Podcast “ÜberMerkel” – Episode 1
“She called me quite desperately” – Alice Schwarzer looks at Angela Merkel’s chancellorship
© photothek / imago images
Exactly 31 years ago, Angela Merkel took up her first ministerial office. Since then, not only has she changed politics, but politics has changed her as well. the star In the podcast series “ÜberMerkel” looks back on more than three decades of Angela Merkel in federal politics – and asks: What remains of her? Guest in the first episode: Alice Schwarzer.
It is January 18, 1991, three and a half months after reunification, in the plenary hall of the German Bundestag in Bonn: on that Friday, exactly 31 years ago, a woman in a dark blue blazer entered the federal stage. And will not leave her for decades. Angela Merkel stands in front of the President of Parliament Rita Süssmuth, raises her right hand in the oath and says: “I swear it, so help me God.” The then 37-year-old became Minister for Women and Youth in the first all-German cabinet. She is one of three women and one of three ministers from the new federal states in Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s government.
Angela Merkel will have a decisive influence on German and international politics in the coming decades. She later became environment minister, CDU general secretary, party leader, opposition leader and in 2005 finally became the first woman to become chancellor – for 16 years.
New star podcast about Angela Merkel
31 years after her start in federal politics and after she left last December, the star in the multi-part podcast series “ÜberMerkel – Familiar Stories” on the unusual career of the ex-Chancellor – and only with women.
Angela Merkel was Chancellor for 16 years. The first. At the end of 2021 she resigned her post, now there is a man in office. What is left of her? What was she like, the chancellor? How is she as a boss, as a friend, as a feminist? For years, the story of Angela Merkel was mostly told by men. stern– Editor-in-chief Anna-Beeke Gretemeier meets for the podcast “ÜberMerkel – Vertraute recounting” with companions of the former Chancellor – yes, only with women. The conversations show new perspectives and thus draw a very personal audio portrait. “ÜberMerkel – Familiar stories” appears weekly on Tuesdays at AudioNow, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and everywhere there are podcasts. You can find all episodes here.
© stern.de
starEditor-in-chief Anna-Beeke Gretemeier met for interviews with Merkel’s long-time minister Ursula von der Leyen, with Merkel’s friend Annette Schavan and with the last head of state of the GDR, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, to find out: What was she like? Chancellor? How is she as a boss, as a friend, as a feminist? And what is left of her? The conversations show new unheard perspectives and thus draw a very personal audio portrait.
Alice Schwarzer talks about ex-Chancellor
In the first episode, Gretemeier talks to the feminist and “Emma” editor Alice Schwarzer. She reports on her first meeting with Angela Merkel at an Italian in Cologne, an almost forgotten article by Merkel in Schwarzer’s magazine (“We women must continue on the march through the institutions and participate in public power!”) – and moves on to a good three Decades of Angela Merkel in federal politics: What has the ex-chancellor achieved for women in Germany?Schwarzer’s conclusion is more benevolent than one might have expected from Germany’s flagship feminist.
And the 79-year-old reports why Angela Merkel called her “quite desperately” after winning the 2005 federal election – you can hear that and more in the first episode of the star-Podcasts “ÜberMerkel – Tell Familiar”.
“ÜberMerkel – Familiar stories” appears weekly on Tuesdays at AudioNow, Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music and everywhere there are podcasts.
This article originally appeared on stern.de.