Angela Dorothea Merkel (b. Kasner) was born in Hamburg on July 17, 1954 into the family of a Protestant priest and a schoolteacher. She spent her childhood in Perleberg, in the country's north, where her father worked as a parish priest. She was raised in a Christian household.
1978 - graduated from Karl Marx University in Leipzig, where she studied physics. Worked as a research fellow at the Quantum Chemistry Department at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin.
1986 - earned a doctorate.
1989 - joined the Democratic Awakening movement and soon became the press secretary of its leader, Wolfgang Schnur. After Schnur was exposed as an unofficial employee of the Ministry for State Security in August 1990, Merkel left the organisation and joined the Christian Democratic Union. Friendship between her father and the father of Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière of the German Democratic Republic played a certain role in her appointment as deputy press secretary of East Germany's last Government.
Since 1990 - member of the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Helmut Kohl recognised her talent as a politician and promoted her career.
January 1991 - appointed Federal Minister for Women and Youth.
1994-1998 - Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Reactor Safety.
In December 1991, at Helmut Kohl suggestion, she was elected Deputy Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union.
1993 - May 2000 - Chairwoman of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
November 1998 - appointed Secretary General of the Christian Democratic Union.
She improved the party's work together with the Union's Chairman Wolfgang Schäuble. Due to her activity, the party won a series of land elections in 1999. After Schäuble was accused of financial crimes and left the office, Merkel was elected the party's Chairwoman at a meeting on April 10, 2000.
After an early election on September 18, 2005, the coalition between the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany was formed, which nominated Merkel for the post of Federal Chancellor. She was approved as Federal Chancellor by Bundestag on November 22, 2005.
Mrs Merkel has a wide knowledge of world literature, including Russian. Her favourite Russian writer is Mikhail Bulgakov. She is fond of classical music, including Wagner, Mozart, Mahler. Likes to cook and knows a great deal about red wine. She also enjoys walking and gardening. Speaks English and Russian. Her second husband is chemist Joachim Sauer. They have no children.