Who is the real Angela Merkel?

Dear Reader,

After close to 6,000 days Angela Merkel is leaving the Chancellery next week.

Since she assumed office on November 22nd, 2005, four British Prime Ministers, three French Presidents, three US Presidents... and seven Italian Prime Ministers have come and gone.

At four federal elections in a row the German public put their trust in the pastor’s daughter from small town Brandenburg.

Often described as the most powerful woman in the world, she is also the only Chancellor ever to leave office at a time of her own choosing.

In the history books, her name will be associated with the Euro crisis, Germany trading success, refugees and the rise of the far-right.

But who is the real Angela Merkel?

This topic has become a genre in its own right in German journalism. Many a journalist has been tasked with unveiling the woman behind the public figure.

The question is asked with such frequency that it is hard to escape the impression that the German public never really got to know the woman t…