Vanguard News
Angela’s Ashes
By Obadiah Mailafia
I have always been an admirer of German culture and civilisation. I have visited Deutschland more times than I can recall. I have studied German history with assiduity from Leopold von Ranke to Friedrich Meinecke and Golo Mann.
German history, for the most part, has been dark, harsh, slippery, bloody and icy-cold. But I find the Germans of today to be warm, moderate, civilised and cosmopolitan.
No leader embodies the New Germany more than German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She has been the occupant of the high magistracy of the German state for 18 years, having been first elected as far back as 2005. Not too long ago, she announced that she would no longer be seeking a fifth term as Chancellor, thereby clearing the way for a new Chairman for the ruling Christian Democratic Union, CDU.