Dr. Angela Merkel was born in Hamburg on 17 July 1954. A few weeks after her birth, the family moved to the GDR. Her father took up a position as a Protestant pastor in the Brandenburg village of Quitzow.

While studying physics in Leipzig, she married the physics student Ulrich Merkel and took his name. She then worked at the Academy of Sciences and received her doctorate in 1986.

Dr. Merkel became politically active during the period of upheaval in the GDR and finally joined the CDU in 1990. Under Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Dr. Merkel was Federal Minister for Women and Youth from 1991 to 1994 and Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1994 to 1998.

After the change of government in 1998, she became General Secretary of her party. She became party leader in 2000 and led the opposition until her election as Federal Chancellor in 2005. She led the grand coalition as head of government until 2009, before entering into a black-yellow coalition with the Free Democratic Party of Germany.

During her inaugural visit to Hesse, Dr. Merkel made a stop in Wiesbaden on July 20, 2006. Mayor Diehl welcomed the Chancellor in the ceremonial hall of the town hall and introduced her to some of the city's prominent sons and daughters.

In her speech, Dr. Merkel explained that local politics is the most difficult form of politics, as local politicians cannot run away once they have made a decision. She then signed the town's Golden Book.