News & Politics
During her first term as German chancellor, Angela Merkel had to deal with the economic and financial crisis of 2008, which helped forge her image as a defender of Germany's interests and her fellow citizens' savings. But there would be more challenges to come: the migrant crisis in 2015, and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. How will German history remember this scientist by training, who grew up in what was then East Germany, who defied the odds to become Germany's first woman chancellor? As Merkel prepares to bow out after 16 years in power, our Berlin correspondents report on her legacy.