Angela Merkel was sworn in as Chancellor on November 22, 2005. She is the first woman and the first East German to hold this office. Her CV traces the most important milestones on her way to taking this office.
Kanzlerin Angela Merkel
Photo: Bundesregierung/Eckel
Angela Merkel was born in Hamburg on 17 July 1954. She is a Protestant Christian and is married to Joachim Sauer.
| 1973 | Abitur (higher education entrance qualification) in Templin |
| 1973 - 1978 | Studied Physics at Leipzig University |
| 1978 - 1990 | Member of the academic staff at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Academy of Sciences |
| 1986 | Awarded a doctorate |
| 1989 | Member of "Demokratischer Aufbruch" (Democratic Awakening) |
| since 1990 | Member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) |
| 1990 | Deputy Government Spokeswoman of the de Maizière Government in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) |
| since 1990 | Member of the German Bundestag |
| 1991 - 1998 | Deputy Chairwoman of the CDU |
| 1993 - 2000 | Chairwoman of the CDU Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania |
| 1991 - 1994 | Federal Minister for Women and Youth |
| 1994 - 1998 | Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety |
| 1998 - 2000 | General Secretary of the CDU Germany |
| 2000 - 2018 | Chairwoman of the CDU Germany |
| 2002 - 2005 | Chairwoman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag |
| since November 2005 | Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany |