Freedom

Written by Angela Merkel | Translated by Park Jong-dae

Hangilsa Temple | Page 768 | 38,000 won

This is a memoir by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (70), who led Germany for 16 years from 2005 to 2021. It contains records of major political choices made during his time in office, including the story of his youth in East Germany, the abolition of nuclear power generation, and refugee policy.

Merkel spent half her life in East Germany and the other half in West Germany. He chose to become a physicist because he believed that natural scientific facts could not be distorted even under the East German dictatorship. After German unification, he entered politics by participating in civic groups. And at age 51, she becomes Germany's youngest chancellor and first female chancellor.

 Merkel's most important decision in the second half of her term was the large-scale acceptance of refugees. In 2015, he accepted more than 1 million refugees from the Middle East and Africa. He recalls that it was a “humanitarian emergency.” “Throughout my career in politics, I have given numerous speeches and said that human dignity is inviolable and that, according to the Basic Law, this applies not only to us Germans but to all people. (…) Regardless of whether or not they were legally allowed to stay in Europe, everyone had the right to humane treatment in Germany and Europe.”

 The evaluation of recently re-elected US President-elect Donald Trump is noteworthy. During his first meeting with Merkel, Trump ignores reporters' requests to 'pose a handshake pose'. In response, Merkel quietly offered to shake hands again, but Trump refused to shake hands until the end. “I pretended that I was dealing with a normally behaving person,” Merkel wrote.

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