The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel

The Prologue of The Chancellor starts with Kati Marton’s portrait of Angela Merkel as she enters an unadorned chapel in Potsdam, devoid of the typical commotion associated with a world leader. Merkel, despite her aversion to cameras, indulges her audience with a smile, connecting with them on a personal level. The chapel, reminiscent of Merkel’s childhood as a pastor’s daughter in East Germany, provides a brief respite from her tumultuous final term as Chancellor of Germany.

Merkel’s speech to her audience in the chapel starts by mentioning her father’s pastoral career. Marton elaborates on how her father’s profession put Merkel in a delicate position in East Germany at that time, since the family was considered to have a bourgeois rather than a proletarian position. During Merkel’s formative years under a repressive regime, expressing one’s opinions and beliefs openly could be perilous. Therefore, Merkel’s childhood in a state controlled by the East German State Security (commonly called “Stasi”) shaped her guarded approach to life and politics. Merkel has maintained an air of mystery throughout her political career.

Marton mentions that Merkel’s tenure has been marked by her pragmatic, long-term approach to governance, her ability to appropriate and implement good ideas from across the political spectrum, and her skill in coalition-building.