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Episode details

World Service,11 Apr 2016,9 mins

Angela Merkel

Witness History

Available for over a year

On April 10th 2000, Angela Merkel became the first female leader of a German political party - and then Chancellor in 2005. But before she became one of Europe's most powerful politicians, she had an entirely different career - as a theoretical chemist in communist East Berlin. Witness speaks to her former colleague Michael Schindhelm. PHOTO: Angela Merkel waves two bouquets after her election as chairman of the CDU in Essen, Germany on April 10th 2000.

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