海角大神

The road between the German autobahn and Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 tiny hometown is flanked with a canopy of trees. They crowd the narrow winding asphalt, genuflecting to the wind, as you cast off the speed and modernity that is Berlin and approach the historic, cobblestoned town of Templin.

Only 17,000 people reside here, yet Templin is the seventh largest town in Germany by area, because its borders include the surrounding Uckermark forest. This is the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), the communist state where Ms. Merkel was raised.

Decades after the fall of East Germany, high unemployment still grips聽 a region that is anchored by farming on top of whatever tourism dollars come its way. Ironically, the place that gifted Germany its first female chancellor is also a stronghold for the country鈥檚 far-right political party. Still, Ms. Merkel is drawn to the forest, and her pastor father and English-teacher mother lived here up until their deaths. Ms. Merkel will likely return often after she closes out 16 years of service as chancellor. She has a longtime country home here, and it鈥檚 styled as modestly as she is.聽

鈥淢erkel doesn鈥檛 have a Camp David,鈥� says Detlef Tabbert, Templin鈥檚 mayor and a contemporary of Ms. Merkel鈥檚 who attended the same high school. 鈥淪he鈥檚 often here. She often drives herself. She does her own grocery shopping.鈥澛�

As he reflected upon her career, Mr. Tabbert remarked that her 36 years in East Germany 鈥渁llowed her to make great decisions鈥� during the many crises she faced as chancellor. 鈥淒aily life for Merkel here when she was young had many challenges,鈥� he says.聽

Indeed, some Merkel watchers say the key to her legacy 鈥� most often identified as her stellar crisis management skills and a humble-but-resolute leadership style 鈥� can be found in her upbringing as a child of the GDR. Her chancellorship was characterized by trial after tribulation that earned her the nickname 鈥淭he Crisis Chancellor.鈥� There was the global recession and eurozone crisis, followed by her singular determination to phase out nuclear energy in Germany after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. A controversial decision to ultimately allow a million migrants into Germany from Syria and Afghanistan is sometimes credited with enabling the rise of the far-right, then the pandemic gave Ms. Merkel a chance to showcase her steady scientific hand.

Critics say she wasn鈥檛 tough enough on Eastern Europe鈥檚 dictators, nor did she corral Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man who speaks her native language just as fluently as she speaks his. Yet overall, she leaves Germany better than she found it, stronger economically, more socially diverse, and the undisputed heart of the European Union. Ms. Merkel鈥檚 most impactful decisions were made over the objections of her own party, yet she still managed to stay in power, which speaks to her stamina and political skill.

Unlike her predecessors, either dogged by the whiff of impropriety or voted out of office, Ms. Merkel was scandal-free and served for 鈥渁 very long time in government,鈥� says Marianne Kneuer, professor of comparative politics at the University of Hildesheim. 鈥淭hat made her a long-term player in international politics, a constant actor who always had more experience than the others.鈥澛�

鈥淵ou either admire the stability over her 16 years or criticize her lack of vision,鈥� says Martin Gross, assistant professor of political science at Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. 鈥淕lobally she鈥檚 helped preserve the liberal world order in a time of chaos. But what鈥檚 the vision for Germany for 2050? She doesn鈥檛 have one. Her style 鈥� this incremental policy style 鈥� has to do in part with her raising in the GDR. She has a backup to the backup to the backup option, and she鈥檚 allergic to huge visions about society because she lived in one that failed.鈥�

As a child, Angela Kasner was quiet and studious, according to her grade school teachers.聽

She was born in Hamburg in 1954 to a Lutheran pastor father, who made the unusual decision to move his young family from the West to the East at a time when East Germans clamored to go the other way. The Kasners relocated to Templin when Angela was an infant. She was raised in comfortable surroundings as the daughter of a man with power in the community. She never called attention to herself. Angela wore her hair in a nondescript football-helmet style, and she was always 鈥渓ost in her own world鈥� of studies, as one teacher put it.

Even though from a notable family, she would mix freely with the children of clothing factory workers. 鈥淭he head hospital doctor had 60% more income than the bus driver, not 10 times as much,鈥� recalls Mayor Tabbert. 鈥淭he differences between all of us were very marginal, and we were all together for a long time. This shaped our empathy and our social conscience.鈥�

One difference soon became impossible to ignore: Angela鈥檚 work ethic and intellect.聽

鈥淎 colleague alerted me to a seventh grade student who was really good,鈥� says Erika Benn, who taught Russian in Templin and still lives there today. That student was a preteen Angela, who began going to Ms. Benn鈥檚 home several hours a week for extra Russian lessons.

Before long, Angela was winning district, regional, and finally national GDR language Olympiads, which were a way to identify young talent in the East bloc. Angela鈥檚 wins brought fame to Ms. Benn, who says her student was nearly perfect, except that she had to teach her 鈥渉ow to look in people鈥檚 eyes. She was shy; she held back.鈥�

鈥淔rom the beginning, she was the best,鈥� says Ms. Benn. 鈥淭he other students weren鈥檛 even jealous because they knew they could never be as good. She was very disciplined at a very young age, and she wanted to win.鈥�

鈥淭here were a few boys with those math skills but never a girl,鈥� says middle school math teacher Hans-Ulrich Beeskow. (Angela began winning math Olympiads, too.) 鈥淭he level of math was very difficult, and students needed extra time. Angela Kasner never needed that extra time.鈥� 聽

Later, as the teachers watched their star pupil climb the ladder of German democracy, they made a parlor game out of discerning hints of her upbringing. Mr. Beeskow likes to say her political acuity stems from her mathematical background.

鈥淪he never made decisions on her own 鈥� she always relied on experts,鈥� says Mr. Beeskow. 鈥淪he relied on [virologist] 海角大神 Drosten during corona, for example. She hears the arguments of others, and this has something to do with math. Because logical thinking is the No. 1 priority.鈥澛�

Ms. Benn, meanwhile, scoured Ms. Merkel鈥檚 speeches and policy moves for connections to the East. She found little. 鈥淚 was angry at her for awhile, but I do think she passed the single-mother-retirement package [of legislation] for mothers in the East. The mothers in the West didn鈥檛 need it 鈥� they had enough money.鈥澛�

Just down the road in Templin, inside the formidable structure that housed Ms. Merkel鈥檚 high school, the schoolchildren have no anger or resentment toward the chancellor and her allegiances, apparent or not, to her past. They鈥檝e only known a unified Germany, and they think it鈥檚 鈥渟uper cool鈥� that Ms. Merkel went there, says Kerstin Alexandrin, a math teacher at Templin鈥檚 Active Nature School.

鈥淭he children say, 鈥業t鈥檚 possible to become chancellor if you go to school here.鈥欌�澛�

Ms. Merkel鈥檚 rise through the 海角大神 Democratic Union (CDU) 鈥� the political party that has been her home for 30 years 鈥� was swift.聽

When Germany reunified in 1990, she鈥檇 been working as a research scientist after earning her Ph.D. in quantum chemistry. The night the Berlin Wall fell, she famously went to her weekly sauna appointment with a friend and headed off to work the next day. Regardless, she quickly became swept up in the developing democratic movement. She was soon elected to the Bundestag to represent the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.聽

Chancellor Helmut Kohl almost immediately appointed her minister for women and youth, and Ms. Merkel also served as environment minister before ascending to CDU leadership in the late 1990s. Finally, in 2005, in what would be the closest election of her political career, she rose to the chancellorship after months of coalition negotiations.

From the start, Ms. Merkel revealed herself as someone who meticulously 鈥渟urveyed the landscape for signals and made risk assessments,鈥� says Stefan Reinecke, longtime parliament correspondent for the Taz newspaper. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 invent it, but she perfected the German superpragmatism that meant there was never serious political discourse. Only the middle.鈥澛�

Her negotiation tactics and ability to compromise would serve her well, as one crisis after another emerged. She would outlast anyone in the negotiating room, says Andrea R枚mmele, a political consultant and professor at the Hertie School, a graduate school in Berlin. 鈥淭he picture that remains in my head is that she鈥檚 the last one standing, when all the other heads of state were ready to go back to their hotel rooms. She had stamina.鈥澛�

During the global financial recession of 2008-09, followed by the eurozone crisis, Ms. Merkel signaled that domestic interests were top priority in a 鈥渉ard-nosed, very nationalistic way of pushing German interests in the EU,鈥� says Mr. Reinecke. She supported a multibillion-dollar bailout of a German financial institution, but later opposed extending similar debt forgiveness to Greece and other Southern European countries that were headed toward insolvency.聽

She stoked stereotypes of lazy Greeks in comments about abundant vacation days and a retirement age that was lower than Germany鈥檚, remarks almost certainly directed toward her domestic audience. Regardless, she ultimately helped negotiate a bailout for Greece. 鈥淚f the euro fails, then Europe fails. Europe wins when the euro wins,鈥� Ms. Merkel said ahead of a second vote on a proposed financial package.

鈥淪he held the place together,鈥� says Dominik Geppert, professor of history at the University of Potsdam in Germany. 鈥淪he wanted to make sure that the EU didn鈥檛 fall apart in the most difficult phases: the debt-crisis with Greece, Brexit, and [the coronavirus]. With diplomatic skill and the ability to strike a balance, she succeeded in doing so.鈥�

Steady and resolute as she was, she could easily about-face, as she did with her 2011 decision to phase out nuclear energy. Just the previous year, she supported extending the working lives of Germany鈥檚 17 nuclear power plants, but the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan flipped her outlook. 鈥淭he dramatic events in Japan are a watershed moment for the world, a watershed for me personally,鈥� Ms. Merkel said. Prior to Fukushima, 鈥淚 accepted the residual risk of nuclear energy.鈥�

The 2011 Bundestag vote to eliminate nuclear power in Germany within about a decade had staggering consequences. It dramatically boosted the renewable energy industry but also made Germany more reliant on coal and on imported sources of energy, such as natural gas.

Still, the decision to wean Germany off the atom was 鈥渆poch-making,鈥� says Michael Borchard, head of the Archive for 海角大神-Democratic Policy at the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. 鈥淭he nuclear phaseout didn鈥檛 just mean the end of this technology, but it was also a huge turnaround for Germany. This switch to renewable energy was way before its time, faster than in any other industrialized nation, even if it鈥檚 still an unfinished project.鈥�

In 2015 came the decision that鈥檚 sure to be the most indelible part of her legacy. Ms. Merkel opened Germany鈥檚 doors to an influx of more than a million refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan. 鈥淕ermany is a strong country. ... We have accomplished so much 鈥� we can do it!鈥� she said, trumpeting a phrase that would be famously repeated.聽

This was an abrupt departure from the CDU鈥檚 longtime position on migration. 鈥淕ermany is not an immigration country,鈥� proclaimed Helmut Kohl in the 1990s when he was head of the party. Even though the country had allowed in 鈥済uest workers鈥� for years, Mr. Kohl鈥檚 remarks reflected the CDU鈥檚 prevailing social conservatism on immigration issues. With her single stroke in 2015, Ms. Merkel shifted her party to the left on migration.

鈥淭his has been a repeating pattern with her, to make 鈥楳erkel decisions鈥� that did not actually correspond to the CDU鈥檚 value system,鈥� says Ursula M眉nch, a political scientist and current director of the independent think tank Academy for Political Education in Bavaria. 鈥淭hat was accepted because she managed to win elections for the party. The woman had almost an impeccable sense for where voters are to be found across a broad spectrum.鈥�

Her upbringing in a pastor鈥檚 home likely influenced the migration decision, experts say. Five years on, statistics show about half the new arrivals have found housing and work, with their children enrolled in German public schools. The decision might have helped enable the rise of Germany鈥檚 far-right, but supporters note populism was a global phenomenon.聽

Throughout crisis after crisis 鈥� whether it was Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, the rise of Donald Trump and his mercurial policies, or climate change disasters such as 2021鈥檚 floods 鈥� Ms. Merkel held her hand steady. Many have criticized her for lacking strategic vision, but she was typically good when a situation called for calm control.聽

A childhood in the GDR surely required practicing control, and it also nurtured a tendency to keep a tight lid on grand visions. Ms. Merkel has shown both characteristics throughout her chancellorship.聽

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 as if the secret service was everywhere, but you can鈥檛 deny it was a surveillance state,鈥� says Mayor Tabbert of his and Ms. Merkel鈥檚 childhood in Templin. Planning for a party required alternative options in case the first choice was forbidden or unavailable. A child of the GDR also grew up thinking about boundaries.聽

During her last year of high school, Merkel and her classmates presented an anti-state poem that mentioned a 鈥渨all,鈥� according to Mr. Beeskow, the math teacher. The students were nearly kicked out of school. 鈥淪he grew up learning where the line was,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he could push but she knew where to stop.鈥澛�

Perhaps as chancellor, she didn鈥檛 push enough boundaries, say critics. Take European integration. Anything she did there was reactive, says Dr. Geppert, the historian. 鈥淭he stronger European integration [that resulted] was a byproduct of the debt and euro crisis. Not so much by choice, but by events.鈥�

Even her actions on refugees might have been prompted by an unwillingness to see German police officers usher women and children back across the Austrian border, remarks Mr. Reinecke, the parliamentary journalist. 鈥淒id she want that? No. Perhaps her origins in a pastor household did come into play. But her essence, her political essence, was not to have [an essence] at all.鈥�

Ms. Merkel did leave plenty unfinished when it comes to domestic priorities. Germany failed to modernize a digital infrastructure that鈥檚 among the oldest and slowest in Western Europe, and the quality of education hasn鈥檛 markedly improved. (An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development survey recently found Germany ranks 29th out of 34 industrialized economies for internet speeds.) She has left a 鈥渕assive investment backlog in digitization, education, and a public transportation infrastructure that makes you long for more,鈥� says Mr. Reinecke. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 in one of the richest countries in the world.鈥澛�

Ms. Merkel also failed to smooth the way for a successor. She abandoned several potential picks despite their loyalty to her, or because of missteps they made. 鈥淭he reporting hasn鈥檛 been critical enough on this part,鈥� says Dr. Geppert.聽

History may judge Ms. Merkel more harshly than the mostly complimentary assessments she gets today. Her success might have simply been 鈥済ood timing,鈥� says Dr. Geppert. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit like Tony Blair [of Britain].鈥� She benefited from an economic boom, spurred in part by Agenda 2010 鈥� reforms instituted by a Social Democratic-Green coalition. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 actually secure and advance that [agenda], but rather raked in the dividends,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you look back, what has actually been achieved?鈥�

One thing is certain: the global coronavirus crisis allows Ms. Merkel to leave on a high note. Early on in the pandemic, she overcame her typical reticence, detailing the challenges ahead and summoning Germans to do their duty to society. It was a stark contrast to the approach taken by President Trump, and her popularity soared. She reached 鈥�70 to 80% approval, which was incredibly high compared with the migration crisis,鈥� says Dr. Kneuer,the comparative politics expert. 鈥淧eople during corona felt very comfortable with her. They said, 鈥榃e do not want another leader other than her.鈥欌��

It was a remarkable capstone to a long political career, especially as 鈥渟he鈥檚 been losing voters for years,鈥� says political consultant Gertrud H枚hler. 鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 really noticed, because you share the spectrum with six or seven other parties and the one with 24% can govern.鈥�

Ultimately, says Dr. Kneuer, 鈥渋f she鈥檒l be identified as one of the great world leaders, it will be because others judge her accomplishments that way and certainly not because she wanted to, because she is free of peacocking vanity.鈥�

While Ms. Merkel might be leaving some Germans wanting more 鈥� 鈥渢he nostalgia for her will start within two years after her leaving office,鈥� predicts Mr. Reinecke 鈥� the departing chancellor herself is envisioning quiet solitude. When recently asked about her plans, she said she won鈥檛 miss having to make decisions all the time. She also thinks about 鈥渟omeone else doing it now. And I think I鈥檇 like that very much.鈥�

Back in forested Templin on a sunny afternoon, a stop at the tourist bureau reveals four women wholly unimpressed that their town gave the world Angela Merkel.

鈥淚t鈥檚 East Germany. No one cares if someone鈥檚 a celebrity or famous person,鈥� says Karin Buse, who鈥檚 worked at the tourist bureau for 16 years, a stretch as long as Ms. Merkel鈥檚 been chancellor. 鈥淣o one asks whether [she] is from here.鈥�

鈥淭hey come for the hot spring baths and relaxation.鈥�