MAIL ONLINE: Photo found of her as 17-year-old marching with East German officer / Released as she is forced to play down new book which alleges communist past
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced fresh speculation over her supposed links to hardline East German communists today after a photo emerged of her marching with the kommisars as a teenager.
Mrs Merkel, who was 17-year-old Angela Kasner when the picture was taken in 1972, is shown in fatigues marching with a group of friends and an East German officer as they prepared to take part in a civil defence exercise.
Her smile is easily recognisable and her forage cap is set at a jaunty angle as she strides along at the High School Hermann Matern in Templin, where she was brought up behind the iron curtain.
All children in the former German Democratic Republic had to take part in such exercises if they wanted to complete the equivalent of A-levels and go on to university. The drills included preparing for gas and nuclear attacks, how to spot enemy paratroopers and caring for wounded East German soldiers.
Not even illness or a death in the family allowed for the youngsters to skip the martial lessons - they were simply postponed but had to be completed. » | Alan Hall | Tuesday, May 21, 2013
BILD.DE: Diese junge Frau in Uniform ist heute unsere Kanzlerin: Templin – Ein Schwarz-Weiß-Foto aus dem Jahr 1972. Es zeigt Schülerinnen der 11. Klasse der Erweiterten Oberschule (EOS) „Hermann Matern“ in Templin. Sie marschieren... » | Von H. Kascha und B. Kolodziej | Dienstag, 21. Mai 2013
