--- description: Germany's first female chancellor, from her youth as a math wiz student to her entrance into politics after the fall of the Berlin wall title: Angela Merkel’s Life in Photos image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2e9c19023874e5c/698867a5f887dc20d9e92cca/angela-merkel-political-life-8.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Angela Merkel’s Life in Photos by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 22, 2015 1:00 PM CUT  Angela Merkel in 1997. Angela Merkel in 1997.Ullstein Bild—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 22, 2015 1:00 PM CUT  Merkel, then Angela Kasner, as a child with a toy stroller. Laurence Chaperon  Angela Kasner prepares a meal on a campfire while camping with friends in Himmelpfort, German Democratic Republic on July 1973. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner, 18, with friends at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner dances with a young man at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner posing for a group photo during the Mathematics Olympiad in Teterow, Germany, in 1971. AFP/Getty Images  Angela Merkel visits a fisherman's hut in Lobbe on the island of Ruegen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany during her campaign on Nov. 2, 1990. ullstein bild/Getty Images  Then-Federal Minister for Women and Youth Angela Merkel, in 1991. Ulrich Baumgarten—Getty Images  Politician Angela Merkel in her office in Bonn, Germany on Feb. 15, 1991. Sven Simon/dpa/Corbis  Angela Merkel, then-Federal Minister for Women and Youth on an airplane, in Germany in 1991. Erwin Falk—Ullstein Bild/Getty Images  Environmental Minister Angela Merkel (center) serves some coffee as German Chancellor and CDU leader Helmut Kohl (R) and party secretary Peter Hintze (L) look on at the annual CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party congress on Oct. 21, 1996. Peter Mueller—Reuters  Angela Merkel in a beach chair at the Baltic Sea, in Germany in 2000. Chaperon—Ullstein Bild/Getty Images  Then-Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union, Angela Merkel sits in a Porsche 911 during her visit at Porsche in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2002. Thomas Imo—Getty Images  Angela Merkel stands on a dune as she poses for photographers during a visit to the North Sea island of Borkum, Germany, in 2004. David Hecker—AFP/Getty Images  An Angela Merkel campaign bus in Berlin, in 2005. Seyboldt—Ullstein Bild/Getty Images  Angela Merkel campaigns in Regensburg, Germany, in 2005. Franziska Krug—Getty Images  Angela Merkel on the eve of her election in 2005 with parents. Herlind Kasner, Angela Merkel’s mother, from Hamburg was a Latin and English teacher. Her father, Horst Kasner, originally from Berlin, was a pastor in the Protestant Church in Germany. Laurence Chaperon  President George W. Bush and Chancellor Angela Merkel talk to the media at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, in 2007. Gerald Herbert—AP  Hillary Clinton and Angela Merkel speak during the Munich Security Conference at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich in 2011. Miguel Villagran—Getty Images  Angela Merkel chats with Pope Francis after their meeting in his private library at the Vatican, in 2013. Guido Bergmann—Getty Images  Chancellor Merkel poses with other G8 leaders in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, in 2013. Matt Cardy—Getty Images  Chancellor Angela Merkel stands in front of her election campaign tour bus before a CDU board meeting in Berlin on Sept. 16, 2013. Fabrizio Bensch—Reuters  Chancellor Angela Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck celebrate with the players in the Germany dressing room after the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Final match between Germany and Argentina at Maracana on July 13, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro. Lars Baron—FIFA/Getty Images  Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Queen Elizabeth II upon her arrival at the Federal Chancellery during the royal couple's four-day visit to Germany on June 24, 2015 in Berlin. The Queen and Prince Philip visited Berlin, Frankfurt and the concentration camp memorial at Bergen-Belsen during their first to Germany since 2004. Getty Images  Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer arrive at the Schloss Bellevue Palace on June 24, 2015 in Berlin. Sean Gallup—Getty Images  From left: French President Francois Hollande, Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a silent march against terrorism in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015 following the terrorist attacks on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. Orban/Redux  After a break during the peace talks for the conflict in Ukraine in Minsk (Belarus), Chancellor Merkel and President Putin of Russia, return to the negotiation table. Feb. 11, 2015. Steffen Kugler—Bundesregierung  At the protocol entrance of the chancellery in Berlin Chancellor Angela Merkel bids farewell to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, after his visit to Berlin. Feb. 3, 2015. Steffen Kugler—BundesregierungAt the protocol entrance of the chancellery in Berlin Chancellor Angela Merkel bids farewell to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, after his visit to Berlin. Feb. 3, 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4067552/angela-merkel-photo-gallery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4067552/angela-merkel-photo-gallery/"},"headline":"Angela Merkel’s Life in Photos","datePublished":"2015-11-22T13:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:19.110Z","description":"Germany's first female chancellor took office on Nov. 22, 2005. 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