Merkel is the first German chancellor to stand down on her own terms and timeline without the political pressures known by her predecessors. Importantly, she also does not have an obvious successor. This makes this election less than predictable. Some have called Merkel one of the most influential world leaders of the modern era. Others recognise her as extraordinary in various ways, at times with critique. In doing so, she advanced and modernised the values of democracy, human rights, equality, diversity and the value of partner-level engagement to solve challenges and find solutions, together.
Raised in East Germany during the period it was split from the West and aligned to the Soviet regime, she entered politics during the era of reunification. As she has also revealed she has not been thwarted by misogyny in politics or life in general. She became chancellor at a time when Germany struggled to find cohesion between the former east and west. She brought same sex marriage, and radical policy shifts such as on nuclear policy after the Fukushima disaster.
She has advanced a very environmentally conscious society to move toward a carbon-neutral economy, with Germany aiming to be carbon neutral by the EU target is The Mittelstand could, he says, do with more support and less bureaucracy. But, of course, the danger is you feel too content and stagnate and fall behind.
Perhaps Mrs Merkel's greatest influence can be seen in German society. Her refusal to close the doors to hundreds of thousands of people seeking asylum in the country in was a pivotal moment in her chancellorship.
Germany has long relied on migrants to fill jobs, keep the economy going and rejuvenate an ageing population - ever since the Turkish "Gastarbeiter" who came to help rebuild the country after World War Two. Today more than a quarter of people living in Germany have a migrant background. Among them is Negin, who arrived from Iran as a teenage asylum seeker and told us she nearly drowned as she crossed the Mediterranean in a small, overcrowded boat.
Today, she's an apprentice at a Berlin dental practice and, in fluent German, says she plans to become a dentist herself. Mrs Merkel famously told Germany "Wir schaffen das" we can do it during the so-called migrant crisis. Six years later, many would agree she was right. The sense of crisis has long passed. But some Germans - a minority - are still furious. They point to migrant crime and terror attacks. A far-right anti-migrant party, the AfD, now sits in the national parliament.
Fuelled by lingering resentment that is particularly strong in the former communist East. When the Iron Curtain fell, people in the East were promised blooming landscapes. But 30 years on opportunities are fewer, and salaries and pensions lower than in the rest of the country. It's hard to convince young people to stay. In their typical German Schrebergarten allotment garden Hannelore and her friends say they thought Mrs Merkel would do more for the former East.
She could not even locate the country on a map. One by one, her siblings and father arrived in Germany. Ruaa herself could be a poster child for integration. Four years after her arrival, she is now a competent German speaker who is about to take up a degree course at university.
She is adamant that much as she misses her native Syria , she has invested too much in her German life to ever return. Now I feel I should actually be about Not everything was plain sailing. Germany took some getting used to. She continued to wear sandals for weeks, despite sub-zero temperatures, and a combination of hating the processed meat and egg dishes they were given and the sadness she felt caused her to lose 6kg 13lbs. Through and , the number of refugees arriving in Germany rose to more than 1 million.
Merkel staked her reputation on welcoming the newcomers, at least one-third of whom were Syrian. The Bundeswehr Germany's military was also singled out along with federalism, while the German economic miracle and the country's position as a world leader in exports were lauded too.
The key role played by Germany's Bundeswehr armed forces in preserving peace and security were highlighted. The chancellor said modern Germany had been built on a Christian-Jewish tradition, but the importance of Islam and Germany's Muslim communities also featured in her list.
Merkel's A-Z didn't shy away from other sensitive topics either, including the country's perpetual responsibility for the Holocaust. Among the German delicacies mentioned by Merkel were Butterbrot buttered bread , Pflaumenkuchen plum cake and beef roulade with red cabbage.
She also singled out German punctuality along with the term Ernst des Lebens the serious side of life. She was also reminded of the importance of Bruckentag, the bridging day between a public holiday and the weekend that many Germans take as part of their annual leave.
And of course, no A-Z list of Germany would be complete without a mention for the Nationalmannschaft - the national football team - who won the World Cup. In April, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere published his Top 10 list describing "German Leitkultur," or a German dominant culture, which sparked controversy among his political opponents.
Defining strict rules is typically German, believes education expert Yasemin Karakasoglu. She told DW why democracy and integration in everyday life are more important than the concept of a "leading culture. Germany is at it again: The never-ending debate on what makes the country typically German is a hot topic once more. Other countries, however, are also in search of their cultural identities, like Denmark and Australia.
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