The discreet marriage of Angela Merkel and the reason she uses the surname of her first husband

Angela Merkel is a woman among men. Fourteen years ago, the Chancellor broke her glbad ceiling and, by decision of the Germans, stopped dreaming of being able to take it by the shoulders: for more than a decade, she sat next to the French president to discuss with the United States, exchange positions with Japan and negotiate with Russia. Angela Merkel is a woman among men and this is not a surprise. Not for her. Fight the machismo well before being the only one in the room. He entered politics in 1989 and, although he still maintained this profile, he left it prominently in 1993, when he published a column in the magazine
Emma entitled
"When she still dreamed of power." He then said that women's participation in public life in his country showed a frightening prospect, that there was a lack of women's representation in big business and in the media, that the lines guidelines were always marked by men and that they could also take care of children. and the cleaning of the bathroom, "so that women go walking through institutions and participate in power".

Angela Merkel is a woman among men and criticized by men. But rather than imitate the role of the man, the Chancellor seems to want to give a new definition to that of the woman, in politics, at the academy, at home, in love.

How your partner evolves is part of your belief. He has been in contact with chemist Joaquim Sauer for almost 30 years, but there are few photos of both at once because they do not appear in public. For them, the work goes on one side and the family on the other. This is the division that established that Sauer was not present in most of the Chancellor's hypotheses. The camaraderie is centralized within the house, where, according to newspapers, they share household chores without complaining. She makes a list of what is missing in the closet, he will buy it. If a kitchen, the other cleans. Merkel makes no public statement about her position on feminism; preach with the example.

"She has never been openly feminist in the ideological sense, but she has consistently incorporated women into her cabinet and encouraged many legislative initiatives to promote the rights and position of women," she said.
THE NATION Professor Thomas Saalfeld, Chair of Comparative Politics at the University of Bamberg.

Merkel to Sauer

Merkel was born in Hamburg, in northern Germany, on July 17, 1954. Her father was a Lutheran pastor, her mother, a teacher of English and Latin, and she was actually Angela Dorothea Kasner . Merkel is not yours, it's her first husband. He stayed with his family name (in his country and at his time, the wife adopted the surname of her husband) because when she had divorced she was already known as such. It was a strategy.

In her youth, after moving to Communist Germany for the work of her father, Angela studied at the University of Leipzig, where she graduated in Physics, a specialty that she shares with that first love. , Ulrich Merkel, whom she met in Moscow. They fell in love, got married and settled in Berlin. They were young. She was 23 years old. It was in 1977. Five years later, they divorced. "He looks a little silly, but I got married because everyone got married, I did not get married with enough maturity," said the Chancellor a long time ago. Her life of divorce was not easy: she was out of work, she could not find accommodation, she spent several nights in a very lively building and she was a waitress in a bar. However, she continued her studies and after four years she obtained her PhD in Quantum Chemistry with the support of a tutor who was other than her current husband. It's like that they've met.

Joaquim Sauer was born on 19 April 1949 in Hosena, then part of the German Democratic Republic. He was the baker's son of the city. He studied chemistry from 1967 to 1972 and two years later he obtained his Ph.D. at Humboldt University. He worked there as a researcher until 1977. He joined the staff of the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry. The fall of the Berlin Wall found him in the same place, but different: he had married a colleague, had two children, had divorced. On November 9, 1989, when he broke the concrete, he opened his possibilities: he went to the United States for some time to work in a software company for scientific research and, on his return, in 1992, he joined the Company. Max Planck was consecrated as one of the researchers of his generation and was reunited with his love.

The newspapers claim that Merkel and Sauer, who met in the 1980s, began to leave just before the 90s. So he was the one who accompanied him in his political career. On December 30, 1998, without a lot of guests, they got married.

Discreet

The end of the two Germanys was also an open door for Angela: she joined the Christian Democratic Union and at two, she got her first post as Minister of Women and Youth. It was not enough. It was for more. He first went to the party's general secretariat, then to the presidency and finally to the government command.

In November 2005, at the age of 51, Angela became the first woman and the first person raised to be appointed Chancellor in the East. Thus, with his oath, he gave another advantage to the political role of women in Europe. However, Sauer was not there. As well as in several other key moments of his career.

"Germany has a system of government in which the functions of head of state and head of government are separated." The head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, performs ceremonial duties and his wife performs official duties: he accompanies him on his visits. and sponsors charitable organizations. The wife or husband of the Chancellor, our head of government, has always been a more discreet character. You can accompany him on your travels, but nothing awaits you. When Merkel took over, her husband did not attend his first three ceremonies (2005, 2009 and 2013) but only the last (in 2017), he was in a room reserved for guests and, according to reports, with his laptop, "explains Thomas Saalfeld.

It is not that I never accompany it, but it is not usual. At international summits, Merkel leaves alone. On the one hand work, on the other hand love. Reinhold Messner, friend of both, told
Reuters Saukel long ago, whom Merkel calls Achim: "He is spiritual, he is deep, he can be incredibly funny and he is a brilliant man." Both succeed (even the name Sauer – which means in sour German – is still a candidate for the Nobel) and do not want to be recognized as "companions". No, they want their own name. Although she keeps Merkel.

"They still keep their privacy, we do not know much about their relationship." Sauer is a prominent chemist-researcher who has held a professorship at Humboldt University until his retirement in 2017. He "Never agreed to be interviewed if the axis was not his job." He suggested that he was an influential advisor, Saalfeld said.

There are, however, some photos in which the first ladies of the world's leaders are accompanied on the steps where they pose for a skinny man, just big black hair, something gray, gray eyes, serious wrinkles and hard skin . That's him. It's Sauer. The "ghost of the opera", as many media have dubbed him, for his elusive presence and addiction to Richard Wagner's music. Once a year, the couple presents themselves to the photographer during the Bayreuth Music Festival, dedicated to the presentation of the works of this famous composer of the nineteenth century. They share this pbadion. Other also, such as good wine, walks in the nature, in the mountains, rest on the Italian beaches, plum cake, flattery.

"We do not talk politics all the time, but indirectly, it's a very good advisor," Merkel said.

"Proud of my wife, yes, there are reasons to be, because of her professional success," Sauer said once about him.