That will remain with Angela Merkel

After 16 years as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, farewell to politics. It’s the end of an era, but many things will be remembered for a long time.

Anyone born in Germany after the turn of the millennium knows no other prime minister than that Angela Merkel. “Can a man become a counselor, too?” It is a question German children are said to have asked their parents. Doctor of Physics has ruled since November 2005 Europe’s largest economy, shape your country and the continent.

Your afternoon is over on Wednesday, Olaf Schultz The new Federal Chancellor has been elected. “My 16 years as Federal Chancellor have been eventful and often challenging. They got me politically and humanely. And at the same time, they have always satisfied me too,” Merkel summed up recently big tattoo The German army bid them farewell.

now it For the most powerful woman in Europe In the office of Federal Chancellor, she retired from politics at the age of 67. In October, she told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, when asked if she could sleep peacefully at the idea that Schulz would once again be ruled by a Social Democrat in the country: “There will be political disagreements, that’s self-evident. But I can sleep peacefully. »

Go voluntarily

Merkel has He won four federal electionsHer reign was only a few days shorter than that of her adoptive father, politician Helmut Kohl (1982-1998). She drove her across The financial crisis and the euro crisis It should have been in refugee crisis He received much criticism in 2015. In the fall of 2018, the longtime CDU leader announced that she would not run in 2021.

She kept her word and is the first head of government in the history of the Federal Republic who leave the chancellery of their own volition. Your predecessors lost the federal election, were overthrown by a vote of no confidence or were pushed into old age by party friends.

Angela Merkel has never wanted to let things get this far. As early as the late 1990s, photographer Herlind Kolbel told that she wanted to «Don’t be a half-dead wreck“When you get out of politics.

No one should worry about the way Angela Merkel lives without politics. She recently told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung: “Now I will see that there are some things that have come a little short as chancellor, maybe something.” Traveling, reading or just having some free time Knowing that nothing disturbing could happen again within the next twenty minutes. I look to the future.”

Stoic calm – even with difficult partners

Her conviction that even with the toughest heads of state and government it is better to keep talking than to lose contact, she can also serve as a role model for her successor, Schulz. This was true for Merkel in dealing with the powerful Russian Vladimir Putin as well as for the Chinese Xi Jinping, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan or then-US President Donald Trump.

Commemorating her first swearing-in 16 years ago on November 22, 2005, Angela Merkel has many strengths. Its almost especially wonderful Patience is superhuman In bearing even the most absurd positions of national and international partners. she has stoic calm It enabled her to continue to spin the thread of conversation, even in particularly difficult moments, and not allow it to rip.”

At the end of her tenure, Merkel wanted to “encourage people to always see the world through each other’s eyes in the future as well, including sometimes Inappropriate and contradictory views To realize the opposite, to work for the balance of interests.” At the same time, “I am convinced that we can continue to shape the future well if we do not face resentment, resentment and pessimism, but (…) With happiness in the heart go to work. “I’ve always kept it that way.

Diamonds, Blazer – And Engadin Cross-Country Skiing

Her public appearances are often world famous and closely associated with Merkel. diamond shaped hands. As early as 2013, in an interview with Brigitte magazine, she revealed how this situation came about: “It was always the question of what to do with the poor (…). One might appear A sure love for symmetrysaid the physicist at the time.

Merkel formed her own style of jackets: she has a large number of these pieces of clothing, but in different colors – pink, turquoise or purple. Humble became a brand. The counselor was always considered that way largely unassuming and, above all, incorruptible. The weekend home near Templin in east Berlin seems to be the biggest luxury, as Merkel liked to relax from the government’s efforts while gardening.

In private life, Germans know very little about their longtime Chancellor. What is known for sure: yours winter vacation Angela Merkel loves to spend time in Canton Grisonswhere are they on Cross Country Trails in the Upper Engadin Long distances – perhaps more often than often.

SDA