had to abandon her normally mumbled response.
“Angela Merkel has created a legend of her own East German history,” said Ralf Georg Reuth, who co-wrote the book with Günther Lachmann. “One that is acceptable to C.D.U. members in the west,” he added, referring to Ms. Merkel’s party, which is still dominated by mostly Roman Catholic men raised in the west, unlike the Lutheran chancellor. ‘’I was forced out of my Uckermärkische stubbornness to come up with a happy ‘Great!’ ” she said, to howls of laughter and applause.
When speaking about her childhood, the chancellor tends to focus on non-political details; the peacefulness of the countryside around the town between Berlin and the Baltic Sea where she grew up, the emptiness of shelves at the state-run Konsum shops, or her delight at jeans shipped in packages from her aunt in West Germany. But such good humor, government officials insist, did not extend to paparazzi photographs from her Easter vacation this year in Italy that were splashed across newspapers throughout Germany. By the standards of American and British tabloid fare, they were tame. One showed Ms. Merkel in a bathing suit; in another, she was helping a step-grandchild climb a rock.
Stories of her past are sprinkled with phrases such as, “what I remember,” or “my recollection of …” leaving open the possibility that someone else may recall the situation differently. But for Ms. Merkel and her rarely seen husband, the scientist Joachim Sauer, they were a shocking and intolerable invasion of privacy.
In the new debate about the past, Ms. Merkel got some unusual support from the Left Party, heir to the old Communists. “It is certainly not my job to defend the chancellor but at some point there has to be an end to such nonsense,” Gregor Gysi, the parliamentary president of the Left Party told the weekly Stern. Mr. Gysi, who also grew up in East Germany, has faced allegations he cooperated with the Communist secret police, the Stasi. Of the flurry of new books about Ms. Merkel, the one that has created the greatest stir is “The First Life of Angela M.,” the one that claims she served as secretary for agitation and propaganda for the East German youth organization.
Many Germans seem not particularly interested in peeling back the complicated layers of their country’s divided past. Stephanie Schilling, 35, a doctor, called Ms. Merkel’s time in the former East Germany a “developmental phase” with no automatic impact on her views as leader of reunited Germany. “Angela Merkel has created a legend of her own East German history,” said Ralf Georg Reuth, who wrote the book with Günther Lachmann.
“I doubt any of us have the exact same opinions that we did 10 years ago,” Ms. Schilling said. “What you experience changes your view of things.” In deflecting such assertions, Ms. Merkel has won unusual support from the Left Party, heir to the old Communists. “It is certainly not my job to defend the chancellor, but at some point there has to be an end to such nonsense,” Gregor Gysi, the parliamentary president of the Left Party, told the weekly Stern magazine. Mr. Gysi, who also grew up in East Germany, has faced accusations that he cooperated with the Communist secret police, the Stasi.
Political observers cite the chancellor’s rule of keeping her private life just that as evidence of her control. Many Germans do not seem particularly interested in peeling back the complicated layers of their country’s divided past. Dr. Stephanie Schilling, 35, a physician, called Ms. Merkel’s time in the former East Germany a “developmental phase” that did not have an automatic impact on her views as the leader of a reunited Germany.
“Whenever she talks about her private life, she always tells the same anecdotes, there is no going deeper in any facets,” said Karl-Rudolf Korte, a political scientist at the University of Duisburg-Essen. “I doubt any of us have the exact same opinions that we did 10 years ago,” Dr. Schilling said. “What you experience changes your view of things.”
Confronted at the film screening about her alleged support for the East German system, the chancellor said she could rely only on her memories. The chancellor herself, when speaking about her childhood years, tends to focus on nonpolitical details — the peacefulness of the countryside around the town between Berlin and the Baltic Sea where she grew up, the emptiness of shelves at the state-run Konsum shops, her delight at jeans shipped from her aunt in West Germany.
Political commentators here say that even when Ms. Merkel talks about her private life, the episodes are doled out in carefully controlled amounts.
“Whenever she talks about her private life, she always tells the same anecdotes; there is no going deeper in any facets,” said Karl-Rudolf Korte, a political scientist at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Confronted at the film screening about her supposed support for the East German system, the chancellor said she could rely only on her memories.
“If something different is revealed, I can live with that. What is important to me is that I have never tried to hide anything,” Ms. Merkel said. She then swiftly added, “Perhaps I have not explained something because no one asked me about it.”“If something different is revealed, I can live with that. What is important to me is that I have never tried to hide anything,” Ms. Merkel said. She then swiftly added, “Perhaps I have not explained something because no one asked me about it.”
Chris Cottrell contributed reporting.