The Chancellor
An extraordinary career in which nothing about her beginnings indicated that Angela Merkel would eventually become the first woman to head a German Federal Government: Angela Merkel is a physicist who was intensely involved in questions of quantum chemistry in her first life as a scientist. Although she was born in the Federal Republic as the daughter of a Lutheran pastor and a teacher, she grew up in Brandenburg, a region of northern Germany that was part of the former GDR. This gives her biography an unusual German-German component. With the advent of the peaceful revolution in the GDR and reunification in 1990, the scientist discovers her passion for political activity. It is the beginning of Angela Merkel’s second, public life.
Only ten years pass before Angela Merkel becomes Chair of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – the first woman to hold this office. It is a rapid ascent, but one she completes in her own unpretentious way. Just five years later, she is Germany’s first female Federal Chancellor. She is considered down-to-earth and assertive; internationally, she is acknowledged as a reliable mediator. And after the 2009 election she again heads the Federal Government. According to German electoral law, the Federal Chancellor is not directly elected. However, if that had been the case, Angela Merkel would have had good chances. According to the opinion polls, she has been one of Germany’s most popular politicians for many years.
Dr. Angela Merkel
Born on 17 July 1954 in Hamburg, grew up in Templin, Brandenburg; 1973–1978 studied physics in Leipzig; 1978–1990 member of academic staff, Academy of Sciences, Berlin
1989 member of Democratic Awakening; 1990 joined the CDU; since 1990 Member of the Bundestag; 1991–1998 Deputy Chair of the CDU; 1991–1998 Federal Minister; 1998–2000 CDU General Secretary; since 2000 CDU Chair; 2002–2005 Chair of the CDU/CSU Group in the Bundestag; since November 2005 Federal Chancellor
The Foreign Minister
Guido Westerwelle already assumed responsibility at the age of 21 as Federal Chair of the Young Liberals, the FDP youth organization he co-founded. He was elected to the head of his party at the federal level at the age of 39, five years after he first entered the Bundestag. He is considered a good orator. In recent years he has made a significant mark on the FDP. As the party’s front-runner in the 2009 Bundestag election he achieved the record result that enabled the formation of a CDU/CSU government with the FDP. As Chairman of the smaller coalition partner Guido Westerwelle has been the Federal Republic of Germany’s Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs since October 2009. The lawyer also holds the office of Vice-Chancellor.
Guido Westerwelle, the son of two lawyers, grew up in Bonn, the capital of the Federal Republic until reunification. Perhaps that also aroused his interest in politics; undoubtedly, however, his political world view is strongly influenced by his esteem for Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic from 1974 to 1992, whom he refers to as “a great role model”. As Foreign Minister, in his first address to the staff of the Federal Foreign Office, Guido Westerwelle emphasized the continuity of German foreign policy: “Continuity should not be confused with a lack of creativity, but rather understood as the continuation of a great success story.”
Dr. Guido Westerwelle
Born on 27 December 1961 in Bad Honnef near Bonn; 1980–1991 studied law in Bonn and completed 1st and 2nd state examinations in Cologne and Düsseldorf; gained a doctorate in law; since 1991 lawyer in Bonn
1980 joined the FDP; founding member of the Young Liberals; 1983–1988 Federal Chair of the Young Liberals; 1994–2001 General Secretary of the FDP; since 1996 Member of the Bundestag; since May 2001 Federal Chair of the FDP; 2006 until October 2009 Chair of the FDP Group in the Bundestag
