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1 of 9Angela Kasner, at age one and a half.Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis -
2 of 9Merkel as a child with a toy stroller.Laurence Chaperon -
3 of 9Angela Kasner at age 3.Ossenbrink Media/Sygma/Corbis -
4 of 9Angela Kasner prepares a meal on a campfire while camping with friends in Himmelpfort, German Democratic Republic in July 1973.Glaescher/laif/Redux -
5 of 9Angela Kasner plays volleyball during a school outing in Wandlitz near Berlin in 1972.Glaescher/laif/Redux -
6 of 9Angela Kasner (center, second row) in a class photo from 1971 of the Advanced High School (EOS) in Templin, Germany.Hannes Jung/laif/Redux -
7 of 9Angela Kasner, 18, with friends at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972.Glaescher/laif/Redux -
8 of 9Angela Kasner dances with a young man at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972.Glaescher/laif/Redux -
9 of 9Angela Kasner with a friend at a New Year's Eve party in Berlin in 1972.Glaescher/laif/Redux
Born Angela Kasner (Merkel is the name of her first husband) 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 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
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