Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005-2021) has secured her place in history: she was the first woman to hold the position—and the first East German. But how did Merkel spend her life in the German Democratic Republic? The biography The First Life of Angela M. (Das erste Leben der Angela M.) by Ralf Georg Reuth and Günther Lachmann (2013) provides answers that may explain the strange path that her party, the CDU, later took—away from a conservative to a left-liberal cadre party.
The Pastor’s Daughter
Angela Dorothea Kasner was born in Hamburg on July 17, 1954, the daughter of the Protestant pastor Horst Kasner and his wife Herlind. However, the pastor soon moved to the German Democratic Republic with his family. We can only speculate about the reasons for this. One possibility is the rejection of rearmament under Chancellor Adenauer by left-wing Protestants, who also saw socialism as the better option for Germany. Kasner himself merely stated that he had been ordered there by the church. The GDR’s Ministry for State Security initially classified Kasner as an enemy of the state due to his religious affiliation. Unsurprisingly, he was under observation by the Stasi.
After initial difficulties in his new home, Horst Kasner’s hour came in 1960: the Socialist Unity Party (SED), the one-party state’s ruling party, was striving for a new church policy. This was of course based on purely political interests: a “separate” Protestant church, which acted in the interests of the SED, was intended to stabilize the state and prevent more citizens from emigrating to the West. Pastor Kasner was more than open to the new policy and thus contacted various influential church groups such as the “Weissensee Working Group” (“Weissenseer Arbeitskreis”). These groups were notable for their strong involvement with unofficial Stasi collaborators and for their contacts with the KGB. Kasner then dedicated himself energetically to the task of building a “new” church in the spirit of socialism. That Horst Kasner (nicknamed “The Red Kasner”) was so committed to the GDR state may have contributed to the fact that his three children (Angela, Marcus and Irene) were spared the usual reprisals that a church background in the GDR otherwise entailed.
Young Angela Merkel’s father worked with church groups in the GDR notable for their strong involvement with unofficial Stasi collaborators and contacts with the KGB.
Angela joined the SED children’s organization, the Young Pioneers, in her second year of school—although this was not as compulsory at that time, as it was in later years. At 14, she joined the youth organization Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend, FDJ). Even at a young age, she was convinced of GDR socialism and was not known for asking critical questions. Angela Kasner was regarded as a very good pupil, but exuded little charisma: she had no hobbies, was unathletic and not very musical. She stayed away from the kind of political discussions which her father had with his confirmands and friends. Overall, she was an inconspicuous, well-behaved girl who was not expected to take on a leadership role. But that’s exactly what she seemed to aspire to: in her last year of high school, Merkel held the post of deputy FDJ secretary and carried out every instruction from the FDJ without complaint. However, hers was still not a completely “normal” GDR youth: due to her father’s position, the Kasners lived a privileged life. For example, they were allowed to travel abroad to the USA and other Western countries. Angela was also confirmed and did not take part in the socialist ritual of youth consecration. Meanwhile, she discovered her lifelong passion for Soviet Russia and eagerly learned the Russian language, making Pravda her standard reading.
The Physicist
Angela Kasner began studying physics at the University of Leipzig in 1973. She remained loyal to the FDJ and took up a role as “Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda”, which involved communicating political statutes to the students. Alongside her studies and political work, she met her first husband Ulrich Merkel, also a physicist, in 1974. They married in 1977, but the marriage only lasted three years. Student trips took her to Leningrad and Moscow, but she did not study in the USSR, as is often claimed.
She chose a career in science, and after graduating in 1977, she was offered a position as a research assistant and doctoral student at the renowned Academy of Sciences in Berlin. However, she continued to show no interest in the political controversies of the time, such as the expatriation of Wolf Biermann, a GDR singer-songwriter of the “protest song” generation. Although she was acquainted with critical minds, Merkel continued to represent party positions convincingly. While she showed a certain openness towards Polish Solidarność, as well as towards the beginnings of the anti-nuclear peace movement, she was still considered unobjectionable in the eyes of the Stasi.
In 1986, she was granted her first stay in West Germany and traveled to Karlsruhe for research purposes. Afterwards, however, she traveled to Konstanz to visit a former colleague who had fled to the West. She left this part of her trip unmentioned for a long time. A curiosity: for her to complete her PhD dissertation, oral and written examinations in Marxism-Leninism had to be taken in addition to the specialist examinations. The 50-page essay she wrote for this has been lost; the oral examination was only passed with “sufficient”. Angela Merkel received her doctorate in physics in January 1986.
The Reformer
As a Russia enthusiast, the young Dr. Merkel welcomed Gorbachev’s reforms in the USSR. She was hopeful that the innovations in the Soviet Union would ultimately also reach the GDR, as the otherwise loyal physicist was now also aware of the system’s many restrictions. Perestroika ultimately led to a change in Merkel’s thinking: the SED leadership’s rejection of the reforms in the “socialist motherland” caused her to break with the party line. Angela Merkel’s political career actually began here, in the struggle for a new definition of “democratic socialism”. She suddenly showed an interest in her father’s political discussions, which he had been conducting for many years with theologians and thinkers, including from West Germany.
Over time, Horst Kasner himself had increasingly distanced himself from the ideas of the SED and kept his ears open to suggestions for reform. This went so far that, at the Leipzig Church Congress in July 1989, Kasner openly questioned the SED’s power monopoly. Several groups formed within the churches, that wanted to rethink socialism in a new, more democratic and more humane way, which led to the founding of the so-called “New Forum” (which, although it received support from the KGB, nonetheless became a thorn in the side of Erich Honecker and his squad). But one scenario was ruled out by the critical circle around Pastor Kasner and others: reunification with West Germany. This also applied to Angela Merkel. Bochum theologian Christofer Frey, her father’s long-time friend, remembers her saying: “If we reform the GDR, then not in the West German sense”. However, Merkel was only a silent presence at the discussions in the church circles: she did not take the floor.
Merkel herself became active in the “Democratic Awakening” (“Demokratischer Aufbruch”, DA) under the leadership of pastor Rainer Eppelmann. She was also in close contact with the lawyer and activist Wolfgang Schnur, who, as was later proven, worked actively as an “unofficial collaborator” (Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter, IM). The GDR was on the move, with ever louder calls for change and reform. In the end, even the cautious physicist could no longer resist, and began to openly take sides: Perestroika needed to arrive in the GDR—and the dominance of the SED had to end. However, in the “hot days” of November 1989, with their large-scale demonstrations and political earthquakes, Merkel found herself traveling through West Germany. She witnessed the fall of the Wall on November 9th on television in relative peace. Legend has it that she went to the sauna.
In November 1989, with large-scale demonstrations and political earthquakes, Merkel found herself traveling through West Germany. She witnessed the fall of the Wall on November 9th on television in relative peace. Legend has it that she went to the sauna.
How she thought about this, as an outspoken reformist socialist is open to speculation. Merkel herself later claimed that the arrival of the Western system was inevitable. According to other statements, however, Merkel considered early reunification unthinkable. In any case, the handling of the fall of the Wall divided the reform movement. Eastern intellectuals such as Christa Wolf feared an annexation of the GDR by Western Germany, a view that Merkel vehemently opposed in an unpublished statement. At this time, the reformers’ goal was still a “third way” between capitalism and socialism, as well as the preservation of the GDR. However, this was torpedoed by Wolfgang Schnur, of all people, who presented a plan for German reunification. His colleague Angela Merkel did not take a public position on this, but once again adopted the role of “listener”. Schnur managed to remain chairman of the DA and thus steer the course towards reunification, which earned him the hatred of SED and radical left organs such as Neues Deutschland and Junge Welt.
Meanwhile, Angela Merkel worked mainly in the background, for example in press relations, and expanded her influence in the DA. From February 1990, her first elected office was the role of press spokesperson. What sounds like a minor role was a turning point. With her visibility in “Demokratischer Aufbruch”, which sought proximity to the Western CDU and thus advocated for the end of the GDR, Merkel cut ties with her father. Horst Kasner was bitter about the failure of the dream of “better socialism” and continued to reject the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany. The fact that Angela, of all people, who had previously been convinced of socialism, now joined the conservative CDU via the “Aufbruch” astonished her family and friends. Yet the CDU was to be the party in which Angela Merkel would make her political career in a united Germany from then on. She made it from “Kohl’s little girl” to Chancellor and led the country for 16 years. How this period should be judged is another matter.
Angela’s father was bitter about the failure of the dream of “better socialism”. The fact that Angela, of all people, who had previously been convinced of socialism, now joined the conservative CDU astonished her family and friends.
What kind of person was the Angela Merkel of the GDR? She came from a privileged but loyal family but did not want to show her special position to the outside world. Her life was not shaped by politics, but by her own advancement, which also meant coming to terms with the system. She only took an active role in politics relatively late, so one must ask: was it all opportunism? Why the sudden change of heart after the fall of the Wall?
In any case, during Merkel’s reign, the CDU’s turn towards appeasing the left-wing Green, pro-immigration and anti-nuclear agenda—to win over voters—seems less surprising if we take note of her personal trajectory.
