--- description: From her baby pictures to her teen years title: See Vintage Photos of a Young Angela Merkel image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5db4427aa4fb289/6988742ce20a87e041a8e844/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-young-08.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 # See Vintage Photos of a Young Angela Merkel by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2015 11:14 AM CUT  Angela Kasner, 18, with friends at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. Angela Kasner, 18, with friends at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972.Glaescher/laif/Redux by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2015 11:14 AM CUT Born Angela Kasner ([Merkel is the name of her first husband](http://time.com/4139802/time-person-of-the-year-angela-merkel-surprising-facts "undefined")) in West Germany in 1954, her father, an official in the Lutheran Church, moved the family to socialist East Germany just a few weeks after her birth—an unusual move, since most Germans who could were fleeing toward the freedom of West Germany. Merkel was the oldest of three children, and grew up on the outskirts of Templin, a small town near the Brandenburg forest. She had an early interest in politics—at fourteen, she secretly listened to [radio broadcasts](http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-09-19/angela-merkels-early-years-in-east-germany-shaped-her-crisis-politics#p2 "undefined") from West German elections—but pursued science instead, getting a degree in physics and then a doctorate in quantum chemistry. Her East German upbringing, tendency toward caution and scientific training may have shaped her leadership approach as the most powerful woman in Europe. **_Read More:_** [_TIME’s 2015 Person of the Year Is Angela Merkel_](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ "undefined")  Angela Kasner, at age one and a half. Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis  Merkel as a child with a toy stroller. Laurence Chaperon  Angela Kasner at age 3. Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis  Angela Kasner prepares a meal on a campfire while camping with friends in Himmelpfort, German Democratic Republic in July 1973. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner plays volleyball during a school outing in Wandlitz near Berlin in 1972. Glaescher/laif/Redux  Angela Kasner (center, second row) in a class photo from 1971 of the Advanced High School (EOS) in Templin, Germany. Hannes Jung/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 with a friend at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972. 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