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NPR's Book of the Day

In new memoir, Angela Merkel details her time as Germany's first woman chancellor

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2671 Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2024

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Angela Merkel served as Chancellor of Germany through a number of global challenges: a pandemic, a migrant crisis and military aggression. But she also had to consider dilemmas that were specific to being the first and only woman to hold her position. The former chancellor reflects on this experience, her rise to power and her political record in a new memoir, Freedom. In today's episode, Merkel speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelley through a translator. They discuss going toe-to-toe with leaders like Vladimir Putin, what a second Trump term means for U.S. diplomacy, and whether Merkel sees herself as a feminist.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Amperer's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Anglo Merkel was Chancellor of Germany

0:06.9

from 2005 to 2021. That's a long time. And from her perch, she was privy to so many world-changing

0:15.7

events, a migrant crisis, military aggression, and of course, a pandemic.

0:25.5

She writes about it all in her new memoir, Freedom, and in this interview, through a translator with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, Merkel talks about going toe-to-to-to with leaders, such as

0:31.1

Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, and what she thinks a second Trump term means for

0:37.0

America's role on the world stage.

0:39.3

That's up ahead.

0:41.1

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

0:45.9

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.

0:52.5

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

1:00.1

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:05.7

In her new memoir, Angela Merkel writes about the many dilemmas she had to navigate as Chancellor of Germany.

1:13.0

Dilemmas, her male colleagues never had to sweat. Like, can you wear a pantsuit instead of a

1:18.3

skirt in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament? She decided the answer was yes. Well, Merkel is the only

1:24.5

woman ever to rise to the most powerful political post in Germany.

1:29.2

She served as Chancellor from 2005 to 2021.

1:33.3

When she joined me from Berlin to talk about her memoir, Freedom,

1:37.4

there were so many things we wanted to ask,

1:39.5

about her record on everything from the economy to energy to Europe's migrant crisis. But we were given

1:46.2

just 11 minutes, no edits, and so we focused on a few key things, U.S. German relations,

1:52.6

Vladimir Putin, and female leadership. But you describe a moment in 2017. You were on stage

1:58.9

at the G20. You were asked, do you see yourself as a feminist?

...

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