Angela Merkel

Angela Dorothea Merkel (born Angela Dorothea Kasner on 17 July 1954 in Hamburg) is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 22 November 2005^[1] to 8 December 2021.

Angela Merkel
Merkel in 2023
Chancellor of Germany
In office 22 November 2005 – 8 December 2021
President	Horst Köhler (2005–2010) Christian Wulff (2010–2012) Joachim Gauck (2012–2017) Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2017–present)
Deputy	Franz Müntefering (2005–2007) Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2007–2009) Guido Westerwelle (2009–2011) Philipp Rösler (2011–2013) Sigmar Gabriel (2013–2018) Olaf Scholz (since 2018)
Preceded by	Gerhard Schröder
Succeeded by	Olaf Scholz
Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
In office 17 November 1994 – 26 October 1998
Chancellor	Helmut Kohl
Preceded by	Klaus Töpfer
Succeeded by	Jürgen Trittin
Minister for Women and Youth
In office 18 January 1991 – 17 November 1994
Chancellor	Helmut Kohl
Preceded by	Ursula Lehr
Succeeded by	Claudia Nolte
Member of the Bundestag
In office 2 December 1990 – 26 October 2021
Constituency	Stralsund – Nordvorpommern – Rügen
Personal details
Born	Angela Dorothea Kasner (1954-07-17) 17 July 1954 (age 71) Hamburg, West Germany (Germany since 1990)
Political party	Christian Democratic Union (1990–present)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Awakening (1989–1990)
Spouse(s)	Ulrich Merkel (1977–1982) Joachim Sauer (1998–present)
Alma mater	University of Leipzig
Profession	Physical chemist
Signature

She was born in Hamburg, at the time part of West Germany, and grew up in the former German Democratic Republic, where she lived until the reuniting of Germany in 1990. Merkel is now married to Joachim Sauer, a professor of chemistry. From 2000 to 2018, she was the chairperson (was in charge of) the German conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).^[2]

Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor on 22 November 2005 in a coalition of the two biggest German political parties, the CDU/CSU and SPD. After the next election in 2009, she formed a coalition with the German liberal party FDP. After the 2013 and 2017 Federal Elections, she again emerged as chancellor of a coalition government.^[3]

Her father was a Lutheran pastor and her mother was a school teacher. Before becoming a politician, she worked as a researcher in Physical Chemistry. In December 2015, she was named as Time magazine's Person of the Year.^[4]

In October 2018, Merkel announced her permanent retirement from politics, as she said she would not seek reelection as leader of the CDU at the party convention in December 2018 and as Chancellor in 2021.^[5] After this, another female politician, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, replaced her as CDU leader.