Chancellor Angela Merkel has shrugged aside a book that suggests she may have been closer to East Germany's communist system than previously thought, saying she's never hidden anything.
The 58-year-old Merkel grew up in East Germany and entered politics as communism crumbled in 1989. It's long been known that, like many, she joined the communist youth organization. She has said she 'politically lived an assimilated life'[.]
A book appearing this week revives questions about whether Merkel was a propaganda secretary for the youth organization, which she denies, and says she was an active labor union official.
Merkel said at an event late on Sunday that she had never hidden anything about her life in East Germany, though acknowledged some things may emerge 'because no one has ever asked me about them.'
Indeed, in 2010, she admitted to a German magazine that she still does her laundry with an East German liquid detergent, prepares East German Soljanka soup - made with sausages and pickle juice - and can't fight the urge to stockpile at the supermarket.
'Sometimes I can't stop myself from buying things just because I see them - even when I don't really need them,' Merkel told SuperIllu ahead of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of unification.
'This inclination to hoard is deeply ingrained in me, because in the past, in times of scarcity, you took what you could get,' Merkel said, referring to life under communism. » | Matt Blake | Monday, May 13, 2013
SUPERillu.de: Das erste Leben der Angela M.: Die DDR-Vergangenheit der Kanzlerin schlägt derzeit hohe Wellen. Auslöser ist das Buch «Das erste Leben der Angela M.». SUPERillu traf die beiden Autoren Ralf Georg Reuth und Günther Lachmann und sprach mit ihnen über Merkels Leben vor der Wende. » | Thilo Boss | Montag, 10. Mai 2013
AMAZON.DE: Das erste Leben der Angela M. » | Von Ralf Georg Reuth und Günther Lachmann
